Nigerian Navy’s (NN’s) newly constructed Landing Ship Tank has been scheduled to undertake her maiden voyage from the United Arab Emirates, UAE to Nigeria on Friday, April 1, 2022.
This was disclosed Thursday, by the Navy spokesman, Commodore Adedotun Ayo-Vaughan.
TheFact Nigeria gathers that the NN contracted Messrs Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding for the construction and supply of the vessel, christened NNS KADA, in May 2018 as part of the recapitalization efforts the Nigerian Navy by the Federal Government under the current leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.
This milestone venture progressed steadily with the keel laying ceremony of the ship which was conducted on 9 December 2019 at the Albwardy Damen Shipyard, Sharjah, UAE.
Upon completion of construction, the new warship was launched on 7 June 2021, while the official hand-over to the NN was on 30 March 2022.
NNS KADA’s maiden voyage is expected to last for 56 days, starting from 1 April to 27 May 2022, and is to cover a distance of 8,414.34 Nautical Miles. It is also planned for the new ship to make stopovers in 5 countries’ ports before arriving Lagos. These ports are Port Duqm in Oman, Port Mombasa in Kenya, Port Cape Town in South Africa, Port Luanda in Angola and Port Gentil in Gabon.
The historic voyage of the new warship will be preceded by a customary change of flags ceremony at the Albwardy Damen Shipyard, Sharjah, which would be witnessed by some dignitaries such as the Chairmen Senate and House Committees on Navy, the Minister of Defence, Chief of the Naval Staff, Director Navy (MOD) and the Nigerian Ambassadors to UAE as well as Saudi Arabia.
The Nigerian Navy, in May last year took delivery of her then newest Offshore Survey Vessel, NNS LANA, which arrived Nigeria from France.
