Poland to build Life Guard Maritime Rescue Ship

The Armament Inspectorate invited to negotiations on the Ratownik Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa SA ship, the spokesman of this institution, Maj. Krzysztof Płatek. This marks a return to the program of building this rescue ship.

The invitation to negotiate was sent to Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa on July 20. 

So there is a chance to build a new ship for the Navy with the help of Polish shipyards, which seem to be able to build a vessel of this class, increasing their potential for future projects. The construction of the lifeguard is also a possibility of acquiring a modern vessel in place of at least one “antiquity” from the 1970s, currently in use.

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The “Ratownik” ship. MMC illustration

The previous contract for the Rescuer was signed at the end of 2017 for PLN 755 million, and this task was to be carried out by a consortium consisting of PGZ SA (leader), PGZ Stocznia Wojenna, Stocznia Remontowa Nauta and the Research and Development Center Maritime Technology Center. The final design of the unit was approved in February this year. As a result, a ship with a length of 95 m, a maximum width of 18.8 m, a draft of 5 m, a maximum speed of 16 and a displacement of about 6,000 tons was to be built. Its equipment was to include:

Diving complex for carrying out works at great depths (saturation dives) and for therapeutic decompression of the rescued submarine crews;

  • Providing assistance and rescuing the crews of damaged submarines;
  • Conducting underwater works at various depths, including the possibility of conducting saturation dives;
  • Search and mining of sunken military technology;
  • Watercraft fires;
  • Performing deactivation and disinfection procedures in the case of using weapons of mass destruction;
  • Diving complex for carrying out works at great depths (saturation dives) and for therapeutic decompression of the rescued submarine crews;
  • Underwater observation system;
  • Unmanned underwater vehicles;
  • Lifting device with high load capacity and operability;
  • Fire extinguishing systems;
  • Deactivation and disinfection systems;
  • A landing pad for helicopters;
  • Medical complex.

Thanks to this equipment, the ship was to be able to provide assistance and rescue crews of damaged submarines; conducting underwater works at various depths, including the possibility of saturation diving; exploration and extraction of sunken military technology; extinguishing fires of vessels and performing deactivation and disinfection procedures in the case of using weapons of mass destruction.

On April 24, about two months after the final approval of the project, the Armament Inspectorate canceled the contract, arguing it with the prolonged implementation process and the increase in contract costs declared by the contractor. However, when the contract was canceled, the Armament Inspectorate stated that it would try to resume the project as soon as possible. 

After the temporary resignation from the Rescuer, there were also concerns on the part of the trade unions about the future of the PGZ Stocznia Wojenna shipyard, especially considering that the cancellation of the earlier procedure for the Rescuer coincided with the selection of the patrolman’s offer for the Border Guard at the shipyard French.

These fears were partially allayed on May 22 this year. when the head of the Ministry of National Defense informed about the approval by his ministry of documents regarding the purchase of the rescue ship Ratownik after consultations with the president. This paved the way for a new procedure to begin.

The negotiations with PGZ come as no surprise. Already then, we received information that: “The Ministry of National Defense invariably takes the position that Polish industrial and research and scientific entities with knowledge and experience in the field of platform construction and ship systems integration should be involved in the process of building a new rescue ship.”

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