Viana do Castelo-class patrol vessel

The Viana do Castelo class is a class of offshore patrol vessels planned by and for the Portuguese Navy, as a result of the NPO2000 Project (Portuguese, Navios de Patrulha Oceânica, for Oceanic Patrol Vessels), that are being constructed in the Estaleiros Navais de Viana do Castelo (ENVC).

NRP Viana do Castelo
Class overview
Builders: Estaleiros Navais de Viana do Castelo (ENVC) and West Sea
Operators:  Portuguese Navy
Preceded by: João Coutinho-class corvette
Subclasses: NPO - ocean patrol vessel and NCP - anti-pollution vessel
In commission: 2010 - Present
Planned: 6 to 8 NPC + 2 NCP
Building: 2[1][2]
Completed: 4 + 2
Active: 4
General characteristics
Type: Offshore patrol vessel
Displacement: 1,600 tons
Length: 83.10 m (272 ft 8 in)
Beam: 12.95 m (42 ft 6 in)
Draught: 3.69 m (12 ft 1 in)
Propulsion: 2 x Wärtsilä diesel engines (3,900 kW (5,200 hp) each), 2 electric engines (200 kW (270 hp) each)
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) maximum
Boats & landing
craft carried:		 2 x Rigid Inflatable Boats
Complement: 35 accommodation for 32 more
Sensors and
processing systems:		 Leonardo Medusa MK4/B electro-optical fire control system, iXblue Quadrans inertial navigation system, Furuno Electric's FAR-3230 F-band and FAR-3220 I-band navigation radars
Armament:
  • 1 × 30 mm Oto Melara Marlin WS
  • 2 × General purpose machine gun
Aviation facilities: Medium-sized helicopter pad but no hangar supporting Super Lynx Mk.95
Notes:
  • Anti-pollution version (NCP)
  • System for recovery and transfer of pollutants spilled on the ocean.
  • Barrier launcher.
  • 2 × Floating tank of "Unibag" type, of 50 m3 each.
  • 1 × Internal coil of vapor circulation, to allow the heating of the existing pollutant products inside of the tanks, to facilitate their extraction.

Design

The eight to ten vessels of this class, specially designed to operate in the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, will replace the João Coutinho and Baptista de Andrade-class corvettes — currently being decommissioned —, and the small patrol boats of the Cacine-class in their primary fisheries protection role (SIFICAP) and in their search and rescue (SAR) roles. Two of these vessels of the version Navios de Combate à Poluição (NCP) will be fitted with anti-pollution systems — including Fast Oil Recovery systems. These vessels are named after Portuguese coastal cities.

The first vessel, NRP Viana do Castelo (P360), was commissioned on March 2010 after several years of delay. Six additional vessels are planned by the Portuguese Navy as announced in 2016 to be built in 2017 and 2018. June 22 2018 the Portuguese Prime Minister announced an additional order of 6 Viana do Castelo Class ships( 60 million euros each) to be built at same shipyard over next 6 years along with a multi purpose ship for a total of 500 million euros

Viana do Castelo was temporarily commissioned with an old 40 mm gun, but the Portuguese navy is acquiring two 30 mm Oto Melara Marlin guns for the first two vessels.[3][4][5]

Armament

Armament consists of a 30 mm Oto Melara Marlin, it replaces one 40 mm L/60 turreted gun in the NRP Viana do Castelo, and two manned mounts to be armed with 7.62 mm light machine guns as well as two launching systems for MK55 Mod 2 mines.[6] The ships are designed to operate unmanned systems and are equipped with a single Sagem SA Vigy 10 MKIII naval surveillance and observation platform, three water cannons, and two rigid inflatable boats.[6] Each ship is capable of accommodating a Super Lynx MK95 light helicopter.[7]

Ships
Pennant Name Version Laid down Shipyard Launched Commissioned Status
P360 Viana do Castelo NPO 2004 ENVC 1 October 2005 March 2011 In service
P361 Figueira da Foz NPO 2004 ENVC 1 October 2005 June 2013 In service
P362 Sines NPO 2015 WestSea 3 May 2017[8] July 2018 In service
P363 Setúbal NPO 2015 WestSea 13 September 2017 [8] February 2019[9] In service
P364 Funchal NPO ? West Sea ? 2022 Planned
P365 Aveiro NPO ? West Sea ? 2024 Planned
P366 ? NPO ? WestSea ? 2026 Planned
P367 ? NPO ? WestSea ? 2027 Planned
P368 ? NPO ? WestSea ? 2028 Planned
P360 ? NPO ? WestSea ? 2029 Planned

See also

References
  1. http://www.janes.com/article/51922/portugal-to-buy-two-more-opvs
  2. http://www.janes.com/article/53141/portugal-orders-two-more-opvs
  3. http://dre.pt/pdf2sdip/2010/02/034000000/0722807228.pdf
  4. https://dn.sapo.pt/inicio/portugal/interior.aspx?content_id=1519305
  5. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2009. Retrieved April 2, 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. alves, Jose; January 3, on; Said, 2011 at 6:08 Am (2011-01-02). "Next Post". PoADU - Portuguese Aerospace & Defence Update. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  7. "Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  8. "Portuguese Navy inducts third OPV". IHS Jane's. 12 July 2018. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  9. "Fourth Viana do Castelo-class OPV enters Portuguese Navy service". Naval Today. 7 February 2019. Archived from the original on 7 February 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
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