A patrol boat gifted by Oman to Cyprus has proved too big to dock at the island country’s main naval base, Evangelos Florakis. The 61.5m vessel arrived at the commercial port of Larnaca in the south of the island on 8 February. The boat is thought to be Al-Mabrukah, which was built in 1970 as a yacht for Sultan Qaboos Bin Said and originally named Al-Said. (The current Al-Said is one of the world’s largest private yachts and is often moored in Muscat’s Mutrah port.) Al-Mabrukah was converted to a training ship in 1983 and since 1997 has been classified as a patrol vessel.
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