The design concept of the Unorthodox Warship AGENOR

From Savvas D. Vlassis

On the occasion of our report a few days ago on the Unorthodox Warship AGENOR as an integrated autonomous main weapon system developed in Greece, we turned to the designer Panagiotis Alourdas, Naval Mechanical Engineer (MIT), retired from the Navy, in order to present the concept behind the effort . The design of a boat is based from the outset on specific parameters that are taken into account, decisively determining the balances that distinguish the final product in terms of technical characteristics, performance and overall performance.

The condensed perception as conveyed by Mr. Alourdas (with underlinings from our side), is as follows:

AGINOR is the result of many years of effort and accumulated experience on the one hand, and on the other hand, it has been designed from the beginning as a high-speed warship of Anorthox War for the operational environment of the Aegean Sea.

What has been demonstrated by the AGENOR program is the design capability for vessels of this type and size, i.e. fast Amorphous Warfare Vessels or Fast Troop Transfer Vessels which are traditionally vessels up to 24 meters in length.

The main performance of the AGINORAS is better than that of similar Unorthodox Warships or Fast Troop Transfer Vessels.

The main performances of such a boat are:

Speed ​​and not just speed but transport efficiency, i.e. speed in relation to a specific displacement and a specific horsepower of the propulsion vessel. It should be emphasized here that the payload of a high-speed boat is a function of speed. This shipbuilding feature has a certain limit and cannot be magically overcome. One is the payload of a well-designed 40-knot speedboat and another (smaller) of a well-designed 50-knot speedboat. As is often the case in design, the requirements are conflicting and determined by the prioritization of the business user.

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Wave handling, i.e. the ability of the vessel to sail in adverse weather conditions and maintain high speeds without straining the crew. It must be emphasized here that statements about all-weather boats have no meaning. The real capability is what speed can be achieved in what sea state (3, 4, 5, 6, 7 BF) and for how many hours without the crew needing medical attention after sailing. It should also be taken into account that AGENOR is designed for the Aegean Sea, a wave environment extremely unfavorable for such vessels, since the Aegean wave environment is characterized by high wave gradients that significantly increase shock accelerations during high-speed navigation of such vessels. It is pointed out that every ship (especially small boats) is designed and optimized for a specific operational environment and specific missions and this is the correct approach when designing such a vessel.

Its acceleration in any sea state, i.e. the boat’s ability to plan and develop high speed in a short period of time. AGINORA’s performance can be compared even with that of small boats with higher power densities.

In these basic characteristics, AGENOR has demonstrated high performance, and in any case only side by side tests between two boats can prove the real performance of each one.

Now on a second level and in relation to the design details (not details in the sense of minor importance) of the vessel, these are a matter of the operational use of the vessel (including the operational environment) and the prioritization of the operational user. Again, it must be emphasized that each design detail is usually at the expense of another, so only an in-depth study and comparative evaluation of these can bring about the best result.

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In conclusion, on the one hand the main performance (and the most difficult to achieve), has been achieved and on the other hand there is the design capacity to incorporate the design details of the business user.

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