Commercially operated ship arrives to support training of RSN NSmen
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According to the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), the Mentor is expected to support NSmen’s training in various competencies such as bridge watchkeeping, navigation and shipboard drills.
PHOTO: MINDEF
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SINGAPORE – It is not a typical navy ship bristling with guns or missiles. But the Mentor is the latest ship to join the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and will be used to train operationally ready national servicemen and take part in exercises and operations.
The Roll-On, Roll-Off (Ro-Ro) cargo ship arrived at Changi Naval Base, officially known as RSS Singapura – Changi Naval Base, a few days ago, according to a Facebook post by the navy on May 16.
Ro-Ro ships are designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars and trucks, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels.
Ship tracking website Vesselfinder lists the Mentor as having a length of 193m, a beam (breadth) of 26m and a gross weight of 23,235 tonnes.
According to the RSN, the Mentor is expected to support NSmen’s training in various competencies such as bridge watchkeeping, navigation and shipboard drills.
Bridge watchkeepers usually include lookouts and a deck officer who is responsible for the safe navigation of a ship out at sea.
The Mentor will also be used to support Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and RSN exercises in maritime operations.
In response to queries from The Straits Times, a Ministry of Defence (Mindef) spokesman said that the ship has been leased on a commercial arrangement.
Mindef did not say where it has been leased from, but a check with ship information system Equassis shows that Singapore-based Hong Lam Marine owns it.
The company owns, operates and manages ships used primarily by the oil and chemical industry.
The company bought the ship in 2023 and renamed it the Mentor. It was built in 2003 by German shipyard Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft.
The ship was originally named Beachy Head under a private finance initiative as one of six Ro-Ro cargo vessels for use as naval auxiliaries to the British armed forces to transport military cargo and vehicles.
The Mentor was one of two released from this role in 2011, and subsequently passed on to several owners, operating under the names Williamsborg, Massimo Mura and Cadena 3.
Mindef said that the Mentor will replace the Avatar, which ended service with the RSN in 2023.
The Avatar was leased under a similar arrangement.
During its 22-year service, it supported the training of more than 1,500 NSmen in various competencies and supported various SAF exercises and operations including Exercise Pacific Griffin, a bilateral naval exercise between Singapore and the US, in Guam, a US island territory in the western Pacific.
