Jonathan Commissions First Locally Made Navy Warship

President Goodluck Jonathan, will today commission the first locally made Navy warship, NNS ANDONI, constructed by Nigerian Navy engineers at the Nigerian Naval Dockyard, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The 31meters Nigerian Navy Seaward Defence Boat (SDB) was conceived as a research and development project by Vice Admiral GTA Adekeye and Rear Admiral GJ Jonah who were then Chief of the Naval Staff and Chief of Naval Engineering, respectively.
In a statement made available to LEADERSHIP, The vessel, which was to be designed and built locally, was patterned after the river town class patrol craft in the Nigerian Navy which include, NNS YOLA and NNS BRASS, albeit with several modifications as decided by the design team.
A statement in this regard read in part: “The keel of the SDB was laid at the Nigerian Naval Dockyard by the then Chief of the Naval Staff in December 2007 while full construction commenced in January 2008. Between January 2008 and April 2009, the structural frames and shell plating of the hull and superstructure were completed while the main propulsion and power generation plants were delivered.