Vietnam's magnificent military export 'fleet'

Besides meeting domestic demand, shipyards in Vietnam also manufacture many modern military ships for export to foreign countries.

Below are some typical ship classes among dozens of Vietnamese military ships of all types that have been exported abroad.

3,000-ton submarine rescue ship

The submarine rescue ship duo Besant and Stoker were newly built by Factory Z189.

Damen - Song Cam Shipbuilding Joint Venture (Factory Z189) is the unit that received the contract to build two large submarine rescue ships with displacement of over 3,000 tons for the Royal Australian Navy, namely Besant and Stoker.

The Besant (EGS 8316) was launched in October 2014 and delivered to Australia in June 2015. The ship has a standard displacement of 2,093 tons, up to 3,231 tons when fully loaded; length 83 m; width 16 m; height 4.1 m; maximum speed 16 knots.

Meanwhile, the Stoker (EGS 9316) was launched by Factory Z189 in May 2015 and handed over to the partner at the end of 2015. Compared to the Besant, the Stoker is slightly larger in size with a full load displacement of 3,690 tons; length 93.2 m; width 16 m; height 4.1 m; maximum speed 16 nautical miles/h.

This is a new generation rescue ship class, capable of performing submarine rescue missions using specialized equipment with outstanding features such as coordinate detection, communication phones and diving robots connected to the submarine to rescue crew members when the ship has an accident.

The ship can also locate its position and anchor wirelessly in complex weather conditions.

Multi-purpose training ship MV Sycamore

Multi-purpose training ship MV Sycamore arrives in Sydney Harbour.

The multirole aviation training vessel (MATV) MV Sycamore was also built by Z189 Factory for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The keel was laid on May 21, 2015 and was accepted into service by RAN on July 28.

The design of the MV Sycamore is based on the OPV 2400 offshore patrol vessel prototype of the Damen Group - Netherlands. The vessel is 94 m long; 14.4 m wide; has a full load displacement of 2,400 tons; a cruising speed of 17 knots (maximum 23 knots); and a crew of 60 sailors and trainees.

The ship's main tasks include training pilots to take off and land on helicopter decks, carry out search and rescue missions, fire fighting, and refuel aircraft in inclement weather.

The MV Sycamore's hangar is specially designed to best serve the Royal Australian Navy's helicopters such as the MH-60R Sea Hawk or MRH-90. The ship also has a stabilization system to enhance the helicopter's operational capabilities.

"Ax head" patrol boat SPa 5009

PV-11 patrol boat, SPa 5009 class, built by Damen Song Cam for Venezuela.

The Damen - Song Cam joint venture also carried out a contract to build 6 Stan Patrol 5009 (SPa 5009) patrol boats for the Venezuelan Navy. This model of boat has the first 2 numbers (50) indicating the length and the last 2 numbers (09) indicating the width.

The SPa 5009 uses Damen's proprietary "axe" bow design, used for high-speed transport vessels and crew supply vessels for oil rigs. They have a steel hull, length 51.3 m; width 9 m; displacement 485 tons.

The ship is equipped with 4 Caterpillar C32 diesel engines with a total capacity of up to 4,324 kW, providing a maximum speed of 23 nautical miles/h, a range of 2,000 nautical miles, and a cruising reserve of 30 days.

Transport - landing ship Stan Lander 5612

The Stan Lander 5612 amphibious transport ship was newly built by Ha Long Shipyard for the Bahamas Defense Force.

Finally, the Stan Lander 5612 class of transport-landing ships was built by Damen - Song Cam Factory and Ha Long Shipyard for the Venezuelan and Bahamas Navy with a total of 5 ships (1 for Venezuela, 4 for Bahamas).

The Stan Lander 5612 has a length of 57.27 m; a width of 12 m, a displacement of 600 tons, and a speed of 10.4 nautical miles/h. Unlike conventional landing ships that can approach the shore to land, the Stan Lander 5612 can only drop troops at sea or at a location with a suitable pier.

Its design is suitable for transport and supply work on islands, and can carry light amphibious armored vehicles; the ship is not capable of carrying tanks or heavy armored vehicles.

According to Baodatviet