Indonesian state-owned shipbuilder PT PAL has laid down the keel for another naval hospital ship.
The vessel, which will be the third purpose-built hospital ship to be operated by the Indonesian Navy (Tentara Nasional Indonesia – Angkatan Laut: TNI-AL) once it is commissioned, was laid down on 21 January at PT PAL’s warship division in Surabaya. First steel for the vessel was cut in September 2020.
The TNI-AL currently operates one South Korean-built hospital ship, KRI Dr Soeharso (990), and one interim hospital ship, KRI Semarang (594). The latter has been built to amphibious assault vessel specifications but is operating temporarily as a makeshift medical platform to fulfil service gaps.
The ship that was laid down on 21 January is the second purpose-built hospital ship to be constructed in Indonesia, with the first being the future KRI Dr Wahidin Soedirohusodo (991), which was launched on 7 January also in Surabaya.
Both vessels are being built according to PT PAL’s multirole vessel design, which in turn inherits its main features from South Korea’s Dae Sun Shipbuilders’ landing platform dock (LPD). The vessels will each have an overall length of 124 m, an overall beam of 22 m, and a hull draught of 5 m.
Each ship, which will have a top speed of 18 kt, can embark up to 89 medical staff, 163 bedridden patients, and 280 seated evacuees in times of emergencies.
Each vessel has an endurance of 30 days when fully crewed and can accommodate up to two helicopters on its flight deck, while deploying two ambulatory boats from davits.
At the moment, the third vessel’s build progress is about 26% complete, said PT PAL in its statement on the keel-laying. Meanwhile, Dr Wahidin Soedirohusodo
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