Latvia Takes Delivery Of Final Patrol Boat

The Latvian Naval Forces received its fifth and final Skrunda-class patrol boat on 20 March, the Latvian Ministry of Defence has announced.

As with the third and fourth boats of the class ( Viesite and Jelgava ), Rezekne was built by Latvia's Riga Shipyard (Rigas Kugu Buvetava - RKB).

The first two vessels (Skrunda and Cesis ) were built by Abeking & Rasmussen, the vessel's designer, at their shipyard in Lemwerder, Germany.

The Skrunda-class' principal role with the Latvian Naval Forces is for patrol and rescue operations, although the vessels can also be fitted with mine-countermeasures (MCM) and oil dispersal equipment. In these roles they are operated by the Latvian Naval Forces' Fast Patrol Boat Squadron and its Coast Guard unit, according to IHS Jane's.

The Skrunda-class is replacing the Latvian Naval Forces four ex-Royal Norwegian Navy (RNoN) Storm-class armed fast patrol boats and five ex-Swedish Coast Guard (KBV) 236-class unarmed patrol craft.

Based on Abeking & Rasmussen successful SWATH harbour pilot design, the Skrunda-class are 25.7 m long, 13 m wide and displace 127 tonnes. Powered by two MAN D 2842 diesel-electric engines they have a maximum speed of 20 kt. The vessels are armed with two 12.7 mm general purpose machine guns, and can be equipped with a modular mission module (standard ISO-size) with a payload of up to 6 tonnes for a variety of other weaponry/equipment, the report added.