FS Eger / ex-F/S Marjata III

The first bearing the name of Marjata was operational between 1966 and 1975, the second between 1976 and 1995 and the third in 1995 (still in operation, but renamed FS Eger with entry into service of the fourth ship).

“F/S Marjata III” was built in Norway in 1993 and taken into service in 1995. The vessel operated in the Barents Sea close to the border of Russia ever since. Norway’s current spearhead navy intelligence harvesting ship, the F/S Marjata III has been in service since 1995. In 1995, the Norwegian fleet has entered a valid and current Marjata III with the case of unusual design - triangle, providing high stability, ie the vessel's ability to swim, without losing balance. The main advantage of the new models is the ability to work year-round in the Barents Sea.

The helipad is located in the wide aft of Marjata III. Superstructure and bow are larded with various antenna devices including seismic instruments and hydroacoustic stations, including omitted. Total displacement of the ship is 7650 tons, length - 81.5 m, maximum width aft - 40 m, draft - 6 meters. Power plant - diesel-electric, allowing the ship to reach a maximum of 15 knots.

The seagoing properties of the hull configuration of the present embodiments of the invention are improved, such that the hull's pitching and heaving movements are reduced, compared to the movements of conventional hulls travelling at the same rate of speed. A Ramform hull is characterized as having squarely cut off, approximately sinusoidal waterlines around the design waterline. In other words, the water line at the stern would form a line normal, or "square," to the center line of the ship which intersects, or "cuts off," the sinusoidal waterlines. Such a hull, in comparison to conventional hull designs makes it possible to improve a vessel's deadweight tonnage transverse stability, navigational and sailing properties and to reduce stresses on the hull beam whether the vessel is sailing in quiet water or into the waves.

At given main dimensions of length, breadth and depth to the design waterline, conventional hull configurations can obtain greater dead-weight tonnage by increasing the fullness of the underwater portion of the hull, thereby increasing the total displacement. To improve the transverse stability of a conventionally formed hull, expressed as a higher initial metacenter, the breadth of the hull can be increased to obtain a greater moment on inertia at the waterline, optionally also raising the volumetric center of gravity of the underwater hull.

However, changes of this nature (increasing displacement and beam), as demanded for transverse stability and speed increase, will eventually result in an unacceptable increase in a conventional vessel's resistance to propulsion in quiet waters as well as in heavy waves. To improve the seagoing properties of a conventional hull configuration, expressed as the vessel's angular movements about a transverse axis (pitching), vertical movements (heave), accelerations and the amount of increase in propulsion resistance compared to the resistance in quiet seas, one seeks to alter the vessel's natural frequency of pitching and heaving so that this frequency, insofar as possible, does not coincide with the frequency of the wave lengths which the vessel encounters.

In the case of conventional hull designs, structural alterations result in only slight improvements in the seagoing properties of the vessel, and extreme pitching and heaving movements and a great increase in the resistance to propulsion will occur when the ship is sailing into the waves when the prevailing wave length is approximately equal in the ship's length at the waterline.

An unrelated class of ships using this hull form was originally contracted for the first Ramform W-class, was signed in February 2011 and was for two ships with options for another two. These options were exercised in October 2012. Ramform Tethy was ship number three in the series of four 5th generation ships ("PGS Titan-Class") and sequel to "Ramform Titan" and "Ramform Atlas". Newly built, besides being the widest of the waterline, is also the most powerful and effective marine seismic acquisition vessel in the world. The design earned the nickname «Strykejernet» («The Iron»), while the Russian intelligence refer to it as «Masha». FS Marjata is a purpose-built electronic intelligence collection vessel (ELINT). She is the third ship that bears the name Marjata, all of which have been used for military intelligence purposes by the Norwegian Armed Forces.

She is owned by the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, but operated by the Norwegian Intelligence Service, and is considered to be one of the most advanced ships of her kind in the world. Her main role is surveillance of the Russian Northern fleet`s activity in the Barents Sea, but is constructed for operations all over the world. She operates in international waters close to the Russian border. Marjata III officially serves as a research ship for the Norwegian Intelligence Service.

Have previously been referred to as spy ships "research vessel" - the Russians had for years been irritated over the Norwegians' eagerness to "do research" in the vicinity of all the major military exercises in the northern regions.

Thanks to the widespread introduction of automation, the crew of the ship consists of 14 persons. Another 31 people - "scientists" who actually collect intelligence and maintain equipment. According to some sources, these specialists are citizens of the United States electronic engineers and served in the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States, which is responsible for electronic espionage worldwide. But if this is not the case, then the essence of their work does not change. All the received information Marjata online is transmitted to the NSA.

Perhaps the most famous open confrontation between the Norwegian and Russian diplomats was after the submarine Kursk sank 12 August 2000. When the "Marjata" near the scene - and the Russians complained loudly on the Norwegian presence. The ship was also in the area when the accident occurred. It was located 19 kilometers away when it registered an explosion that was interpreted as a "soft explosion".

A little while later an earthquake measuring device picked up a second explosion which is thought to have occurred when Kursk hit the seabed and 5-7 torpedo warheads detonated. This secondary event was estimated to be equal to two tons of TNT. After the incident, claims emerged that the Marjata had not observed any abnormalities, but the correctness of these claims has been doubted by several military sources.

During the salvage of the Kursk, there was also considerable disagreement about Marjata's position and actions. In general Russian authorities thought the ship operates too close to Russian waters. Norway had two surveillance ships nearby - the Marjata and the Sverdlup. To tell the truth, the Russian military itself caused all of it when it did not permit the Norwegians to send at least one official representative of Oslo to monitor the operation. The two surveillance ships and an ELINT buoy are all the assets the Norwegians have close to the area to tell them if it is time to run to bomb shelters when something "hot" explodes in the Kursk.

In addition to the new Marjata IV, the Norwegian Navy plans to re-equip its older, third-generation Marjata and send it back to keep an eye out for potential Russian submarines. For the first time in history there will be two Marjata ships sent by the Norwegian Navy. Marjata III often can be seen in Kirkenes, which is only eight kilometers from the Russian border.