Ceremonial welcome for patrol vessel OOB-32 Umag: The new pride of the Croatian Coast Guard sails into its home port of Pula

Today, on 5 March 2025 a ceremonial welcome for the crew and the coastal patrol vessel OOB-32 Umag was held at the Vargarola barracks in Pula. This was the first sailing of the Croatian Coast Guard ship into its home port, after the ceremonial handover of this ship on 17 January 2025 in Split, when the ship officially became part of the Croatian Navy.

The ship OOB-32 Umag arrived in Pula, accompanied by the vessel GB-201 Modrulj 1, and was welcomed at the breakwater of the Vargarola port by families, friends of the crew members, and colleagues from the Croatian Navy units stationed in the barracks. During sailing in the port and docking, the ship was greeted by the sounds of sirens from other Croatian Navy vessels moored in the port and by a ceremonial lining up of Navy members.

Upon arrival, the crew of the ship OOB-32 Umag lined up on the starboard side of the vessel, and with them Commander of the Coast Guard of the Republic of Croatia, Commodore Milan Blažević arrived in Pula. On this occasion, Commodore Blažević expressed special gratitude to families and friends of the crew, whose presence further enhanced this solemn moment and also emphasized: “I am proud of my crew, which has a lot of training, practice, regular tasks and exercises ahead of it within the Coast Guard and the Croatian Navy, as well as interdepartmental, interbranch and international exercises.”

OOB-32 Umag operates as part of the 2nd Division of the Croatian Coast Guard, headquartered in Pula. The Commander of the Division and Vargarola barracks, Commander Anđelko Škara, emphasized that since the summer of 2024 the ship’s crew has been undergoing a challenging training and practice process and has invested a lot of work, effort and sacrifice. “We should continue in the same direction,” Commander Škara said, thanking his colleagues from the 1st Division for the wholehearted support they provided during the training and practice.

After the official part of the ceremony, the families of the Umag ship crew members had the opportunity to tour the ship and gain insight into the living and working conditions on this brand new Croatian Coast Guard vessel.

The OOB-32 Umag is an Omiš-class ship, 43.16 meters long and equipped with advanced systems, including a remotely controlled weapon station with an automatic 30 mm cannon, two manually operated 12.7 mm machine guns and four hand-held anti-aircraft missile systems. The ship has a capacity of 17 crew members, and the autonomy of navigation is ten days. The ship’s speed of 28 knots is ensured by the ship’s main engines with a power of 2 x 2525 kW (2 x 3386 horsepower).