NoCGV Svalbard

For MS Svalbard (1946 troop and refugee transport), see German night fighter direction vessel Togo.

Career (Norway)
Class and type:	icebreaker and offshore patrol vessel
Name:	NoCGV Svalbard
Builder:	Tangen Verft, Kragerø
Laid down:	9 August 2000
Launched:	17 February 2001
Commissioned:	15 December 2001
General characteristics
Displacement:	6375 tonnes
Length:	340.2 ft (103.7 m) (overall) 292 ft (89 m) (waterline)
Beam:	62.6 ft (19.1 m)
Height:	27.2 ft (8.3 m)
Draught:	21.3 ft (6.5 m)
Propulsion:	4 x 3390 kW Rolls-Royce Bergen BRG-8 diesel generators 2 x 5 MW Azipod electric motors
Speed:	17.5 knots (20.1 mph; 32.4 km/h)
Complement:	50 (20 Officers and 45 Other Ranks split into 3 shifts with 2 shifts on board at any one time)
Sensors and processing systems:	EADS TRS-3D /16 ES with IFF
Armament:	Bofors 57 mm, 12.7 mm
Aircraft carried:	Capacity for two helicopters; one Lynx carried initially, NH90 from 2009
Notes:	Cost: 575 million NOK (80 million USD), radar and helicopter not included

The Norwegian Coast Guard icebreaker and offshore patrol vessel KV Svalbard (W303) was constructed by Langsten AS at Tangen Verft shipyard in Kragerø and launched on 17 February 2001. She was christened 15 December in Tomrefjord with Minister of Defence Kristin Krohn Devold as godmother, and delivered to the Coast Guard on 18 January 2002. She entered service in mid-2002 and is homeported in Sortland. Her primary operating area is in the Arctic waters north of Norway, the Barents Sea and around the Svalbard islands.

Svalbard is the largest ship in Norway's military armed forces (by tonnage), designed to supplement the 3 other helicopter carrying ships of the Norwegian Coast Guard - the Nordkapp class patrol vessels. She is NBC-protected with constant overpressure, and is capable of icebreaking or towing up to 100.000 tons.

On 9 July 2007 the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper had announced that Canada would be building six to eight corvettes modeled after the Svalbard's design.^[1][2]

The Norwegian coastline is generally free of ice, thus NoCGV Svalbard is the only active Norwegian icebreaking-capable vessel.

References

1. ^ "Ottawa buying up to 8 Arctic patrol ships". CBC. 9 July 2007. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/07/09/arctic-cda.html. Retrieved 2007c10. 
2. ^ "Arctic patrol vessels approved by committee". CBC. 13 May 2007. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/05/13/arctic-patrol.html. Retrieved 2007-07-10. 

External links

• Marinelog article
• Marinetalk article: KV Svalbard
• Norwegian Forsvaerets article: KV Svalbard
• Martin Shadwick (Spring 2007). "Due North" (PDF). 8. Canadian Military Journal. http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/engraph/vol8/no1/PDF/17-shadwick_e.pdf. Retrieved 2008-02-19. 
• Mikko Niini. "Aker Arctic’s innovative ship designs pave the way to efficient Arctic maritime operations.". Neftegaz International. http://www.neftegazinternational.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1575. Retrieved 2008-02-19.