Croatia launches latest home-grown patrol boat Umag

The ceremonial handover and naming of the Croatian Navy's new coastal patrol boat OOB-32 Umag was held last Friday at the Admiral flote Sveto Letica-Barba barracks in Split.

Following the prototype of the series, OOB-31 Omiš, Umag represents the second coastal patrol boat and the first in a series of a total of five vessels for the Croatian Coast Guard and the Croatian Navy.

The project is part of the strategic efforts of the Republic of Croatia to modernise and strengthen its national defence capabilities, with an emphasis on manufacturing by local companies. Umag was priced at 13.2 million euros (US$13.7 million).

The patrol boat is 43.16 metres long and is equipped with a remote-controlled weapon station with an automatic 30mm cannon, two manually operated 12.7mm machine guns, and four hand-held portable anti-aircraft missile systems.

The ship's complement is 17 crewmembers, with a range of ten days. A speed of 28 knots is achieved via a pair of 2,525kW (3,386-horsepower) main engines.

Umag is equipped with high-resolution daytime cameras for detecting and tracking targets, a thermal camera for detecting targets at long distances and two special binoculars for night observation.