MV Oceanic Viking

MV Oceanic Viking
Career (Australia)
Name:	MV Oceanic Viking
Owner:	Eidesvik Shipping AS
Operator:	P&O Marine Services/Australian Customs Service
Builder:	Flekkefjord Slipp & Maskinfabrikk
Launched:	1996
General characteristics [1]
Class and type:	DnV + 1A1 Cable Laying Vessel
Tonnage:	9,075 gross register tons (GRT)
Length:	105.6 m (346 ft)
Beam:	22 m (72 ft)
Draught:	6.83 m (22.4 ft)
Propulsion:	2 x 3,560 kW at 660 rpm
Speed:	37 knots (69 km/h; 43 mph)
Complement:	25 crew + up to 50 Customs and Fisheries officers.
Armament:	2 × .50 caliber machine guns in customs service
Notes:	Former offshore oil pipeline layer and cable layer

The MV Oceanic Viking is an armed patrol vessel of the Australian Customs Service. Originally built in 1996 as the offshore supply vessel Viking Lady for Norwegian shipping company Eidesvik Shipping AS, the ship was converted into a cable layer in 2000 and renamed Oceanic Viking. The ship was chartered to the Australian Customs Service through P&O Marine Services in 2004.

Construction

The ship was built in 1996 for Norwegian shipping company Eidesvik Shipping ASas an offshore supply vessel and named Viking Lady.^{[citation needed]} The vessel is 105 metres (344 ft) long, and is over 9,000 GRT.^[2]

Operational history

Eidesvik Shipping

In 2000, the ship was converted to a cable layer, renamed Oceanic Viking, and used for laying optic fiber cables between Europe and North America.^[3][4]

Australian Customs Service

In 2004, Oceanic Viking was converted to an armed patrol vessel and bareboat chartered to P&O Marine Services, who will operate the ship for the Australian Customs Service.^[2][5] The vessel is primarily assigned to patrols of Australia's southern offshore territories for illegal fishers, particularly those seeking Patagonian toothfish, but is also deployed on other border protection and patrol operations around Australia.^[2] While chartered, Oceanic Viking is flagged as an Australian vessel, and is operated by a 60-strong crew, including Customs and Fisheries personnel, along with civilians.^[2][5] Oceanic Viking was fitted with two .50 calibre machine guns,^[2] making the vessel the first Australian-flagged ship to be armed in peacetime.^{[citation needed]}

In early September 2005, Oceanic Viking intercepted a 2,000 GRT Cambodian vessel found poaching in the Southern Ocean.^[6] Later that month, the ship apprehended three Indonesian vessels illegally fishing near the Northern Territory's Wessel Islands; one of the vessels failed to stop when ordered, and one of Oceanic Viking's machine guns was used to fire warning shots.^[6]

In October 2006, Oceanic Viking traveled 1,800 nautical miles (3,300 km; 2,100 mi) in eight days to answer a distress call from the Kerguelen Islands.^[7]

In December 2007, the Australian Government tasked the Oceanic Viking with monitoring Japanese-flagged vessels involved in whaling in the Southern Ocean.^[8] During the seven-week surveillance exercise, personnel aboard Oceanic Viking filmed Japanese whalers and their activities to produce evidence for possible legal action.^[9] To avoid the potential for armed conflict with the Japanese,^{[citation needed]} the vessel's machine guns were secured below deck.^[10] During the deployment, two Sea Shepherd protesters who boarded the whaling ship Yūshin Maru No. 2 were transferred to Oceanic Viking after being detained by the Japanese.^[9] The Australian government regarded the operation as successful,^[11] but it was criticised by some political commentators, such as Dennis Shanahan, as not having been effective in countering Japanese whaling, and potentially harming Japanese-Australian relations.^[12]

In October 2009, Oceanic Viking was involved in an operation to apprehend 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers and move them to an Australia-funded immigration detention centre on the Indonesian island of Bintan for processing.^[13] The asylum seekers were taken to Indonesia but refused to disembark until 17 November, after a preferential processing deal was agreed upon.^[14] The 78 asylum seekers were transferred to Indonesian detention, and after a month, were determined to be refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and resettled in several countries.^[14][15] While travelling back to Australia, Oceanic Viking intercepted a boat on 3 December carrying 53 suspected asylum seekers and four crew off the Ashmore Islands; the 50th asylum seeker vessel to be intercepted in Australian waters for the year 2009.^[16]

References

1. ^ Oceanic Viking Datasheet
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Australian Associated Press (19 November 2004). "Toothfish pirates to face armed patrols". Melbourne: The Age. http://www.theage.com.au/news/Breaking-News/Toothfish-pirates-to-face-armed-patrols/2004/11/19/1100838216395.html. Retrieved 18 August 2011. 
3. ^ "Conversion of the Supply Boat Viking Lady to the trans-ocean Fibre Optic Cable Layer Oceanic Viking". http://www.bmt-titron.com/?/552/932/1738. 
4. ^ "Subsea Telecom Notebook, January/February 2001". http://www.underwater.com/archives/arch/janfeb01.07.shtml. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "Oceanic Viking secures bareboat charter from Australia". Offshore Shipping Online. 1 October 2004. http://www.oilpubs.com/oso/article.asp?v1=1482. Retrieved 18 August 2011. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Australian Associated Press (28 September 2005). "Warning shots fired at fishing boat". Melbourne: The Age. http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Warning-shots-fired-at-fishing-boat/2005/09/28/1127804518819.html. Retrieved 18 August 2011. 
7. ^ "Australian patrol ship carries out double medical rescue in Southern Ocean". Australian Customs and Border Protection Service. 20 October 2006. http://www.customs.gov.au/site/content7737.asp. Retrieved 19 November 2011. 
8. ^ "Armed vessel to monitor whalers". Herald Sun. 18 December 2007. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22942081-5005961,00.html. Retrieved 18 December 2007. ^{[dead link]}
9. ^ ^{a b} Australian Associated Press (27 February 2008). "Oceanic Viking returning to port". Melbourne: The Age. http://www.theage.com.au/environment/oceanic-viking-returning-to-port-20080514-2e4h.html. Retrieved 18 August 2011. 
10. ^ "Unarmed Australians to watch whaling". Herald Sun. 19 December 2007. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22948839-662,00.html. Retrieved 19 December 2007. ^{[dead link]}
11. ^ "Oceanic Viking Returns to Australia" (Press release). The Hon. Bob Debus, Minister for Home Affairs. 27 February 2008. http://www.ag.gov.au/www/ministers/ministerdebus.nsf/Page/MediaReleases_2008_Firstquarter_28February2008-OceanicVikingReturnstoAustralia. Retrieved 7 December 2008. ^{[dead link]}
12. ^ Shanahan, Dennis (27 June 2008). "Real Dog of a Policy". Opinion (The Australian). http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23928385-7583,00.html. Retrieved 7 December 2008. 
13. ^ Australian Associated Press (22 October 2009). "Towing boats back is humane - Rudd". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/towing-boats-back-is-humane-rudd/story-e6freuzr-1225790160208. Retrieved 18 August 2011. 
14. ^ ^{a b} Fitzpatrick, Stephen (17 November 2009). "Oceanic Viking asylum-seekers to land tomorrow - reports". The Australian. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/oceanic-viking-asylum-seekers-to-land-tomorrow-reports/story-fn3dxiwe-1225798628524. Retrieved 18 August 2011. 
15. ^ Kirk, Alexandra (17 December 2009). "Australia looks to friends to resettle Tamils". ABC News. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/17/2775186.htm. Retrieved 18 August 2011. 
16. ^ Australian Associated Press (3 December 2009). "Oceanic Viking picks up new asylum boat" (in Sydney). The Daily Telegraph. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/oceanic-viking-picks-up-new-asylum-boat/story-e6freuyi-1225806687911. Retrieved 18 August 2011.