Marjata
Encyclopedia
The F/S «Marjata» is a purpose-built electronic intelligence collection vessel (ELINT). She is the third ship that bears the name «Marjata», all of which has been used for military intelligence
Military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....

 purposes by the Norwegian Armed Forces
Norwegian Armed Forces
The Norwegian Armed Forces numbers about 23,000 personnel, including civilian employees. According to mobilisation plans , the strength during full mobilisation would be approximately 83,000 combatant personnel. Norway has mandatory military service for men and voluntary service for women...

. She is owned by the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment
Norwegian Defence Research Establishment
The Norwegian Defence Research Establishment is a research institute that conducts research and development on behalf of the Norwegian Armed Forces and provides expert advice to political and military defence leaders...

, but operated by the Norwegian Intelligence Service
Norwegian Intelligence Service
Etterretningstjenesten or the Norwegian Intelligence Service is a Norwegian military intelligence agency under the Chief of Defence and the Ministry of Defence....

, and is considered to be one of the most advanced ships of her kind in the world. Her main role is surveillance of the Russian Northern fleet`s activity in the Barents Sea
Barents Sea
The Barents Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of Norway and Russia. Known in the Middle Ages as the Murman Sea, the sea takes its current name from the Dutch navigator Willem Barents...

, but is constructed for operations all over the world. She operates in international waters
International waters
The terms international waters or trans-boundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regional seas and estuaries, rivers, lakes, groundwater systems , and wetlands.Oceans,...

 close to the Russian border. The Marjata officially serves as a research ship for the Norwegian Intelligence Service
Norwegian Intelligence Service
Etterretningstjenesten or the Norwegian Intelligence Service is a Norwegian military intelligence agency under the Chief of Defence and the Ministry of Defence....

.

General

It is a Ramform type ship-design with an unusual hull
Hull (watercraft)
A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...

 shape. The shape of the hull is characteristic with a sharp bow
Bow (ship)
The bow is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is most forward when the vessel is underway. Both of the adjectives fore and forward mean towards the bow...

, sinusoidal waterline
Waterline
The term "waterline" generally refers to the line where the hull of a ship meets the water surface. It is also the name of a special marking, also known as the national Load Line or Plimsoll Line, to be positioned amidships, that indicates the draft of the ship and the legal limit to which a ship...

, a descending rear body that ends in a straight cut-off stern
Stern
The stern is the rear or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite of the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Originally, the term only referred to the aft port section...

 where the ship has the largest width. Because of the very large width of the ship it will have an operational metacentric height of about 16 meters. The ship can continue to operate even with large parts of the interior under the waterline, when the ship's exact trimming is uncritical. The same goes for cargo shift, if the ship is exposed to icing or large amounts of water on deck. This makes «Marjata» a very stable sensor platform, she is also built with a very low noise signature, so that the ship itself does not interfere with the onboard sensors. «Marjata» also has large internal bay for computing and analyzing of reconnaissance
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....

 data. The Ramform type ships are often used for geological survey
Geological survey
The term geological survey can be used to describe both the conduct of a survey for geological purposes and an institution holding geological information....

s of the seabed. «Marjata» is well suited for operation in arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

 conditions for prolonged periods of time.

«Marjata» and the Kursk tragedy

The various ships that have borne the name «Marjata» has always been looked upon with disapproval by the Russian and former Soviet, authorities. During and after the raising of the sunken Russian submarine "Kursk,"
Russian submarine K-141 Kursk
K-141 Kursk was an Oscar-II class nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine of the Russian Navy, lost with all hands when it sank in the Barents Sea on August 12, 2000...

 Norwegian authorities were criticized by the Russian side because the ship had been too aggressive and would have disrupted the work. The ship was also in the area when the accident occurred. It was located 19 kilometer away when it was registered an explosion that was interpreted as a "soft explosion". A little while later an earthquake measuring device picked up a second explosion which is thought to have occurred when "Kursk" hit the seabed. This secondary event is estimated to be equal to two tons of TNT. After the incident it emerged claims that the «Marjata» had not observed any abnormalities, but this claim has several military sources doubted the correctness of. During the salvage of the Kursk, there was also considerable disagreement about «Marjata» position and actions.

In general Russian authorities in accordance with Norwegian Vice Admiral
Vice Admiral
Vice admiral is a senior naval rank of a three-star flag officer, which is equivalent to lieutenant general in the other uniformed services. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral...

 Einar Skorgen thinks the ship operates too close to Russian waters.

External links

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