The Belgian Navy has held a keel-laying ceremony to open the construction of its fourth mine countermeasures vessel, M943 Liège, at Romania’s Giurgiu shipyard.
Following the event, Liège will be provided with further finishing by the French company Naval Group in Concarneau, France.
This is part of the Replacement Mine Countermeasures (rMCM) project between Belgium and the Netherlands, which aims to replace their navies’ aging minehunting fleets.
As the ship is named after Liège, the patron city of minehunter Georges Truffaut, a coin bearing the city’s symbol was welded into the ship’s structure during the ceremony.
“This tradition brings good luck to the ship and the crew. It also commemorates the bond between the city of Liège and the Navy, a history that we continue with pride,” said city mayor Willy Demeyer.
Replacement Program
The rMCM program involves the construction of 12 vessels, allocating six each for the Belgian and Dutch navies, which are scheduled to be operational by 2030.
The initial ship’s keel was laid in November 2021 and began its sea trials in July last year.
Aside from the vessels, the program will also oversee the production of approximately one hundred drones to be integrated inside a toolbox equipped on each ship.
In 2019, the rMCM project was awarded to Belgium Naval & Robotics, a consortium consisting of the French companies Naval Group and Exail. France is also a program participant.
Naval Group described each mine countermeasures vessel as having the ability to “withstand underwater explosions and have very low acoustic, electrical and magnetic signatures.”
Each ship has a capacity of 63 people with a base crew of 33, measuring 82.6 meters (270 feet) long and 17 meters (55 feet) wide.
With a 2,800-ton displacement, it sails at a top speed of 15.3 knots (28.3 kilometers/17.6 miles per hour) and a range of up to 3,500 nautical miles (4,028 miles/6,482 kilometers).
