The 76 m Offshore Patrol Vessel built by Dearsan Shipyard for the Nigerian Navy was launched with a ceremony. The vessel, which is Nigeria’s first offshore patrol vessel, was put on the slipway in September 2022.
The ceremony held at Dearsan Shipyard was attended by the Nigerian delegation headed by Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla, Vice President of Defence Industry Gökhan Uçar, Chairman of the Board of Directors Aziz Yıldırım, General Manager Murat Gordi and many local and foreign guests.
On November 3, 2021, Dearsan Shipyard signed an agreement with the Nigerian Navy in Abuja for 2 76-meter Offshore Patrol Vessels and achieved a success by delivering the first vessel in a short period of 13 months.
Main Features of Offshore Patrol Vessels
The main missions of the Offshore Patrol Vessels being built for the Nigerian Navy will include maritime interception, surface and air surveillance, providing fire support for ground forces from the sea, conducting special forces operations, search and rescue, intelligence, escort in Nigerian territorial waters, as well as protecting maritime economic activities including ports, platforms and artificial islands.
Secondary missions of the vessels will include asymmetric warfare, counter-piracy, counter-smuggling and counter-drug trafficking, and disaster relief operations.
The Offshore Patrol Vessel is designed to be converted into an effective warship in wartime by equipping it with appropriate modular sensors and weapons.
The vessels, which have a length overall of 76.9 meters, a width of 11.9 meters, a draught of 3.6 meters, a maximum speed of 28 knots, a range of 2,500 nautical miles and stay time at sea of 16 days, will be manned and operated by a total of 48 personnel, and the main propulsion system is the CODAD configuration consisting of 2 CPP propellers and 4 main diesels. It will be able to operate in sea state 5 and navigate in sea state 6.
Its main weapons against surface, air and land targets are 1 40 mm gun, 1 30 mm gun. Remote Controlled Cannon, 2 12.7 mm. It consists of a Remote Controlled Machine Gun and 2 12.7 mm manual Machine Guns. It will be equipped with 2D reconnaissance and surveillance radar, navigation radar, electro-optical dayrecorder, advanced communication systems and combat management system to successfully fulfill the missions entrusted to it.
