ACV Ocean Protector

ACV Ocean Protector in Hobart, October 2011
Career (Australia)
Name: Ocean Protector
Owner: DMAA Seaforce Pty Ltd
Operator: Australian Customs and Border Protection Service
Builder: Aker Yards ASA, Tulcea, Romania
Launched: 2007
Acquired: September 2010
Homeport: Fremantle
Identification: MMSI number: 503630000
IMO number: 9374260
Call sign: VHDM
General characteristics
Type:Offshore Support Vessel
Displacement:7,051 GT
Length:105.9 m (347 ft)
Beam:21 m (69 ft)
Draught:5.9 m (19 ft)
Propulsion:2 × Wärtsilä Vasa 6R32E + 2 × Wärtsilä Vasa 8R32E[1]
11,036 kilowatts (14,800 hp) at 720 rpm
Speed:16 knots (30 km/h)
Range:23,000 nautical miles (43,000 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h)
9,200 nautical miles (17,000 km) at 16 knots (30 km/h)
Endurance:Up to 120 days
Complement:22 crew and up to 50 Customs Officers.
Armament:2 × deck mounted .50 caliber machine guns
Aviation facilities:Helicopter platform
Notes:Carries 2 × 8.5 m (28 ft) rigid hull boarding craft
Contains "austere accommodation for up to 120 potential transportees"[2]

The ACV Ocean Protector is an armed patrol vessel used by the Customs Marine Unit of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service. It was acquired in 2010 to replace MV Oceanic Viking.[3]

The ship was originally built in 2007 as a Multipurpose Offshore Support Vessel for the Norwegian shipping company DOF ASA. It was originally named MV Geo Bergen and renamed MV Skandi Bergen on 19 July 2007. It was based in Bergen, Norway as project vessel for DOF Subsea Norway.

It was chartered to the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service through DMAA Seaforce Pty Ltd in 2010. It was modified by Forgacs Engineering in Newcastle, New South Wales and renamed ACV (Australian Customs Vessel) Ocean Protector.[4] The modifications included the addition of two deck-mounted .50 caliber machine guns, a reconfigured helicopter platform, secure communications, a medical/surgical facility (staffed by a doctor from the Australian Antarctic Division), FLIR systems and "austere accommodation for up to 120 potential transportees".[2] It entered Australian Customs service in September 2010. It is normally tasked to patrol Australia's exclusive economic zone in the Southern Ocean for up to 220 days per year and the Indian Ocean for up to 80 days per year.

Operational history

During November 2010, the vessel intercepted suspected drug smugglers off Queensland,[5] and intercepted two asylum seeker boats off Christmas Island in November 2010.[6]

In January 2012, Ocean Protector retrieved three Australian anti-whaling activists who had boarded the MV Shōnan Maru 2.[7]

In 2016, the Australian Customs charter for Ocean Protector will end.[8][9] ADV Ocean Shield will be transferred from the Royal Australian Navy to Customs as a replacement.[8][9]

References

  1. ↑ "Skandi Bergen". DOF Subsea. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Ocean Protector Fact Sheet". Australian Customs and Border Protection Service.
  3. ↑ "Mothership being readied for asylum-seekers". The Australian. 30 July 2010.
  4. ↑ "Skandi Bergen Becomes ACV Ocean Protector".
  5. ↑ "Australia stands watch in the Southern Ocean with launch of Ocean Protector". Jane's Defense Security Report. 17 December 2010.
  6. ↑ "Two more boats intercepted". news.com.au. 4 November 2010.
  7. ↑ "Whaling activists off Japanese ship". Canberra Times. 13 January 2012.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Ocean Shield the Navy's newest humanitarian and disaster relief vessel" (Press release). Offices of the Minister for Defence and Minister for Defence Materiel. 3 June 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Ellery, David (20 March 2012). "Defence buys boat bound for Customs". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 3 June 2012.

External links

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