Inauguration ceremony marking the upgrade of offshore patrol vessel P61

Offshore Patrol Vessel OPV P61 was built for the Armed Forces of Malta, by Fincantieri in Italy and is a modified 53‐metre variant of the Diciotti Class Patrol Boat operated by the Italian Coast Guard. Designed to cater for the AFM’s diverse offshore tasks, P61 has the capability to land and re‐fuel a small‐to‐medium sized helicopter and has an incorporated rigid hull inflatable boat notch to safely launch and recover its RHIB.
Last year P61 was given a new lease of life as she underwent her mid‐life upgrade at the shipyard where she was built more than 13 years ago. This refit was aimed at upgrading the ship’s degraded systems by modern state‐of‐the‐art counterparts, restoring and in some cases improving the vessel’s original capabilities.