The Nigerian Navy made history this month when the competed hulling of its Seaward Defence Boat (SB3) became the largest industrial ship fabrication ever done at the Naval Dockyard Limited in Victoria Island, Lagos. Dorman Long Engineering won the contract to fabricate and hull external edifice , while the electrical sensor units and internal instruments were contracted out to Blueflag Inc.
This gunboat vessel is expected to be 43-meter long, with a 30 mm remotely operated gun, two 12.4mm multi-purpose heavy machine guns, a 40mm grenade launcher and an RHIB mounted on the naval vessel, which would be chaperoned by advanced navigation and communication system.
The Nigerian Naval Dockyard in Port Harcourt, and Lagos have been pushing indigenous fabrications of naval vessels that began with what is called NNS Andoni, then morphed to the NNS Karaduwa, as the second naval ship to be built in Nigeria.
The Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Andoni was named after a popular river belonging to the Ikwerre indigenous people in the South South region of the country. Its armament consist of a manned 30mm main gun, two 12.7mm, and two 40mm AGL.
Following in the slipstream of NNS Andoni, is the NNS Karaduwa, that was so named after a river in Katsina state. NNS Karaduwa is about 40m long ,with a capacity to go 72 km/h on a 30mm remotely operated gun, two 12.4mm multi-purpose heavy machine guns and a 40mm grenade launcher
While the first ship was deployed to the Gulf of Guinea to patrol the waters, the second ship was deployed in the Niger-Delta to ward off piracy there. The Third ship, Seaward Defence Boat (SDB3) , which is expected to be commissioned in November this year with 10 purchasing orders from Federal Government, will follow the same gun profile of the other previous two ships, but with more sophistication in design.
Also currently getting built in the Naval Dockyard Limited in Victoria Island, Lagos ,are two ocean-ongoing barges to serve as a liquid dispenser to naval ships near ports and harbour. Nations around the world develop their industrial bases by first developing their military capabilities through local production, and it seems Nigeria might just be on that route towards greatness in the near future.
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