The Nigerian Navy’s NNS Kada gets its own glossy magazine

The crew of the NNS Kada has created their own magazine about the LST-100 built by Damen Naval for the Nigerian Navy. The pride in their Landing Ship Transport 100 jumps out of the 84-page glossy magazine that tells the story of the ship’s activities since its handover.

“We were approached by Nigeria asking if we would sponsor the magazine and of course we wanted to do that,” says Manager Naval Sales Support Ed Veen. “We are also in it with an advertisement and it looks fantastic. We are still in discussions with Nigeria about an ILS package and a possible second LST and this kind of positive exposure helps with that.”

NNS Kada was delivered to Nigeria on 1 April 2022 after construction by Albwardy Damen in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Since arriving in its home port of Lagos in May 2022, the ship has conducted an ECOWAS mission to Guinea-Bissau and several exercises. Ed: “In May, the LST played a leading role in the inauguration of new units in the Nigerian Navy. It was the ‘showpiece’ during the Presidential Fleet Review.”

The magazine introduces the crew and features photo reports of the voyage from the UAE, the ceremonial handover and flag ceremony, the Neptune ritual for the first crossing of the equator and various exercises and details of the ship.

According to Ed, people in Nigeria are immensely proud of the ship and are grateful to Damen Naval for its design and construction. Damen is even mentioned in the ‘NNS Kada Anthem’. “They are extremely happy with the ship and they are very positive about the cooperation with Damen. The warranty period has ended, but Frank den Hollander and Omar Simons from the after sales team are still doing a fantastic job and that is also very much appreciated by the customer. They have not experienced this kind of after-sales before.”