Domestic shipbuilder CSBC Corp delivered the second of four 4,000-tonne patrol vessels ordered by the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) at a ceremony in Kaohsiung on Friday.
Christened the Hsinchu, the vessel is to be dispatched to the northern branch of the CGA to protect the waters off Hsinchu.
The four frigates — the biggest patrol ships CSBC has ever manufactured — were commissioned by the government and are being built at a total cost of NT$11.74 billion (US$401.23 million), the CGA said.
Photo courtesy of CSBC Corp
The first of the series, called the Chiayi, was delivered on April 29 last year.
Designed based on the US Coast Guard’s Heritage-class offshore patrol cutter, the ships are aimed at boosting Taiwan’s capability to carry out maritime patrols, crack down on illicit activities on the open sea, and conduct search and rescue missions.
Similar to the Chiayi, the Hsinchu is equipped with three water cannons with a range of 120m, has a range of 10,000 nautical miles (18,520km), and can travel at a maximum speed of 24 knots (44.4kph).
It also has a helipad and a hangar that can accommodate a UH-60 Black Hawk.
With built-in hospital-level medical centers equipped with operating theaters, isolation wards, negative pressure areas and X-ray facilities, all frigates in the fleet can double as medical support vessels for humanitarian missions during peacetime and wartime.
CSBC said in a statement that the ship is emblazoned with the word “Taiwan” to distinguish it from Chinese vessels and display to the world Taiwan’s resolve to protect its territorial waters.
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