The Indian Navy has welcomed a new surface combatant into service while the US Navy's newest attack submarine has completed her initial sea trials. Recently launched vessels include a Japanese submarine and a French Navy dive support craft. Lastly, a US builder has begun development of a naval catamaran for use in inland and littoral waters.
American defence supplier Eureka Naval Craft has revealed a new 57-foot (17-metre) high-speed catamaran designed for operations in contested coastlines, rivers, and islands. The company said the new vessel was designed to move troops and materiel into austere environments at high speed.
The vessel has a declared top speed of 50 knots and a range of 350 nautical miles (648 kilometres) at 38 knots (70 kilometres per hour), with extended range available through modular fuel tanks.
The future JS Sogei, the sixth Taigei-class diesel-electric attack submarine (SSK) ordered by the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF), was recently launched at Kawasaki Heavy Industries' Kobe facilities.
Like her sisters, the future Sogei has a length of 84 metres and a hull diameter of 9.1 metres. Upon completion, she will boast lithium-ion batteries for extended underwater endurance, a crew complement of 70, and armament including torpedoes and Harpoon anti-ship missiles.
France's Merre Shipyard has launched a new dive support boat slated for the French Navy.
Yucca belongs to the eight-strong Ophrys-class, will replace nine older dive support boats in French Navy service. The Ophrys-class boats will be used to support dive operations, primarily dive missions that are focused on the detection and disposal of sea mines.
Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division has successfully completed the initial sea trials for the future US Navy Virginia-class attack submarine USS Massachusetts.
Over the course of several days at sea, the NNS and navy team conducted testing of systems and components, including submerging the submarine for the first time and performing high-speed manoeuvres while on the surface and submerged.
The Indian Navy commissioned a new anti-submarine corvette into service in a ceremony in Visakhapatnam on Monday, October 6.
INS Androth is the second unit in a new class of corvettes known as anti-submarine warfare shallow-water craft (ASW SWC). The Arnala-class is being built by a partnership formed by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) and Larsen and Toubro (L&T) as replacements for the Indian Navy’s 1980s-designed Abhay-class corvettes.
