Damen: RNOV ‘Shabab Oman’ Launched

The new Sail Training Vessel (STV) for the Ministry of Defence of Oman has been officially launched at Damen Shipyards Galati, Romania.

This stunning 87 m vessel, named RNOV ‘Shabab Oman’, is destined to become the flagship of the Royal Navy of Oman to continue the role of the current STV of the same name in promoting cultural interaction. Shabab Oman is a full square rigger and will have an amazing 2,700 m² sail area.

After months of careful and precise planning, Shabab Oman was safely launched in Romania before being towed to Vlissingen in the Netherlands for her final outfitting in December 2013.

The three-masted steel clipper will play a key role in training young Omani naval cadets and officers, as well as being deployed as an ‘ambassador’ for her country, where she will sail the world’s oceans demonstrating Oman’s centuries-old maritime tradition.

Due for delivery in August 2014, the STV was towed though the Black Sea, Bosphorus, Mediterranean and into the Bay of Biscay before arriving at Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding in Vlissingen, in the south of the Netherlands, on January 14.

While in Vlissingen the three 50-metre steel/aluminum masts, rigging and spars will be installed, as well as the exterior teak woodwork and decking, and the interior wood lining furnishing and finish done by Hertel. The technology systems will be commissioned by Imtech Marine/Alewijnse, Johnson controls and other companies. And although she has modern cooling systems and generators, it is all about hands-on sailing, nothing is automatic.

This is Damen’s third Sail Training Vessel Clipper type order, after previously engineering and building the ‘Stad Amsterdam’ and the ‘Cisne Branco’, the Brazilian navy’s new STV.

All three were designed by Dykstra Naval Architects, based in Amsterdam.

[mappress]
Press Release, January 13, 2014