The Nigerian Navy has launched a new Landing Ship Tank (LST) at Damen Shipyard, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The construction of the LST 100 began about 2 years ago and when commissionedwill replace the landing ships NNS Ambe and NNS Ofiom, which were decommissioned ten years ago. They were Type 502 amphibious vessels built by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) in Germany in 1978. it would enhance the transportation of troops, military hardware, vehicles in the conduct of maritime security operations launched from sea as well as supply of relief material.
The bid opening process for the procurement of the LST was held on 19 December 2017 and supervised/conducted by a team from the Bureau of Public Procurement as well as a technical committee of the Nigerian Navy. On 13 June 2019, the Nigerian Navy and Damen Shipyards signed the final general arrangement plan and specifications on the LST 100 and this date of 13 June 2019 became the effective date of contract for the LST 100. The Keel laying ceremony for the LST 100 was held on the 9 December 2019 at The Damen-Albwardy Shipyard in Sharjah the UAE.
The new Landing Ship Tank 100 (LST 100) has a complement of 32 crew and 250 embarked persons and a length of 100.08m. The 1300 ton LST 100 is 100 metres long, has a maximum speed of 16 knots and range at 15 knots of 4 000 nautical miles, with an endurance 15 days. She is powered by 2 Caterpillar/Cat 3516 C-rating engines and 4 Caterpillar C-18 generators. Over the last 2 years several Factory Acceptance Tests with regards to various components and weapons of the LST 100 have been jointly and successfully completed by the NN and Damen Shipyards.
The vessel can carry two embarked LCVPs (landing craft, vehicle, personnel), a helicopter/UAV on the flight deck, unmanned undersea vehicles and miscellaneous cargo with a 25 ton deck crane. A bow ramp allows for the direct transfer to and from beaches and is rated to 70 tonnes. The internal ramp is rated at 30 tonnes and the stern ramp 70 tonnes. Crew is 18, but 27 additional personnel can be accommodated or 235 troops. If she is to be used for humanitarian missions/evacuation, she can accommodate over 450 persons on its upper and lower decks in short trips.
