European Supporter

European Supporter inbound to the Port of Tyne, North East England from Bergen, Norway on 22nd May 2011. Photographed from Western Quay, North Shields.

Quite an interesting history to this one - It was built in 1996 as an offshore supply vessel and named Viking Lady. In 2000, the ship was converted to a cable layer, renamed Oceanic Viking, and used for laying optic fibre cables between Europe and North America.

n 2004, the Oceanic Viking was converted to an armed patrol vessel and chartered to the Australian Customs Service.

The vessel was fitted with two deck-mounted .50 calibre machine guns, and as a result became the first civilian ship in Australia to carry mounted weapons in peacetime. It was Australian-flagged and operated by a civilian crew including armed Customs officers and Fisheries officers from the Australian Fisheries Management Authority.
The vessel conducts Customs and Fisheries patrols in the Southern Ocean and the Australian territories of Ashmore and Cartier Islands and Heard Island and McDonald Islands.

More at Wikipedia @ http://en.wikipedia...._Oceanic_Viking


Type:  Multi Purpose Offshore Vessel

EX NAME 1 OCEANIC VIKING since 2011 Jan 09
EX NAME 2 VIKING LADY since 2000 Oct 10

IMO number 9126584
Call Sign 2DYQ5
MMSI 235083046

Gross tonnage : 9227
DWT : 7000

LOA: 105.6 m
Beam: 22.03 m
Draught: 6.791 m

Year of build : 1996 @ Flekkefjord Slipp & Maskinfabrikk, Norway

Flag : Isle of Man
Port of Registry : Douglas

Owner : Eidesvik Shipping AS - Norway
Manager : P & O Maritime Services Pty. Ltd. - Australia