Kongsberg Maritime introduced it has been chosen by shipbuilder Austal USA to produce its Promas propulsion system to the most recent ship within the U.S. Coast Guard’s Heritage Class Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) program.
This preliminary contract is to produce Kongsberg Maritime gear for the fifth ship, Coast Guard Cutter Pickering, which is the primary to be constructed by Austal USA at its yard in Mobile, Ala.
Built to switch the Coast Guard’s medium endurance cutters, the OPC program is anticipated to run as much as 25 ships. The OPC vessels will have the ability to present lengthy vary patrol functionality. At 360 ft lengthy, they are going to have a displacement of three,700 lengthy tons, most velocity of twenty-two.2 knots, and a spread of 9,050 nautical miles at 14 knots.
Kongsberg Maritime mentioned its Promas combines rudder and controllable pitch propeller into one propulsion system which optimizes the hydrodynamic properties of the ship and delivers elevated effectivity and thrust whereas utilizing much less vitality. For the OPC, in addition to twin Promas, Kongsberg Maritime is contracted to produce steering gear, rudders, fin stabilizers and tunnel thrusters.
Björn ten Eicken, Kongsberg Maritime, Vice President – Naval, mentioned, “Our Promas systems typically deliver efficiency savings of around 6%, so vessels are able to extend their range, something which can be crucial on longer missions.”
