Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessel prepared for the North Atlantic

The vessel named "Ejnar Mikkelsen" is like its predecessor built for a wide range of arctic and coastal operations. The newbuilding is expected to enter North Atlantic service at the end of February 2009 and thus follows the first vessel, "Knud Rasmussen", which was commissioned into the Royal Danish Navy beginning of last year.

Both vessels are powered by robust twin-engine medium-speed propulsion packages from MAN Diesel. The propulsion engines are two 8-cylinder L27/38 units, resiliently seated, each with a nominal rating of 2,720 kW at 800 r/min. The engines drive a MAN Diesel Alpha VBS 1080-series CP Propeller and an AVK shaft alternator through a Renk NDSL-2500 twin-in/single-out reduction gearbox. The propulsion equipment is ice-strengthened for operation through an ice thickness of 0.7 metre. The complete propulsion package, including local engine monitoring, control and safety systems, is controlled from the main bridge control station, from two indoor slave control stations, and from the engine control room stations via an Alphatronic 2000 system. Speed amounts to appr. 17 knots.

In the North Atlantic, the operational tasks of the 71.8m long and 14.6 m wide OPVs include fishery inspection, environment protection, search and rescue, sea surveillance, sovereignty assurance and assistance to the Danish/Greenlandic government. The displacement amounts to 1,720 tons. Both vessels are designed with an aft helicopter landing deck and an internal slipway for a 12 metre high-speed landing craft. The new OPVs replace two of the Royal Danish Navy’s smaller and old Agdlek-class Inspection Cutters from 1973.