''Al Munassir'' was an

amphibious warfare Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conduc ...

vessel operated by the

Royal Navy of Oman The Royal Navy of Oman (), abbreviated RNO, is the maritime component of the Royal Armed Forces of the Sultanate of Oman. Given its long coastline and strategic location along the Indian Ocean, as well as being close to the Strait of Hormuz, ...

. It was purchased to enable the kingdom to respond to threats to the strategically important

Musandam Governorate The Musandam Governorate () is a governorate of Oman. With the exception of the exclave of Madha, it is located on the Musandam Peninsula, which juts into the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow entry into the Persian Gulf, from the Arabian Peninsula ...

. The vessel was launched in 1978 and, after decommissioning, was sunk as an

artificial reef An artificial reef (AR) is a human-created freshwater or marine benthic structure. Typically built in areas with a generally featureless bottom to promote Marine biology#Reefs, marine life, it may be intended to control #Erosion prevention, erosio ...

in 2003. It is now a popular diving site.

Design

''Al Munassir'' was ordered in 1977 from

Brooke Marine Brooke Marine (also known as J.W. Brooke & Co. and Brooke Yachts) was a Lowestoft-based shipbuilding firm.Brooke ...

by the government of

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

and

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

on 4 July that year. The vessel was designed to transport up to of cargo or 8

main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank or simply tank,Ogorkiewicz 2018 p222 is a tank that fills the role of armour-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more po ...

s along with 188 fully equipped troops which would disembark from

bow BOW as an acronym may refer to: * Bag of waters, amniotic sac * Bartow Municipal Airport (IATA:BOW), a public use airport near Bartow, Florida, United States * Basic operating weight of an aircraft * BOW counties, made of Brown, Outagamie, and Winn ...

doors and a ramp. The vessel was

long overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also u ...

, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a draught of with a

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

of . Power was provided by Two

Mirrlees Blackstone Mirrlees is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Hope Mirrlees (1887–1978), English translator, poet and novelist *James Mirrlees Sir James Alexander Mirrlees (5 July 1936 – 29 August 2018) was a British economist and winn ...

ES L8MGR

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s rated at driving two shafts, to give a design speed of . Range at that speed was . A

complement Complement may refer to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-class collections into complementary sets * Complementary color, in the visu ...

of forty five, including nine officers, was carried. Fire support was to be provided by a single

OTO Melara 76 mm The OTO Melara 76 mm gun, marketed as the OTO 76/62 Gun Mount, is a naval autocannon built and designed by the Italian Defense contractor, defence company OTO Melara. It is based on the OTO Melara 76/62C and evolved toward 76/62 SR and 76/ ...

gun mounted on forward and a pair of

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models empl ...

mounted midships, while a helipad aft could accommodate a helicopter up to the size of a

Westland Sea King The Westland WS-61 Sea King is a British licence-built version of the American Sikorsky S-61 helicopter of the same name, built by Westland Helicopters. The aircraft differs considerably from the American version, with Rolls-Royce Gnome eng ...

. In addition to an Ericsson laser and LSE optical

rangefinders A rangefinder (also rangefinding telemeter, depending on the context) is a device used to measure distances to remote objects. Originally optical devices used in surveying, they soon found applications in other fields, such as photography, t ...

, the vessel was equipped with a

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

TM 1229 navigational radar and Reifon Omega navigator, a

Kelvin Hughes Hensoldt UK, formerly Kelvin Hughes, is a British company specialising in the design and manufacture of navigation and surveillance systems and a supplier of navigational data to both the commercial marine and government marketplace. The company ...

MS 45 echo sounder.

Service

Laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

on 4 July 1977, launched on 25 July 1978 and commissioned on 31 January 1979, ''Al Munassir'' served as an amphibious operation and logistics vessel for the Omani fleet. The principal purpose for the vessel was to support the

in the

Strait of Hormuz The Strait of Hormuz ( ''Tangeh-ye Hormoz'' , ''Maḍīq Hurmuz'') is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is one of the world's most strategica ...

. This area, which is strategically important for the transportation of crude oil, has no land border with the rest of Oman. In the event of a crisis, the vessel, supported by smaller vessels including, from 1985, ''Nasr al Bahr'', was to be used to transport troops and equipment northwards. The vessel was placed in

reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US v ...

in the mid 1990s and subsequently retired to become a harbour training ship at the end of the twentieth century.

Fate

''Al Munassir'' was sunk as an

on 22 April 2003 and is now a popular diving destination. The wreck is off the coast of

Muscat Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...

at at a depth between . It is now a refuge for wildlife, including the

bigeye snapper The bigeye snapper (''Lutjanus lutjanus''), also known as the bigeye seaperch, red sea lined snapper, golden striped snapper, rosy snapper, yellow snapper, or simply snapper, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a snapper belonging to the fa ...

bluestreak cleaner wrasse The bluestreak cleaner wrasse (''Labroides dimidiatus'') is one of several species of cleaner wrasses found on coral reefs from Eastern Africa and the Red Sea to French Polynesia. Like other cleaner wrasses, it eats parasites and dead tissue off ...

, Indo-Pacific sergeant, moon wrasse,

pennant coralfish The pennant coralfish (''Heniochus acuminatus''), also known as the longfin bannerfish, reef bannerfish or coachman, is a species of fish of the family Chaetodontidae, native to the Indo-Pacific area. Description The pennant coralfish is a sm ...

, ring-tailed cardinalfish,

yellowbar angelfish #redirect Pomacanthus maculosus ''Pomacanthus maculosus'', the yellowbar angelfish, half-moon angelfish, yellow-marked angelfish, yellowband angelfish or yellow-blotched angelfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a marine angelfish belon ...

and

yellowfin goatfish The yellowfin goatfish (''Mulloidichthys vanicolensis'') is a species of goatfish native to the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Description ''M. vanicolensis'' can reach a maximum length of . The back is red-orange, while the flanks and t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Al Munassir (L1) 1978 ships Amphibious warfare vessels of the Royal Navy of Oman Ships built in Lowestoft Ships sunk as artificial reefs

Design

Service

Fate

See also

References