On Thursday, December 17th, at the Remontowa Shipbuilding SA shipyard from the Remontowa Holding capital group, the ORP Mewa mine countermeasure vessel (MCMV) was launched – the last of a series of three modern “Kormoran II” (Cormorant Class) mine hunting vessels and the last of a series of six tugboats – H-13 Przemko. Both ships are being built for the Polish Navy.
Double launching was carried out taking into account the epidemic restrictions in force in the country and the internal procedures of the Remontowa Holding Group in terms of preventing coronavirus infections, with a limited number of participants and without the participation of the media.
The contract for the design and construction of three “Kormoran II” MCMVs was signed in September 2013 between the Armaments Inspectorate and the Consortium led by Remontowa Shipbuilding SA. The consortium also includes Ośrodek Badawczo-Rozwojowy Centrum Techniki Morskiej SA (OBR CTM SA) and Stocznia Marynarki Wojennej w Gdyni (the Naval Shipyard SA).
The prototype ship, handed over for service in November 2017, was the first in 20 years to be made exclusively by the Polish industry, starting from the design to the delivery of a fully equipped, modern ship to the ordering party. The result of cooperation in its construction was the order of further minehunters, such as the second of the series, ORP Albatros, launched a year ago and currently being in the equipping phase.
The ‘ORP Mewa’ is the last of the series.
As in the case of the prototype, the hulls of the MCNVs were built of amagnetic steel ensuring low physical field characteristics of the ships. The ships of the project 258, filled with electronics are the most modern ones of this class in the NATO alliance.
ORP Mewa, like ORP Albatros, although it is a serial ship, will differ in equipment from the prototype ORP Kormoran. The main differences are due to the use of a different set of vehicles forming the ship’s mine defence system. The novelty are among others GAVIA system and Saab DE SAROV submarine vehicle, but an important change is the Kraken KATFISH 180 towed sonar. Another hardware modification is the use of the OSU-35 ship cannon caliber 35 mm instead of ZU-23 “Wróbel”. On newer mine destroyers there will also be changes in the configuration of communication and navigation systems.
In addition to the construction of the Kormoran II type ships, in June 2017 the shipyard was entrusted with the construction of a series of auxiliary units as a result of the tender “Technical protection and rescue operations at sea pk. Tugboat”. The order concerns the design and construction of six vessels of tug class.
Remontowa Shipbuilding SA has already delivered tugboats B860/1 Bolko (January), B860/2 Gniewko (March 2020), 860/3 Mieszko (July 2020) and B860/4 Semko (December 2020). Port trials on the fifth tugboat, H-3 Leszko, will continue until next January.
In 2020 Remontowa Shipbuilding SA was celebrating its 75th anniversary. That year the shipyard delivered nine entirely equipped ships, including three electric ferries for a Norwegian shipowner, two multi-purpose vessels for the Polish Maritime Administration and the already mentioned four tugboats for the Polish Navy.
Photos: Sławomir Lewandowski, Marcin Koszałka/ portalmorski.pl