Indonesia commissions purpose-built hospital ship, trimaran attack craft

The Indonesian Navy has commissioned its second purpose-built hospital ship and a trimaran hull fast attack craft.

The vessels were inducted into service at a commissioning ceremony in Surabaya on 14 January. The hospital ship has been named KRI Dr Wahidin Sudirohusodo with pennant number 991 and the fast attack craft has been christened KRI Golok with hull number 688.

Dr Wahidin Sudirohusodo is a 124 m-long vessel that has been built according to PT PAL's landing platform dock (LPD)-like multirole vessel design. It was laid down by the state-owned shipbuilder in October 2019 and launched in January 2021.

The vessel can accommodate a crew of up to 120, including 18 aviation-specific personnel. It can also embark up to three helicopters, two ambulance boats, one rigid-hull inflatable boat (RHIB), and one landing craft for vehicles and personnel.

During medical and humanitarian relief missions, the hospital ship can also embark an additional 89 hospital staff, 163 bedridden patients, and 280 seated evacuees. The ship has also been equipped to conduct 11 major medical procedures and built with separate facilities for Covid-19 patients.

Meanwhile, Golok is a replacement for a similar trimaran, KRI Klewang , which was gutted in a 2012 fire. The new vessel was launched by private shipbuilder PT Lundin in Banyuwangi, East Java, on 21 August 2021. It has an overall length of about 63 m, a top speed of 28 kt, and a maximum range of 2,000 n miles at the cruising speed of 16 kt.

The vessel can accommodate a crew of 25 and it will be armed with a 30-mm gun mounted on a remote-controlled weapon station (RCWS) and 12.7 mm machine guns.