Genoa, June 20, 2017
The first Mine Countermeasure Vessel for the Algerian Navy named “El-Kasseh 1” was delivered today at Porto Lotti (La Spezia).
The characteristic of this Vessel is the capacity to control a potentially mined sea area obtained by means of the protection of sea routes leading to naval bases and ports of interest.
The main tasks of the Unit “El-Kasseh 1” are active mine-hunting, characterized by activities of reconnaissance and neutralization of the possible mines, and passive mine-hunting, realized by means of the patrol of navigation channels, delimitation of minefields and the guiding of the ships through safe routes. The Ship has been projected in order to accomplish also secondary missions such as research and rescue.
The ceremony was attended by high representatives of the Italian Industry as well as by civil and military Authorities. As far as Industry is concerned, the following Representatives took the floor: Mr. Livio Corghi, CEO of Intermarine, Mr. Marco De Fazio, SVP Naval & Air Defence Systems LoB of Leonardo, Mr. Giacomo Sardina, CEO of Orizzonte Sistemi Navali. The Algerian Navy was represented by General Malaoui Salah, Head of the Ship’s Acceptance Commission and Representative of the Commander-in-Chief of the Algerian Navy, and by His Excellency the Ambassador of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, Mr. Senouci Bereksi.
The works for the preparation of the hull construction started in December 2013 at the Intermarine shipyard in Sarzana. On February 18, 2014, the first layer of fiberglass (the material coating the hull) was laid and the Vessel was launched on November 2015.
The Ship has a length overall of 52,45 m, a breadth overall of 10 m and a depth from the main deck of about 5 m, the full load displacement is of 720 tons.
The main propulsion system, based on two 1000 KW engines, allows a maximum speed of 15 knots; an auxiliary propulsion system permits precision navigation and the low speed navigation on the minefield. The Ship can also accomplish operational activities with a maximum autonomy of 15 days.
The crew will be composed by 46 members including 4 divers. The Ship is also equipped in order to provide accommodation up to 12 members of the special forces. The crew operational training will be entirely realized in Italy, starting from the end of June 2017, in collaboration with the Italian Navy.
The delivery of this Vessel symbolizes the already-known relationship based on strong cooperation which has been created between Algeria and the Italian Defense Industry, here represented by Orizzonte Sistemi Navali as Prime Contractor for the Programme, with the support of Leonardo for the combat system part and Intermarine for the Platform part.
