| Career (Norway) | |
|---|---|
| Class and type: | icebreaker and offshore patrol vessel |
| Name: | NoCGV Svalbard |
| Builder: | Tangen Verft, Kragerø |
| Laid down: | 9 August 2000 |
| Launched: | 17 February 2001 |
| Commissioned: | 15 December 2001 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 6375 tonnes |
| Length: | 340.2 ft (103.7 m) (overall) 292 ft (89 m) (waterline) |
| Beam: | 62.6 ft (19.1 m) |
| Height: | 27.2 ft (8.3 m) |
| Draught: | 21.3 ft (6.5 m) |
| Propulsion: | 4 x 3390 kW Rolls-Royce Bergen BRG-8 diesel generators 2 x 5 MW Azipod electric motors |
| Speed: | 17.5 knots (20.1 mph; 32.4 km/h) |
| Complement: | 50 (20 Officers and 45 Other Ranks split into 3 shifts with 2 shifts on board at any one time) |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
EADS TRS-3D /16 ES with IFF |
| Armament: | Bofors 57 mm, 12.7 mm |
| Aircraft carried: | Capacity for two helicopters; one Lynx carried initially, NH90 from 2009 |
| Notes: | Cost: 575 million NOK (80 million USD), radar and helicopter not included |
The Norwegian Coast Guard icebreaker and offshore patrol vessel KV Svalbard (W303) was constructed by Langsten AS at Tangen Verft shipyard in Kragerø and launched on 17 February 2001. She was christened 15 December in Tomrefjord with Minister of Defence Kristin Krohn Devold as godmother, and delivered to the Coast Guard on 18 January 2002. She entered service in mid-2002 and is homeported in Sortland. Her primary operating area is in the Arctic waters north of Norway, the Barents Sea and around the Svalbard islands.
Svalbard is the largest ship in Norway's military armed forces (by tonnage), designed to supplement the 3 other helicopter carrying ships of the Norwegian Coast Guard - the Nordkapp class patrol vessels. She is NBC-protected with constant overpressure, and is capable of icebreaking or towing up to 100.000 tons.
On 9 July 2007 the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper had announced that Canada would be building six to eight corvettes modeled after the Svalbard's design.[1][2]
The Norwegian coastline is generally free of ice, thus NoCGV Svalbard is the only active Norwegian icebreaking-capable vessel.