First SWATH patrol boat for Latvian Navy
Skrunda is seen at christening ceremonies in Lemwerder last week.
The first SWATH@A&R patrol boat worldwide was christened last week at the Abeking & Rasmussen Shipyard in Lemwerder, Germany.
Mrs. Nellija Kleinberga, Mayor of the Latvian town Skrunda, dropped the bottle of champagne onto the bow and named the vessel Skrunda as a befitting namesake of her town.
Skrunda is the first vessel in a series of five 25m SWATH@A&R patrol boats being built to a design by Abeking & Rasmussen for the Latvian Navy. In cooperation with Riga Shipyard, the vessels are being built in Riga and Lemwerder, featuring a modular mission bay at the fore ship. By fitting appropriate mission payloads, such as a diving module or an MCM module, the capabilities of the vessels can be enhanced flexibly.
The decision for the SWATH concept was made in order to benefit from the outstanding seaworthiness of the design, which provides calm ship movements in high sea states.
Skrunda is a very compact vessel with little machinery, low fuel consumption and requiring a small crew. The combination delivers high availability at low life cycle costs. Up to eight crew can remain at sea for one week under adverse weather conditions.
The main tasks for the new vessels will be patrol and surveillance of Latvian territorial waters and in its exclusive economical zone as well as participation in international assignments. The fendering devised for pilot boat variations of the design will be retained, making the 25m SWATH@A&R patrol boats ideal for all types of boarding operations.
This delivery continues a SWATH@A&R success story which has already seen 12 vessels built of the SWATH@A&R construction. Vessels with lengths of 25m, 40m, 50m and 60m have been deployed worldwide as pilot vessels, as a private owned motor yacht, and as offshore wind farm support vessels.
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