The vessel, based on the Lerici and Gaeta classes MCM vessels of the Italian Navy, has a 52.5 metre length and 10 metre beam (for a total displacement of approximately 700 metric tons) and is powered by two diesel engines for a top speed of between 13 and 16 knots.
The structure – including the hull – is built using the unstiffened monocoque single skin construction technique, with a fibreglass developed specifically for this type of project. The superstructures, realised in a sandwich configuration consisting of two fibreglass and carbon fibre layers encasing a balsa core, are constructed with the resin infusion process.
In its press release (in which the customer is not named as is typically the case for Algeria), Intermarine adds that they have already built 43 minesweepers, in 9 different configurations, for the navies of 8 countries, including the USA, Australia and Italy, confirming its international leadership in this particular sector of vessels.
Regarding the Algerian Navy, the first vessel El-Kasseh 1 (pennant 501) had its keel laid in 2012, was launched in April 2016 and commissioned in June 2017. The vessel that was just delivered El-Kasseh 2 (pennant 502) had its keel laid in 2016 and was launched in December 2018.
