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Swiftships is a shipbuilding and marine engineering company headquartered in South Louisiana, USA. [1] Company operates globally [2] and specialized in the construction of small to medium sized vessels made of steel, aluminum or fiberglass. [1] [3] Swiftships is involved in ship design, construction, repair and maintenance activities.
Founded by Fred Sewart in 1942, Swiftships began as Sewart Machine Works and then as Sewart Seacraft [4] in 1946. Company became a supplier of “Swift Boats” to the US Navy during the Vietnam War (Swiftships delivered 193 Fast Patrol Crafts to the US Navy throughout the conflict). [2] The mission objective of the Swift Boat was to provide the Navy with a fast boat that could patrol the river shores for enemy soldiers. [5]
In 1969 the company was renamed as Swiftships. [6] [1]
Since 2004 and for the next years, Swiftships built ships for the oil and gas industry of the Gulf of Mexico [7] [8] and restored vessels for the Dominican Republic. [9]
Company has created its first fully unmanned surface vehicle in 2015, called Anaconda (AN-1), and later the Anaconda (AN-2), for which Swiftships teamed with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette [10] and augmented technology developers. [11] [12]
Since 1942 Swiftships has designed and built over 600 naval vessels and commercial platforms. [3]
In 2008 the company signed a contract with the Egyptian Navy, initiating a co-production program, building vessels in-country. [13] The partnership includes a yard in Alexandria, where the company produces patrol crafts. [14]
In 2009, Swiftships was awarded a contract by the U.S. Navy to provide Follow on Technical Support on behalf of the Iraqi Navy that included the establishment of a Ship Repair Facility in Umm Qasr, Iraq. [15] [16] [17] [18]
In 2020, Swiftships operates 3 yards in USA and 1 co-production yard (JV) with Egyptian Navy in Alexandria, Egypt:
Ship types include:
A patrol boat is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and they generally range in size. They may be operated by a nation's navy, coast guard, police, or customs, and may be intended for marine, estuarine, or river environments.
The Patrol Craft Fast (PCF), also known as Swift Boat, were all-aluminum, 50-foot (15 m) long, shallow-draft vessels operated by the United States Navy, initially to patrol the coastal areas and later for work in the interior waterways as part of the brown-water navy to interdict Vietcong movement of arms and munitions, transport South Vietnamese forces and insert SEAL teams for counterinsurgency (COIN) operations during the Vietnam War.
The landing craft, vehicle, personnel (LCVP) or Higgins boat was a landing craft used extensively by the Allied forces in amphibious landings in World War II. Typically constructed from plywood, this shallow-draft, barge-like boat could ferry a roughly platoon-sized complement of 36 men to shore at 9 knots (17 km/h). Men generally entered the boat by climbing down a cargo net hung from the side of their troop transport; they exited by charging down the boat's lowered bow ramp.
A Landing Craft Utility (LCU) is a type of boat used by amphibious forces to transport equipment and troops to the shore. They are capable of transporting tracked or wheeled vehicles and troops from amphibious assault ships to beachheads or piers.
The Iraqi Naval Forces, or the Iraqi Navy, is the naval warfare service branch of the Armed forces of Iraq. Formed in 1937, initially as the Iraqi Coastal Defense Force, its primary responsibilities was the protection of Iraq's coastline and offshore assets, the official name was changed on 12 January 2005 to Iraqi Naval Forces
The Egyptian Navy, also known as the Egyptian Naval Force, is the maritime branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces. It is the largest navy in the Middle East as well as Africa, and is the twelfth largest navy in the world. The navy protects more than 2,000 kilometers of coastline of the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, defense of approaches to the Suez Canal, and it also supports for army operations. The majority of the modern Egyptian Navy was created with the help of the Soviet Union in the 1960s. The navy received ships in the 1980s from China and Western sources. In 1989, the Egyptian Navy had 18,000 personnel as well as 2,000 personnel in the Coast Guard. The navy received ships from the US in 1990. US shipbuilder Swiftships has built around 30 boats for the Egyptian Navy including mine hunters, survey vessels, and both steel and aluminium patrol boats.
The Damen Group is a Dutch defence, shipbuilding, and engineering conglomerate company based in Gorinchem, Netherlands.
The Royal Bahrain Naval Force (RBNF) is the maritime branch of the Bahrain Defence Force. The current Commander of the Royal Bahrain Naval Force is Rear Admiral Mohammed Yousif al-Asam. The navy consists of 7 combat vessels, 31 patrol craft, 10 landing ships and over 700 personnel. The fleet is based at Mina Salman Naval Base and has a flight wing which can operate off the corvettes, consisting of two MBB BO-105 helicopters. The flagship of the RBNF is the vessel RBNS Sabha, an American-built missile frigate given to the state as a gift in 1996.
The Cyclone-class patrol ships are a class of coastal patrol boats, formerly in service with the United States Navy. Most of these ships, named for weather phenomenae, were launched between 1992 and 1994. The primary mission of these ships is coastal patrol and interdiction surveillance, an important aspect of littoral operations outlined in the Navy's strategy, "Forward...From the Sea." These ships also provided full mission support for U.S. Navy SEALs and other special operations forces. Several ships of the class were transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) for a time and then later returned.
Colombo Dockyard PLC (CDPLC) is a ship building company in Sri Lanka and it is based in Colombo. It has built both military and civilian vessels for both local and overseas clients.
The United Arab Emirates Navy is the naval branch of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces. It is small force of about 3,000 personnel. It maintains 12 well-equipped coastal patrol boats and eight missile boats. Although primarily concerned with coastal defense, the Navy is constructing a six-unit class of blue water corvettes in conjunction with French shipbuilder CMN. The UAE maintains a battalion-sized marine force called the UAE Marines equipped with BMP-3 armoured personnel carriers from Soviet union/Russia.
The 30mm DS30M Mark 2 is a ship-protection system made by MSI-Defence Systems consisting of a 30mm Mark 44 Bushmaster II cannon on an automated mount. It was designed to defend Royal Navy frigates from fast inshore attack craft armed with short-range missiles, rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns, or explosives.
The Dabur class is a class of patrol boats built at the Sewart Seacraft shipyard in the United States for the Israeli Navy. These naval vessels are also built by IAI-Ramta.
Bollinger Shipyards is an American constructor of ships, workboats and patrol vessels. Its thirteen shipyards and forty drydocks are located in Louisiana and Texas. Its drydocks range in capacity from vessels of 100 tons displacement to 22,000 tons displacement. The firm was founded in 1946.
The Model 35PB1208 E-1455 patrol boat was ordered by the Iraqi Navy from Swiftships Shipbuilders in September 2009. The first was accepted into service in October 2010. Five others have since been delivered, the sixth in September 2011. The total order is for 12, with an option for a three more vessels.
The BRP Mamanwa (LC-294) is a landing craft utility of the Philippine Navy. She was named after the Mamanwa tribe, one of the Lumad tribes in Mindanao Island in the Southern Philippines. She is the sole Mulgae-class landing craft in Philippine Navy service.
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