First vessel for NDF Navy arrives

THE first combat vessel of the Namibian Navy, the corvette Lt-Gen Jerobeam Dimo Hamaambo announced its arrival at the Walvis Bay harbour on Wednesday morning with a 21-gun salute.

The government of Brazil donated the 50-year-old vessel to the maritime wing of the Namibia Defence Force (NDF). It took the crew of 64 officers about a month to sail the corvette from Brazil to Namibia.”The handover of the ship marks the success and fruitful naval co-operation between the two countries that came into being with the signing of a Naval Co-operation Agreement on March 4, 1994 and later renewed on December 3, 2001,” said Errki Nghimtina, Minister of Defence at the welcoming ceremony.The Minister said the agreement stipulated that the Brazilian Navy would assist with the training and establishment of the maritime wing of the NDF, as well as the supply of vessels.The corvette is the first combat vessel in the small fleet of the navy.It consists of the Oryx patrol vessel obtained from the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources and two harbour patrol boats donated by the South African government.The Minister of Defence said the vessel would be used to protect Namibian waters and help fight pirates trying to plunder marine resources.”You can call on them whenever you observe a violation in Namibian waters,” he told Minister Abraham Iyambo of Fisheries and Marine Resources.Nghimtina also called on the crew of the vessel to uphold the spirit of the man the vessel was named after.The late Hamaambo was a founder member of the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), the armed wing of Swapo during the liberation struggle, and became the first Chief of the NDF until his retirement in 2000.Peter Vilho, Commander of the Maritime Wing provided the history of the corvette, which was built in Holland, launched in 1954 and commissioned in the Brazilian Navy in 1955.The 55m long vessel was first called Purus after the Indian warriors of the Amazonian people, and is of the class Imperial Marinheiro.Its armament consists of a 3-inch gun and four 20mm machine guns.It is also equipped with towing, fire fighting and damage control equipment.During its service in the Brazilian Navy of 2 092 days it covered 494 000 nautical miles.The ship was refit before its transfer to Namibia, and on June 25 it was re-commissioned in honour of Hamaambo at the naval base of Aratu in Salvador, Bahia.More than 180 officers and ratings have been trained so far for the Namibian Navy, of which 168 were trained at various naval institutions in Brazil.It took the crew of 64 officers about a month to sail the corvette from Brazil to Namibia.”The handover of the ship marks the success and fruitful naval co-operation between the two countries that came into being with the signing of a Naval Co-operation Agreement on March 4, 1994 and later renewed on December 3, 2001,” said Errki Nghimtina, Minister of Defence at the welcoming ceremony.The Minister said the agreement stipulated that the Brazilian Navy would assist with the training and establishment of the maritime wing of the NDF, as well as the supply of vessels.The corvette is the first combat vessel in the small fleet of the navy.It consists of the Oryx patrol vessel obtained from the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources and two harbour patrol boats donated by the South African government.The Minister of Defence said the vessel would be used to protect Namibian waters and help fight pirates trying to plunder marine resources.”You can call on them whenever you observe a violation in Namibian waters,” he told Minister Abraham Iyambo of Fisheries and Marine Resources.Nghimtina also called on the crew of the vessel to uphold the spirit of the man the vessel was named after.The late Hamaambo was a founder member of the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), the armed wing of Swapo during the liberation struggle, and became the first Chief of the NDF until his retirement in 2000.Peter Vilho, Commander of the Maritime Wing provided the history of the corvette, which was built in Holland, launched in 1954 and commissioned in the Brazilian Navy in 1955.The 55m long vessel was first called Purus after the Indian warriors of the Amazonian people, and is of the class Imperial Marinheiro.Its armament consists of a 3-inch gun and four 20mm machine guns.It is also equipped with towing, fire fighting and damage control equipment.During its service in the Brazilian Navy of 2 092 days it covered 494 000 nautical miles.The ship was refit before its transfer to Namibia, and on June 25 it was re-commissioned in honour of Hamaambo at the naval base of Aratu in Salvador, Bahia.More than 180 officers and ratings have been trained so far for the Namibian Navy, of which 168 were trained at various naval institutions in Brazil.