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Completed in Finland in December 1988, the 6,600-ton Soviet Academy of Sciences research ship Akademik Ioffe differs from her earlier sister, the Akademik Sergei Vavilov, in having a unique form of auxiliary propulsion. Two half drum-shaped metal sails can be raised to a vertical position and rotated to catch the winds to provide the 384-foot ship a silent means of maintaining headway during acoustic experiments.
The first of six Norwegian Navy Project 6071 diesel-electric submarines, the Via, was completed on 27 April 1989. The design is essentially the same as that of the cancelled West German Navy Type-211, which was to have replaced the current 18 Type-206 coastal submarines. Instead, the West German Navy will build seven smaller Type-212 boats and is refitting a dozen of the 206s. The Via displaces 1,150 tons submerged and carries 14 torpedoes.
Blohm + Voss (Hamburg, West Germany) launched the Vasco da Gama, the first of three 3,200-ton MEKO-200P frigates for Portugal, on 26 June 1989. The highly successful MEKO 200, whose modular weapons and sensor installations permit customers to choose different weapons fits without major redesign effort, is also in service in the Turkish Navy, has been ordered by Greece, and recently won the Australian-New Zealand frigate program competition for eight ships. Scheduled to be operational in 1990, the Vasco da Gama will carry Harpoon and Sea Sparrow missiles, a French 100-mm. lightweight gun, a Mk-15 close-in weapon system, and one or two Kaman SH-2F Seasprite helicopters. The frigate’s sensors are a mix of U. S., British, and Dutch systems.
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