The first two Island-class patrol boats transferred by the United States to Greece have arrived in the recipient country, with two more sets for delivery soon, Naval news reported on Monday.
The report said two of the four Island-class cutters transferred to the Greek navy by the US Coast Guard arrived in Perama on Sunday afternoon, making Greece the sixth country to acquire such vessels.
The report said that the United States is expected to deliver two more of the ships to Greece in the coming weeks.
The report added that the four ships would replace aging Greek coastal patrol vessels, with Athens likely to try and purchase two more to complete the transition from its old fleet.
Island-class patrol boats are 110 feet (34 meters) long and have been used by the US Coast Guard for surveillance, search-and-rescue and law enforcement missions.
Transferring the four Island-class boats will cost the Greek government around €39 million, including transportation costs, a significant amount of spare parts, ammunition, equipment and upgrades. We believe that the RWS installation is not included in the package. The Americans will integrate the RWS. Further equipment such as surveillance radar, electro-optical sensor (Naval News verified that it would be a Miltech Hellas product), communications equipment and machine guns will also be installed. The refit of the boats is expected to last at least four months.
