On January 19, 2023, a ceremony was held in Surabaya for the commissioning of the hospital ship BRS 992 Dr. Radjiman Wedyodiningrat, built by the Indonesian state shipbuilding association PT PAL (Persero) based on the design of the well-known Makassar-type landing helicopter docks, into the Indonesian Navy. This vessel became the eighth Makassar-type ship in the Indonesian fleet, and the fourth - in the hospital version. Dr. Radjiman Wedyodiningrat became part of the 1st Fleet of the Indonesian Navy with a proposed base in Jakarta.
The hospital ship BRS 992 Dr. Radjiman Wedyodiningrat, commissioned into the Indonesian Navy, built by the Indonesian state shipbuilding association PT PAL (Persero) based on the design of Makassar-type amphibious helicopter dock ships. Surabaya, 19.01.2023 (c) Zainal Azkhari / antvklikThe ceremony of the first steel cutting for the vessel and the start of construction of Dr. Radjiman Wedyodiningrat took place at the PT PAL shipbuilding company in Surabaya on January 20, 2021.
The launch was made on August 15, 2022, factory sea trials were started on December 16, 2022, and now the ship has been transferred to the Indonesian Navy.
Dr. Radjiman Wedyodiningrat became the second vessel in this modification of the PT PAL construction project after the lead ship of the same type BRS 991 Dr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo. The construction of the latter was started in Surabaya on October 14, 2019, the launch was made on January 7, 2021 and on January 14, 2022, Dr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo was handed over to the Indonesian navy.
Under a 2003 contract worth only $ 35 million, the South Korean shipbuilding company Dae Sun Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd. designed and built a relatively small amphibious helicopter dock ship (DVKD) for the Indonesian Navy at its shipyard in Busan LPD 972 Tanjung Dalpele (standard displacement 7,300 tons, total displacement 11,394 tons, length 122 m), commissioned into the Indonesian Navy in 2004. In 2008, this ship in the Indonesian Navy was also converted into a hospital ship and renamed BRS 990 Dr. Soeharso.Following this, in 2004, Indonesia signed a contract with Dae Sun Shipbuilding & Engineering worth $ 150 million for the construction of four DVKDs on a slightly modified project (LPD 124, length 124 m).
Including the first two ships LPD 590 Makassar and LPD 591 Surabaya were built in South Korea with the delivery to the Indonesian navy in 2007, and the other two ships LPD 592 Banjarmasin and LPD 593 Banda Aceh were built at RT PAL in Surabaya with the assistance of the South Korean side, with the transfer of technology and full rights to the project, and were transferred to the Indonesian Navy in 2009 and 2011.
In 2017, the Indonesian Navy ordered the PT PAL sixth DVKD, which was originally built as a hospital ship and named BRS 594 Semarang was launched on August 3, 2018 and commissioned on January 21, 2019. With a standard displacement of 7,200 tons and a length of 124 meters, Semarang was another modification (LPD 124M project) of the Makassar type, differing from the latter with an increased volume of a helicopter hangar (up to three helicopters can be based) and cabins for personnel (total capacity of 771 people, including the crew, against 644 people on Makassar).
In 2017, the Indonesian Navy handed over to PT PAL the task of designing two more DVKDs (the seventh and eighth), which were also to be used as a hospital ship, and now both BRS 991 Dr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo and BRS 992 Dr. Radjiman Wedyodiningrat have been commissioned. These two units have some differences in design and architecture, the hangar is again reduced to two helicopters. The ship in this version has a total capacity of 643 people. In fact, the full-time capacity is 120 crew members, 66 medical personnel and 159 bed patients. In light of the experience of fighting the coronavirus pandemic, infectious isolators have been installed on ships. The presence of four hospital ships will make it possible to permanently keep one such ship in operational condition as part of each of the three fleets of the Indonesian Navy.
It was reported that in addition, the Indonesian Coast Guard plans to order a PT PAL ship based on the Makassar type DVKD design for use as a floating base and a control ship.
A successful project of small inexpensive Makassar-type DVKDs aroused great interest in the world market, and in early 2014 RT PAL received a contract for the construction of two ships of their type (SSV) for the Philippine Navy, handing over two ships built for them in Surabaya LD 601 Tarlac and LD 602 Davao del Sur in 2016 and 2017. In June 2022, the Philippines signed a contract with PT PAL for the construction of two more ships of the same type.
In July 2022, PT PAL also signed a contract for the construction of one ship of an enlarged version (with a length of 163 meters and a width of 24 meters) of Makassar-type landing helicopter dock ships for the UAE Navy.Dae Sun Shipbuilding & Engineering itself in 2012 also concluded an agreement on the construction of two similar ships for the Peruvian Navy at the enterprise of the Peruvian Naval Shipbuilding and Ship Repair association Servicio Industrial de la Marina de Guerra del Perú (SIMA) in Callao - the lead Peruvian ship AMR 156 Pisco, built under this agreement, was put into operation the composition of the Peruvian fleet on June 6, 2018.
The second AMP 157 Paita ship was laid down at the SIMA Callao shipyard in Callao on December 14, 2017 and launched on December 9, 2022. In addition, the same South Korean company for this type under a 2018 contract built the Moattama DVKD for the Myanmar Navy, commissioned on December 24, 2019. [...]
The hospital ship BRS 992 Dr. Radjiman Wedyodiningrat, commissioned into the Indonesian Navy, built by the Indonesian state shipbuilding association PT PAL (Persero) based on the design of Makassar-type amphibious helicopter dock ships. Surabaya, 19.01.2023 (c) Didik Suhartono / AntaraThe hospital ship BRS 992 Dr. Radjiman Wedyodiningrat, commissioned into the Indonesian Navy, built by the Indonesian state shipbuilding association PT PAL (Persero) based on the design of Makassar-type amphibious helicopter dock ships.
Surabaya, 19.01.2023 (c) PT PALVideo:
