HNoMS Maud, the Royal Norwegian Navy’s new logistics and support vessel, arrived to its new homeport of Haakonsvern navy base after a 14,598 nautical mile voyage from South Korea where it was built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME).
Maud arrived in Norway in late March after visiting San Diego on the West Coast of the United States, sailing through the Panama Canal, and stopping again in Curacao in the Caribbean.
The ship started her journey from Busan, South Korea, after being accepted by the navy in November 2018.
Now that the ship is in Norway, it will be outfitted with defense-specific equipment, self-defense weaponry and communications systems. The vessel and her crew are expected to be fully operational by 2020.
Named after Queen Maud of Norway, the new ship will be the largest vessel ever operated by the Royal Norwegian Navy and will replace HNoMS Valkyrien which served as the navy logistics vessel until 2016.
Based on BMT’s scalable AEGIR platform design, which it shares with the larger Royal Navy Tide-class tankers, the 26,000-tonne logistics and support vessel is fully winterized, has a helicopter flight deck and hangar, and a 48-bed hospital capability.
Maud will be used by the navy to provide fuel and fresh water for other units at sea. It will additionally support allies and take part in international and humanitarian missions.