The Swift-class coastal patrol craft were a series of

patrol vessels A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and they ...

built for the

Republic of Singapore Navy The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) is the naval service branch of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) responsible for defending the country against any sea-borne threats, and the protection of its sea lines of communications, that would comprom ...

(RSN) by the Singapore Ship Building and Engineering Company (SBEC).

History

During expansion of the Republic of Singapore Navy's capabilities in the late 1970s, the need for a dedicated coastal patrol platform was identified in order to perform the coastal surveillance and patrol mission. This need was especially apparent in 1975 during

Operation Thunderstorm Operation Thunderstorm was the codename for the Singapore Armed Forces's operation to contain refugees fleeing South Vietnam following the fall of Saigon in 1975. Background Following the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975, large numbers of South Vie ...

, where RSN resorted to using the Sea Wolf-class missile gun boats to intercept Vietnamese boat people attempting to land in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. This was deemed to be operationally inefficient as it deprived RSN of a critical surface strike asset. As a result, a contract was signed with the SBEC for 12 Coastal Patrol Craft (CPC). The first vessel, RSS Swift Warrior was launched on 8 June 1980 and all 12 vessels were commissioned on 20 October 1981 by then Defence Minister, Mr Howe Yong Chong. With the transfer of the coastal patrol mission of the Police Coast Guard in 1997, the 12 CPC were transferred and recommissioned in the Police Coast Guard as the Shark class, with the first four officially handed over on 7 May 1993, another four on 24 April 1994, and the last four on 22 January 1997 as part of the formation of the Police Coast Guard Coastal Patrol Squadron. The CPCs were decommissioned by the Police Coast Guard between 2008 and 2012 as the next generation CPCs were gradually put to service. Five of the decommissioned CPC were transferred to the Indonesian Marine Police or POLAIR on 9 February 2012.

Design

The Swift class are of

aluminium 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. I ...

construction, with an

overall length The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads in ...

of , 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 .

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 ...

was full load. The ships are powered by two Deutz SBA-16M816

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 with a total power of and driving two propeller shafts, for a maximum speed of . 8.6 tons of fuel is carried, giving a range of at or at . Armament consists of a single 20 mm cannon and two machine guns. The ships carried a crew of 3 officers and 9 other ranks.Prézelin and Baker 1990, p. 463.

References

Citations

Bibliography

*{{cite book, editor-last1=Prézelin, editor-first1=Bernard, editor-last2=Baker, editor-first2=A.D., title=The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World 1990/91:Their Ships, Aircraft and Armament, year=1990, publisher=Naval Institute Press, location=Annapolis, Maryland, isbn=0-87021-250-8 Patrol ship classes Patrol vessels of the Republic of Singapore Navy Ships built in Singapore