KRI ''Rigel'' (933) is the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

of the ''Rigel''-class

research vessel A research vessel (RV or R/V) is a ship or boat designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicated ...

s of the

Indonesian Navy The Indonesian Navy ( id, Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Laut, , Indonesian National Military-Naval Force, TNI-AL) is the naval branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It was founded on 10 September 1945 and has a role to patrol I ...

Rigel Rigel is a blue supergiant star in the constellation of Orion. It has the Bayer designation β Orionis, which is Latinized to Beta Orionis and abbreviated Beta Ori or β Ori. Rigel is the brightest and most massive componentand ...

is name of the brightest

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

in the

constellation Orion Orion is a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world. It is one of the most conspicuous and recognizable constellations in the night sky. It is named after Orion, a hunter in Greek mythology. I ...

. She is the most advanced military oceanographic ship in

ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...

Design

The ships were built based on the BHO ship procurement contract carried out by the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Indonesia with the French OCEA shipyard, and is made of

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

with a weight of 560 tons with dimensions of 60.1 meters long and 11.5 meters wide. She is one of the warships owned by Indonesia, with special specifications for surveys in the ranks of the Indonesian Navy's Hydro-oceanographic Survey Unit. The ships are driven by two MTU Type 8V4000M53 propulsion engines which can produce a maximum speed of 14.0 knots, with a cruising range of 4400 nautical miles and is equipped with AUV (

Autonomous Underwater Vehicle An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robot that travels underwater without requiring input from an operator. AUVs constitute part of a larger group of undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles, a classification that includes ...

) equipment that functions to carry out underwater imaging up to a depth of 1000 meters and sends back. periodic data to the main ship in this case the BHO ship. They are also equipped with ROV (

Remotely Operated Vehicle A remotely operated underwater vehicle (technically ROUV or just ROV) is a tethered underwater mobile device, commonly called ''underwater robot''. Definition This meaning is different from remote control vehicles operating on land or in the ai ...

), SSS (

side scan sonar Side-scan sonar (also sometimes called side scan sonar, sidescan sonar, side imaging sonar, side-imaging sonar and bottom classification sonar) is a category of sonar system that is used to efficiently create an image of large areas of the sea ...

), laser scanner to get an overview of the land, AWS (

Automatic Weather Station An automatic weather station (AWS) is an automated version of the traditional weather station, either to save human labour or to enable measurements from remote areas. An AWS will typically consist of a weather-proof enclosure containing the data ...

), deep sea and Singlebeam Multibeam Echosounder, CTD (Conductivity Temperature and Depth) equipment, Gravity Corer, laboratory equipment and fishery survey capability. ''Rigel'' is the first ship of the MPRV (Multi Purpose Research Vessel) type to be operated in the ranks of the Indonesian Navy under the Hydro-Oceanographic Survey unit. This ship, one of the newest defense equipment owned by the Indonesian Navy, was built at the OCEA shipyard, Les Sables. d'Olonne, France. The ship is also equipped with 20 mm and 12.7 mm submachine guns. This ship is for survey and mapping ship that is quite sophisticated because it is equipped with the latest hydro-oceanographic survey equipment that can be used for data collection up to the deep sea.

Construction and career

The ship was

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 ...

in October 2013 and launched on 11 December 2014 by OCEA Shipbuilding,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. She is commissioned on 11 March 2015. On 1 July 2021, her underwater multibeam echosounder technology has succeeded in detecting the presence of the Passenger Motor Ship (KMP) ''Yunice'' which sank in the waters of

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

. the ship was detected at position 8° 10' 31,864'' S - 114° 25' 42,986'' T at depths between 72 meters to 78 meters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rigel Ships built in France 2014 ships Auxiliary ships of the Indonesian Navy Research vessels