Vietnam lays keel on new large landing craft

One of Vietnam's Damen-designed RoRo 5612 large landing crafts. Photo c/o Bao Dat Viet.

Vietnamese shipbuilder Song Thu Corporation held the keel laying for a new 57-meter roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) landing craft which will be built for the Vietnam People's Navy (VPN).

The ship, currently identified as the TN521056 which is based on the RoRo 5612 design from Dutch shipbuilder Damen, are expected to improve the amphibious transport, logistics and mobility capability of the Vietnamese Armed Forces, with emphasis on transporting armored vehicles of the Vietnam People's Army (VPA).

It appears that this is the fourth ship of similar design destined for the VPN, and that three (3) other units were delivered to the VPN earlier after an order for the ships originally bound for Venezuela was sold to the VPN when they was not able to pay for the ships before delivery.  

The ship has an overall length of 57.27 meters, a beam of 12 meters, a maximum draft of 2.75 meters. It displaces at around 600 tons, and has a maximum speed of 10.4 knots.



[1] Bao Dat Viet
[2] VietDefense
[3] Jane's Navy International