Indonesia launches second Dr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo-class hospital ship

 

The KRI Dr. Radjiman Wedyodiningrat (992) during launch on 15 August 2022. Photo c/o Kompas.

Indonesian state-owned shipbuilder PT PAL (Persero) has named and launched the second Dr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo-class hospital ship for the Indonesian Navy (TNI-AL).

The ship, to be named as KRI Dr. Radjiman Wedyodiningrat (992) once commissioned with the Indonesian Navy, was launched on 15 August 2022 at PT PAL’s commercial shipbuilding facility in Semarang.

The launching of the ship was made as part of celebrating Indonesia’s 77th Independence Day on 17 August 2022, with the ship’s name taken from Indonesian physician Dr. Rajiman Wediodiningrat, considered as a national hero and one of the founding figures of the Indonesian Republic.

The ceremony was attended by the Chief of Naval Staff of the Indonesian Navy, Admiral Yudo Margono, together with officials from the TNI-AL and PT PAL.

The Dr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo-class hospital ship actually uses a landing platform dock design and were derived from the Makassar-class landing platform dock also built by PT PAL based on a design from South Korean shipbuilder Daesun Shipbuilding.

It shares a common design with the Tarlac-class landing platform dock built by PT PAL for the Philippine Navy  and the KRI Semarang (594) converted hospital ship of the Indonesian Navy, but was purposely built as a hospital ship from the start, and was designed  to accommodate additional power generation capacity to support the ship’s medical facilities which includes a radiology room, operating / surgical rooms, and a post-operative room.

The hospital ship is also equipped with a baby room and delivery room, examination room, emergency room with a capacity for 12 people, a laboratory, and a morgue.

It has a total length of around 124 meters, a displacement of around 7,300 tonnes, and a maximum speed of around 18 knots. 

It has a crew of 163 officers and sailors, plus an embedded crew of 18 personnel for its aviation group, and facilities for up to 66 medical staff, 158 patients and 280 other volunteers.

The ship retains its well decks taken from its landing platform dock heritage and has two ambulance boats, two landing crafts and an RHIB.

It also has a helicopter landing deck for 2 helicopters plus a hangar for 1 helicopter.

[1] PT PAL Indonesia

[2] Navy Recognition

[3] Kompas