By Anne Osemekeh, Abuja.
Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator (Dr) Oluremi Tinubu, has launched the second 76-meter High Endurance (HE) Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) built for the Nigerian Navy (NN).
The vessel launch which took place on Friday, 19th April 2024 in DEARSAN Shipyard Turkey, was graced by the Minister of State for Defence, Dr Bello Muhammed Matawalle, the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla, the Charge D’Affair Nigerian Embassy Turkey, Ambassador Zayyad Habu Abdulsalam and other dignitaries.
Speaking at the event, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla expressed pleasure that the milestones on the vessel construction have been met. He expressed sentiments of appreciation to the management of DEARSAN Shipyard for their efforts so far.
Some of the given specifications of the newly launched OPV include:
Length – 76.90m; Width – 11.90m; Draught – 3.60m; Speed – 28knots; Endurance – 16 days, and a crew capacity of 47 among others.
The construction of the vessel will boost NN fleet renewal efforts towards fulfilling her constitutional mandate and ensuring maximum presence at sea to curb illicit acts such as oil theft, piracy, sea robbery, illegal fishery as well as smuggling of small arms and light weapons among other crimes in the vast 84,000sqnm of Nigeria’s maritime environment. It will also facilitate harnessing the enormous potentials within Nigeria’s maritime domain in support of FG’s Blue Economy initiatives.
The first OPV built by DEARSAN Shipyard was launched on 26 October 2023.
