Vietnam’s
first locally-made artillery ship TT400TP was formally unveiled at state
factory Z173 in the northern city of Hai Phong, marking a new step in
the country’s defense industry.
On the morning of September 27, Colonel Nguyen Van Dac, political commissar
of the Hong Ha ship-building plant, received a phone call saying: “Dear
political commissar, all weapons and equipment on the warship successfully
shot their targets.”
He immediately
informed the good news to others in happy tears.
Thousands
of staff, engineers, and workers in the factory have long waited for
this historical moment.
“To
their surprise, foreign experts said it usually took several times for
a newly-made warship in their countries to successfully hit a target.
But this made-in-Vietnam ship opened fire accurately on its first time,”
Dac proudly said.
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After being appointed
as director of factory Z173 seven years ago, the only concern of Nguyen
Van Cuong was whether to manufacture a warship or buy one from foreign
countries.
Two years later, the factory’s management
board decided to build a modern warship by themselves from preliminary
design and weapons bought abroad.
“This ship just costs us around US$1 million
while a similar warship on the global market costs up to US$10 million.
So we save up to 90 percent,” Cuong said.
Hundreds of the best engineers in the factory had been trained abroad
for three years to learn technologies needed to build the ship, Cuong
added.
The TT400TP was created to undertake four missions: destroy
enemy warships, protect army bases of landing crafts, protect civilian
vessels, and for patrolling purposes.
The
ship, which is 54.16m long and 9.16m wide, has a maximum speed of 32
nautical miles per hour. It is able to continuously operate offshore
for 30 days and nights at sustained winds of force 9 and waves of force
8. The ship has an operating range of 2,500 miles.
This will contribute
to strengthening the naval force and mark a new step in Vietnam’s
technology of warship building to contribute to the protection of national
sovereignty, said Colonel Cao Hoa Binh, chairman of the Naval Technology
Department.
From: http://www.seameco.com.vn/en/News-Events/Other-News/Made-In-Vietnam-Battleship-Unveiled/
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