Fast Patrol Boats Bound for Arabian Sea

On sea trials, the USMI 27.4 m patrol boat exceeded its contracted speed of 45 knots by a wide margin. The vessel is powered by a pair of MTU 12V4000-M90 marine diesel engines each rated 1771 kW at 2100 r/min. These engines drive a pair of Rolls-Royce/KaMeWa 56S11 waterjets.

The military patrol boat market is all about speed, enough speed for covering large areas of water to catch the bad guys who often have fast boats themselves. This has driven the design of the military patrol boat to be both faster and more mission capable than other vessels. When the size of the diesel engines onboard is maxed out, designers then look to other avenues for increased speed, such as turbochargers on the engines and the use of lightweight materials for vessel construction. United States Marine Inc. (USMI), with shipyards in both New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A., and Gulfport, Mississippi, U.S.A., have used both highoutput diesel engines and composite hull materials to produce a patrol boat that has a contract speed of 45 knots. The vessel has achieved over 50 knots during sea trials and is believed to actually top out at 60 knots.

The US$6 million, 27.4 m vessel is called the Composite Patrol Boat. Current production is for an order of three vessels that is going to the Royal Oman Police Coast Guard. Oman is actually the Sultanate of Oman and is located on the southeast Coast of the Arabian Peninsula with a population of about 3.5 million. “They may be interested in buying up to a dozen of these vessels,” said USMI president and CEO Barry Dreyfus, Jr. “What they are doing is interdicting drugs coming over from Iran, the Straits of Hormuz and areas that really need help right now.”

The 27.4 m vessel is a variant on the company’s 25m Mark V interdiction craft, which is in use by U.S. Special Operations Command and was originallydesigned by Deyfus’ father Tom. Currently in production at the Gulfport shipyard, the 27.4 m vessel has a 5.5 m beam and a 1.5 m draft. Power comes from a pair of MTU 12V4000-M90 marine diesel engines each rated 1771 kW at 2100 r/min. These engines drive a pair of Rolls-Royce/KaMeWa 56S11 waterjets.

A pair of 33 kW gen-sets handle ship’s power, and there is tankage for 9464 L of fuel and 3407 L of water. The hull and superstructure are made of composite plastic material for exceptional strength and light weight. The vessel also has a fly bridge with redundant controls and electronics. “The composite hull is not only lighter, but absorbs shock and vibration better than an aluminum hull,” Dreyfus reported. There is a galley, mess room and accommodations for a crew of 12, including three staterooms for officers. Three separate heads with showers are also onboard. The accommodations, mess, galley and pilothouse are served by a 96 000 BTU air-conditioning system.

Because these vessels may come under attack, there are removable ballistic panels for all pilothouse windows. The company also produces the Special Operations Craft Riverine (SOC-R) and the Naval Special Warfare Rigid Inflatable Boats (NSWRIBs) that have seen extensive use by U.S. Special Operations Forces. They have built the NSWRIBs in large numbers, including 100 for U.S. Special Forces and 10 for the Egyptian Navy. The last of the deliveries for these vessels was in 2006.

USMI is another Katrina story. Forced out of its shipyard in New Orleans in August 2005, the yard relocated to Gulfport, Mississippi, U.S.A., and has grown to three buildings with 10 219 m2 of space. Recently, the company reopened a shipyard in New Orleans at space also used by Trinity Yachts LLC. Both USMI and Trinity Yachts are owned by John Dane lll. While Mississippi has been very good to us and we will maintain our headquarters there, we have many ties to New Orleans. We’ve always wanted a presence in New Orleans,” Dreyfus said.

By the end of the year, USMI hopes to build a separate shipbuilding operation on Trinity Yachts’ land and hire 50 to 75 employees.