Welcome to MSW’s Scuttlebutt! Here’s the news for the day.
On Display - HMS Agincourt
MSW Crewmember Kostas Katseas (angeleyes) as he presents a wonderful build of Combrig's 1/700 HMS Agincourt as she looked in 1917.
Christening of the First SWATH@A&R Patrol Vessel
Source: Abeking & Rasmussen
The first SWATH@A&R-type Patrol Boat worldwide was christened today at Abeking & Rasmussen Shipyard in Lemwerder. Mrs. Nellija Kleinberga, Mayor of the Latvian town Skrunda, dropped the bottle of champagne onto the bow and named the vessel “SKRUNDA”.
“SKRUNDA” is the first vessel of a series of five well proven 25m SWATH@A&R design of Abeking & Rasmussen. In co-operation with Riga Shipyard, the vessels are being built in Riga and Lemwerder.
The new vessels feature a modular mission bay at the fore ship. By fitting appropriate mission payloads, such as a diving module or a 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 extraordinary seaworthiness. Offering calm movements in high seastate, superior to 3 – 4 times larger ships, “SKRUNDA” is still a compact vessel with small machinery, low fuel consumption and a small crew.
This combination offers a high availability at low life-cycle costs. Up to 8 crew can stay for one week at sea even under adverse weather conditions to fulfil the main tasks for the new vessels, Patrol and Surveillance of the territorial waters and in the exclusive economical zone as well as participation in international assignments.
Since the fendering of the pilot boats will be retained, the 25m SWATH@A&R Patrol Boats will be ideal for all types of boarding operations.
This delivery continues the SWATH@A&R success story, as it is already the 12th vessel of the SWATH@A&R construction. Since 1999 several vessels with lengths of 25m, 40m, 50m and 60m as Pilot Vessels, as a privately-owned motor yacht or service vessel for offshore windfarms, are in service worldwide.
Royal Navy Moves Iraqi Navy Step Forward
Source: UK Ministry of Defense
British-trained members of the Iraqi Navy have conducted their first patrol of Iraqi territorial waters surrounding the Al Basrah Oil Terminal (ABOT) in their new Swift patrol boat.
The Royal Navy has been training the Iraqi Navy in Umm Qasr as part of a coalition training team since 2004. Most recently they have been supporting the Iraqi Navy by delivering Swift patrol boat training and mentoring the future Iraqi Navy training staff.
In advance of the first operational patrol the crew had to complete a final sea assessment conducted by a joint Iraqi and coalition team. They passed with flying colours and proceeded on patrol immediately.
The importance of the patrol to the Iraqi Navy was emphasised by it occurring on Iraqi National Army Day - 7 January 2011.
Lieutenant Abdul, the captain of patrol boat 301, said: "It was a significant day, especially since the patrol was part of the Iraqi National Army Day."
Captain Gary Sutton, Commanding Officer Iraqi Training and Advisory Mission - Navy [ITAM-N] (Umm Qasr), said: "Today the Iraqi Navy has made a huge step forward with the first Swiftships patrol of ABOT. I am proud of their accomplishment, but I would also like to acknowledge the achievements of the highly professional training and advisory coalition team in ITAM-N whose training of the Iraqi Navy made this possible."
This new class of modern patrol boat marks a significant step forward in the operational capability of the Iraqi Navy.
Built by Swiftships in the USA, these high-speed, 35-metre vessels are armed with the 30mm British MSI gun and are ideal for their role of defending the vitally important Iraqi offshore oil infrastructure.
The Iraqi Navy of 2,500 personnel, 11 patrol boats and 35 fast attack craft will be joined over the next 12 months by a further 14 Swift patrol boats.
Marshall Islands Raid
Today’s is the anniversary of the Marshall Islands Raid.
Operation Deep Freeze
Today’s website is the biography of Operation Deep Freeze. Enjoy.
This Day in U.S. Naval History
1941 - The U.S. fleet is reorganized, reviving the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets.
1942 - USS Enterprise (CV 6) and USS Yorktown (CV 5) make the first World War II air strike on the Japanese in the Marshall Islands.
1955 - Operation Deep Freeze, a research task force, is established in Antarctica.
2003 - Space shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry on mission STS-107. Cmdr. William C. McCool (Pilot), Capt. David M. Brown (Mission Specialist) and Cmdr. Laurel B. Clark (Mission Specialist) were killed in the incident, along with four other astronauts.
Photo of the Day
A starboard bow view of the Iranian destroyer escort ITS FARAMARZ (DE 74), now redesignated the frigate IS SAHAND (F 74). NOTE: This vessel was sunk on 19 April 1988 by aircraft CVW 11 from the aircraft carrier USS ENTERPRISE (CVN 65) in retaliation for the mining of the USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS (FFG 58) in the Persian Gulf. The vessel was hit by three Harpoon missiles and numerous cluster bomblets.
Gator
