CSBC Corp. delivers 4,000-ton patrol vessel to Coast Guard
ROC Central News Agency
04/22/2022 09:41 PM
Taipei, April 22 (CNA) Domestic shipbuilder CSBC Corp. delivered the second of four 4,000-ton patrol vessels on order to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) at a ceremony in Kaohsiung on Friday.
Christened the "Hsinchu," the vessel will be dispatched to the northern branch of the CGA to protect waters close to its namesake northern city.
The four 4,000-ton class CGA frigates -- the biggest patrol ships CSBC has ever manufactured -- were commissioned by the government and are being built at a total cost of NT$11.74 billion (US$392 million), according to the CGA.
The first of the series, called the "Chiayi," was delivered on April 29, 2021.
Designed based on the Heritage-class offshore patrol cutter of the United States Coast Guard, the ships are aimed at boosting Taiwan's capability to carry out maritime patrols, crack down on illicit activities on the open sea, and conduct search and rescue missions.
Similar to the "Chiayi," the "Hsinchu" is equipped with three water cannons with a range of 120 meters, has a range of 10,000 nautical miles, and can travel at a maximum speed of 24 knots.
It also has a helipad and a hangar that can accommodate a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.
With built-in hospital-level medical centers equipped with operating theaters, isolation wards, negative pressure areas, and x-ray facilities, all frigates in the fleet can double as medical support vessels for humanitarian missions during peacetime and wartime.
CSBC said in a statement that the ship is emblazoned with the word "Taiwan" to distinguish it from Chinese vessels and display to the world Taiwan's resolution to protect its territorial waters.
(By Lai Yen-hsi and James Lo)
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