''Mariupol'', formerly ''Narcis'' (M923), is a of the

Ukrainian Navy The Ukrainian Navy (), is the Navy, maritime force of Ukraine and one of the eight Military branch, service branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The naval forces consist of five components: surface forces, submarine forces, Ukrainian Naval ...

, formerly belonging to

Belgian Naval Component The Belgian Navy, officially the Naval Component (, ; , ; , ) of the Belgian Armed Forces, is the naval service of Belgium. History Early history The Belgian Navy was created as the ''Marine Royale'' () on 15 January 1831. This force has o ...

, launched in 1990, at the Mercantile-Belyard shipyard in

Rupelmonde Rupelmonde is a village in the municipality of Kruibeke, in the Belgian province of East Flanders. It is located on the banks of the river Schelde opposite the confluence with the eponymous Rupel, and is known for its sundials as well as havin ...

and christened (''Narcis'') by Mrs. Lafosse-De Backer, the wife of the then Mayor of Mons, on 14 March 1991. The patronage of ''Narcis'' was accepted by the city of

Mons Mons commonly refers to: * Mons, Belgium, a city in Belgium * Mons pubis (mons Venus or mons veneris), in mammalian anatomy, the adipose tissue lying above the pubic bone * Mons (planetary nomenclature), a sizable extraterrestrial mountain * Batt ...

. It was the ninth of the Belgian Tripartite-class minehunters. The Belgian government chose to deploy the ship as part of its involvement with enforcing the

Libyan no-fly zone Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. All figures are from the United Nations Demographic Yearbooks ...

. In 2024, during the

Russo-Ukrainian war The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

, it was announced that ''Narcis'' was to be donated to

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

at some time in the future. The ship was to undergo full maintenance before donation. In total three Tripartite-class ships were announced (as of 2024) to be donated to Ukraine. Belgium was to provide basic training and the Netherlands offered on-the-job training for the crews. In June 2025, ''Narcis'' was transferred to the

. It was renamed ''Mariupol''.

References

External links

Tripartite-class minehunters of the Belgian Navy Ships built in Belgium Ships built in France Ships built in the Netherlands 1990 ships Minehunters of Belgium {{Ukraine-stub