Vietnamese Warship Sighted

The Dutch-flagged heavy load carrier M/V Rolldock Star made a short stop in Istanbul on 16 September 2017. She has departed from Novorossiysk, Russia and is on her way to Vietnam. Her cargo is the first ship of the second batch of Gepard class frigates Vietnam has ordered.

In 2012 Vietnam has ordered a pair of additional Gepard 3.9 class frigates from Gorky Shipyard in Zelenodolsk. The second batch is different as they are optimized for ASW role and have 533mm torpedo tubes, the first two pair lack.

Gepard 3.9 is the export class of the 11661E class patrol ship. She is 102 m long, 2,200 tons displacement, 103 crew members, a maximum speed of 23 knots, 9200 km operating range.

The warship is not named yet and has the temporary pennant number of 486.