On December 9, 2019, in the UAE, in the emirate of Sharjah, at the shipyard of Damen Shipyard Sharjah, which is part of the large international shipbuilding group Damen Shipyards Group (headquarters in the Netherlands), the laying procedure of a new warship for the Nigerian fleet was held. This is a large landing ship of the Damen LST 100 project (stands for Landing Ship Transport 100, where "100" is the length of the ship). According to international media reports, the ship is scheduled to be commissioned in May 2020.
It is worth noting that Nigeria became the first known customer of the ships of this project. Previously, the Navy of this African country had two Project 502 medium landing ships, ordered from the Federal Republic of Germany and commissioned back in 1978. True, both ships were excluded from the fleet back in 2009 after a long stay at the quay walls inoperative. According to Vice Admiral of the Nigerian Navy Ibok Ete-Ibas, the laying ceremony for the new ship appears to be a significant step forward towards the realization of the dream of rebuilding the capabilities of the Nigerian navy. Vice-Admiral Ibok Ete-Ibas explained the choice of the Dutch company Damen, which won the previously announced tender, by the fact that the company has an excellent reputation in the world market, excellent production facilities, and a good track record. The chief of staff of the Nigerian Navy emphasized that the leadership of the armed forces is confident that the landing ship will be delivered on time. It is also worth noting that the choice of Damen Shipyards Group was influenced by the fact that the Nigerian Navy has two tugboats built by this shipbuilding company.
Landing ship of the Damen LST 100 project
The debut of the large landing ship Damen LST 100 took place in 2014 at the Euronaval international exhibition of naval equipment and weapons, held in Paris. This ship became the third in the line of amphibious assault ships already presented by the projects Damen LST 80 (deadweight 600 tons) and Damen LST 120 (deadweight 1700 tons). Differing respectively in size and amphibious capabilities. At the same time, all three ships of the LST family of the Dutch company Damen are distinguished by the presence of a stern superstructure, a protected inner cargo deck and a helipad located at the stern. All three ships can receive mid-range helicopters and various models of unmanned aerial vehicles.
According to official information from press releases and presentations of the Damen Shipyards Group, the new amphibious ships of the LST 100 project are designed to transport various military equipment, cargo and personnel of the armed forces. Also, the ships can be effectively used in rescue and humanitarian operations. At the same time, an operational command headquarters for all the forces of the fleet can easily be placed on board the landing ship.
The manufacturer's declared capacity of the Damen LST 100 amphibious assault ships is up to 1,300 tons. This is comparable to the deadweight of Project 775 large amphibious assault ships (1,500 tons), which are in service with the Russian Navy. Deadweight is the mass of the payload carried by the ship, which is the difference between the full and empty displacement of the ship. Damen does not currently disclose the total displacement of the new landing ship, but if we compare it with the Russian large landing craft of project 775 (length 112 meters, total displacement of 4400 tons), we can estimate that, most likely, the total displacement of the Damen LST 100 landing ship is in range from 3500 to 4000 tons.
It is known that the ships of the Damen LST 100 project have a maximum length of 100 meters, a width of 16 meters, and a draft of 2, 7 to 3, 8 meters (maximum). The two-shaft diesel power plant used on the ship provides the landing craft with a speed of up to 16 knots (approximately 29.5 km / h), the declared cruising range is 4000 nautical miles at a speed of 15 knots, and the sailing autonomy is 15 days. The ship is distinguished by the presence of a small crew of 18 people, another 27 people can be placed on board as additional personnel (assistance with loading and unloading operations). At the same time, the declared landing capacity of the ship is 235 fighters.
Unfortunately, the developer does not indicate how many pieces of military equipment a given ship can take on board, but you can carry out such calculations yourself. Fortunately, the ship is equipped with two ramps - bow and stern, which can withstand equipment weighing up to 70 tons, which makes it possible to take on board any main battle tanks. And given that the most modern tanks of the Nigerian army are various modifications of the T-72, the capabilities of these ramps are even redundant. An internal cargo deck with an area of 540 square meters is designed to accommodate wheeled and tracked vehicles that enter and leave the ship on their own. The upper open cargo deck has an area of 420 square meters. Thus, the total area of the ship's amphibious decks is 960 square meters.
For loading / unloading weapons and cargo on the upper landing deck, the ship has a 25-ton cargo, as well as a 1.5-ton slewing crane. Also on the upper deck can accommodate two landing craft LCVP type. A quick-firing small-caliber artillery mount and machine guns can be installed on the ship as weapons.
Updating the Nigerian Navy
Interest in new warships has awakened in the Nigerian Navy due to the need to protect maritime shipping, the country's oil infrastructure and the exclusive maritime economic zone. In general, the state, which is the largest exporter of oil in Africa, has been facing the problem of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea in recent years. More recently, there were practically no combat-ready ships in the Nigerian fleet. In fact, the entire navy of this African country consisted of one incapacitated frigate Aradu, which rusted at the dock, and a small number of ships of smaller tonnage, mostly of venerable age. The frigate was purchased by Nigeria back in the 1970s from Germany and belonged to the ships of the Meko 360 project. The situation began to change dramatically in recent years. In addition to purchasing new ships, although they have a very conditional combat value, the Nigerian military is making tangible efforts to find a supplier of a large number of helicopters that should replenish the country's air force and naval aviation.
If we talk about new ships, the recently laid down large landing ship Damen LST 100 is likely to become the largest warship in the fleet. And if now the Nigerian military turned to the services of shipbuilders from the Netherlands, then before that they acquired ships made in China. So back in April 2012, Nigeria signed a contract with China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Company for the construction of two patrol ships of the P18N project (as part of the NNS Centenary and NNS Unity fleet). The choice of China is not accidental; today this country is actively investing tens of billions of dollars in the Nigerian economy. The first ship of this project was transferred to the Nigerian Navy in January 2015.
P18N are corvettes with a displacement of about 1,700 tons and a length of 95 meters. In the version for the Nigerian Navy, the ships have a conditional combat value, since they were purchased as patrolmen. The main armament of the ships is represented by a 76-mm artillery mount and two 30-mm H / PJ-14 artillery mounts. In addition to these patrol naval ships, the Nigerian Navy has been replenished in recent years with 6 French high-speed patrol boats manufactured by OCEA with a displacement of about 100 tons, as well as about 200 river patrol boats. In addition, in 2011, the United States donated two obsolete Hamilton-class Coast Guard ships to Nigeria. These ships were the largest in their class in the United States. They have a total displacement of up to 3250 tons. But in the Nigerian Navy, they cost more to be repaired than they are at sea: the venerable age of the ships and their technical condition affect.
