Dutch fast raiding craft
Dutch Special Marine Group has designed a new small range of Fast Raiding Craft (FRC). The Netherlands-based company claims that a FRC combines the speed and manoeuvrability of an interceptor with an increased size and carrying capacity to hold elite troops and their equipment.
It is designed for border protection, marine counter terrorism, military and special forces operations. Effective interception and patrol require a Fast Raiding Craft with high speed, excellent reliability, manoeuvrability and sea keeping abilities. In order guarantee this Dutch Special Marine Group designer, Pieter Meuzelaar, took the proven hull of the company’s Fast Rescue Craft 903 (as used by the Dutch National Rescue Federation: KNRM), enlarged the length and replaced the foam fender with an air-filled tube. This is to ensure that the maximum beam with deflated tubes is well under 2.700m, to fit through the cargo door of a C-130 Hercules.
The FRCs are built by Habbeké Shipyard of seawater resistant Aluminium (5083- H111), the hull is a fully planing, deep V type and has a low freeboard aft to facilitate diving operations. It is also self-bailing, has sufficient deck space to transport cargo, has a reinforced inflatable tube and is supplied with diesel inboard engines with either water jet propulsion units or sterndrive units.
The standard propulsion setup consists of Volvo Penta engines with Twin Disc gearboxes, driving UltraJet waterjets or Volvo Penta Aquamatic sterndrives. This represents a repeat of the combination already used to great effect on the Fast Rescue Craft 903.
By Jake Frith
