''Al Munassir'' was an

amphibious warfare Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducte ...

vessel operated by the

Royal Navy of Oman The Royal Navy of Oman ( ar, البحرية السلطانية العمانية), abbreviated RNO, is the maritime component of the Royal Armed Forces of the Sultanate of Oman. Given its long coastline and strategic location along the Indian Oc ...

. It was purchased to enable the kingdom to respond to threats to the strategically important

Musandam Governorate The Musandam Governorate ( ar, مُحَافَظَة مُسَنْدَم, Muḥāfaẓat Musandam) is a governorate of Oman. With the exception of the exclave of Madha, it is located on the Musandam Peninsula, which juts into the Strait of Hormuz, ...

. The vessel was launched in 1978 and, after decommissioning, was sunk as an

artificial reef An artificial reef is a human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, to control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, or improve surfing. Many re ...

in 2003. It is now a popular diving site.

Design

''Al Munassir'' was ordered in 1977 from

Brooke Marine Brooke Marine (also known as J.W. Brooke & Co. and Brooke Yachts) was a Lowestoft-based shipbuilding firm.Brook ...

by the government of

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

and

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 4 July that year. The vessel was designed to transport up to of cargo or 8

main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the role of armor-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more powerful engines, better suspension sys ...

s along with 188 fully equipped troops which would disembark from bow doors and a ramp. The vessel was

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a draught of with a

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

of . Power was provided by Two

Mirrlees Blackstone Mirrlees is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Hope Mirrlees (1887–1978), English translator, poet and novelist *James Mirrlees (born 1936), Scottish economist See also * MAN Diesel MAN Diesel SE was a German manufacturer of ...

ES L8MGR

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

s rated at driving two shafts, to give a design speed of . Range at that speed was . A

complement A complement is something that completes something else. Complement may refer specifically to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-class ...

of forty five, including nine officers, was carried. Fire support was to be provided by a single

OTO Melara 76 mm The OTO Melara 76 mm gun is a naval gun built and designed by the Italian defence company OTO Melara. It is based on the OTO Melara 76/62C and evolved toward 76/62 SR and 76/62 Strales. The system is compact enough to be installed on rel ...

gun mounted on forward and a pair of

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models emplo ...

mounted midships, while a helipad aft could accommodate a helicopter up to the size of a

Westland Sea King The Westland WS-61 Sea King is a British licence-built version of the American Sikorsky S-61 helicopter of the same name, built by Westland Helicopters. The aircraft differs considerably from the American version, with Rolls-Royce Gnome engin ...

. In addition to an Ericsson laser and LSE optical

rangefinders A rangefinder (also rangefinding telemeter, depending on the context) is a device used to measure distances to remote objects. Originally optical devices used in surveying, they soon found applications in other fields, such as photography an ...

, the vessel was equipped with a

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

TM 1229 navigational radar and Reifon Omega navigator, a

Kelvin Hughes Hensoldt UK, formerly Kelvin Hughes, is a British company specialising in the design and manufacture of navigation and surveillance systems and a supplier of navigational data to both the commercial marine and government marketplace. The company ...

MS 45 echo sounder.

Service

Laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 4 July 1977, launched on 25 July 1978 and commissioned on 31 January 1979, ''Al Munassir'' served as an amphibious operation and logistics vessel for the Omani fleet. The principal purpose for the vessel was to support the

in the

Strait of Hormuz The Strait of Hormuz ( fa, تنگه هرمز ''Tangeh-ye Hormoz'' ar, مَضيق هُرمُز ''Maḍīq Hurmuz'') is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the ...

. This area, which is strategically important for the transportation of crude oil, has no land border with the rest of Oman. In the event of a crisis, the vessel, supported by smaller vessels including, from 1985, ''Nasr al Bahr'', was to be used to transport troops and equipment northwards. The vessel was placed in

reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

in the mid 1990s and subsequently retired to become a harbour training ship at the end of the twentieth century.

Fate

''Al Munassir'' was sunk as an

on 22 April 2003 and is now a popular diving destination. The wreck is off the coast of

Muscat Muscat ( ar, مَسْقَط, ) is the capital and most populated city in Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is s ...

at at a depth between . It is now a refuge for wildlife, including the

bigeye snapper The bigeye snapper (''Lutjanus lutjanus''), also known as the bigeye seaperch, red sea lined snapper, golden striped snapper, rosy snapper, yellow snapper, or simply snapper, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a snapper belonging to the fam ...

bluestreak cleaner wrasse The bluestreak cleaner wrasse, ''Labroides dimidiatus'', is one of several species of cleaner wrasses found on coral reefs from Eastern Africa and the Red Sea to French Polynesia. Like other cleaner wrasses, it eats parasites and dead tissue o ...

Indo-Pacific sergeant The Indo-Pacific sergeant (''Abudefduf vaigiensis'') is a species of damselfish in the family Pomacentridae. It may also be known as the Sergeant major although this name is usually reserved for the closely related species ''Abudefduf saxatilis''. ...

moon wrasse The moon wrasse (''Thalassoma lunare'') also known as the crescent wrasse or lyretail wrasse, is a species of wrasse native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. It is an inhabitant of coral reefs and surrounding areas at depths fro ...

pennant coralfish The pennant coralfish (''Heniochus acuminatus''), also known as the longfin bannerfish, reef bannerfish or coachman, is a species of fish of the family Chaetodontidae, native to the Indo-Pacific area. Description The pennant coralfish is a s ...

, ring-tailed cardinalfish, yellowbar angelfish and

yellowfin goatfish The yellowfin goatfish (''Mulloidichthys vanicolensis'') is a species of goatfish native to the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Description ''M. vanicolensis'' can reach a maximum length of . The back is red-orange, while the flanks and the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Al Munassir (L1) 1978 ships Amphibious warfare vessels Ships built in Lowestoft Ships sunk as artificial reefs