Financed by the European Union, the first two vessels of this next phase contract will be delivered in the summer of 2020 with the remaining seven due to come into service over the following 12 months. The state-of-the-art vessels will be built to the same specification as their predecessors with some additional fine tuning, and will also be operated by the Turkish Coast Guard Command to support their ongoing migrant rescue operations.

The SAR 1906 has been developed by Damen in close cooperation with KNRM (Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution), TU Delft and maritime design bureau De Vries Lentsch, as a fast, harbour-based, all weather, self-righting rescue boat.

The SAR 1906 has an aluminium hull and a composite wheelhouse. The hull design is based on Damen’s Axe Bow technology and is optimised for rescue operations, with a top speed of more than 33 kts and a range of 300nm at full load.

Working in close cooperation with the Turkish Coast Guard team, the design has been further improved and modified for their specific operations. Turkish design office DzaynGate, located in TeknoPark in Pendik-Istanbul, also worked on the adaptations of the design for the new series.

The construction of the boats will take place at Damen’s Turkish yard, Damen Shipyards Antalya. Established in 2013 in the Antalya Free Zone, the yard has since delivered over 70 vessels to international customers, ranging from 10m fast boats to 80m RoRo ferries.