NATO's Submarine Rescue Vessel HSwMS Belos (A214) was originally designed and built by De Hoop Shipyard and was known prior to her conversion as the Energy Supporter. In 1992 she was purchased by the Swedish Navy and converted for operations to a Submarine Rescue Vessel.
The HSwMS Belos (A214) is 105m Length Overall, 18m beam. The displacement is 5,300 tonnes, cruising speed is 11.5 knots. Equipped with 5 cranes, and A-Frame with a total lifting capacity of 160 tonnes, HSwMS Belos (A214) is used as the Mother Ship for Swedish Navy's submarine reduce vehicle known as the URF (Swedish abbreviation for Submarine Rescue Vehicle)
HSwMS Belos also has a other additional equipment such as search and rescue equipment and Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs), as well as all the necessary diving equipment for the divers
The large recompression system onboard has three large chambers (as can be seen in the picture below) and has the capability to decompress 35 submariners at the same time, which happens to be the crew of a Swedish submarine crew. HSwMS Belos also carries all necessary support functions, such as food, medical equipment, communications equipment and has a Helipad on the forecastle deck.
The URF weighs about 55 tonnes and can be easily launched and recovered from HSwMS Belos. The URF is then placed on tracks built into the deck that leads to an airlock, which links into the saturation diving system. The available air banks hold 14,400 cubic meters of gas. The URF is an autonomous manned underwater vehicle capable of operating in depths of up to 450m and transporting 35 submariners safely under pressure. This allows direct transfer to the saturation diving system, where critical medical treatment can take place without delay.
The rails built into the main deck areas of the HSwMS Belos enables easy transfer between the A-Frame at the after end of the vessel and the recompression system located amidships and with the main accommodation block structure.
Once the call to render international rescue assistance has been made, the URF is quickly loaded onto a plane and sent along with it support crew anywhere in the world. Upon arrival at its destination, the URF is then land transported to the Mother Ship. Once the HSwMS Belos has then reached it operational site for recovery of the submariners, and been dispatched via the A-Frame. It travels to the disabled submarine locks onto the submarine hatch and transfers the submariners in distress and brings them back to HSwMS Belos. This in its simplest form is such a scenario for a submarine rescue and can be viewed black clicking the picture below.
The HSwMS Belos is also capable of acting as the Mother Ship to the United Kingdom's submarine rescue vehicle known as the LR5. (See picture below).
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