Australia recently announced that the HMAS Canberra, the second of six Adelaide (Oliver Hazard Perry)-class guided missile frigates in Australian service, will be decommissioned in November 2005. The decision to decommission the frigate, which entered service in March 1981, comes as her four newer sister ships are being modernized. The original plan to update this entire class was scaled back due to cost constraints.
Upgrades to sisters Sydney, Darwin, Melbourne and Newcastle include the addition of an 8-cell Mk 41 vertical missile launch group (32 Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles in quad packs) which is being fitted forward of the Mk 13 missile launcher. The Mk 92 Fire Control System is being upgraded, enabling the warships to better engage very small sea-skimming targets in high clutter environments. The air search radar and hull mounted sonar systems are to undergo modernization along with a host of other improvements. Upgrades to the remaining three will be completed by 2007.
The Kuwaiti FPB 57-class guided missile patrol craft Istiqlal has recently undergone modernization in Germany. The 398-ton (full load) vessel, which had been laid up in reserve for a number of years, was brought to Lürssen shipyard, Bremen-Vegesack, Germany in February 2003 to begin the refit. Istiqlal's upgrades reportedly include new MTU diesel engines and other improvements. Sister ship Sabhan was captured by Iraqi forces in 1990 and later sunk by United Nations Coalition forces during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Another of Kuwait's Lürssen-built vessels, the guided missile patrol craft Al Sanbouk, is said to have also undergone a recent refit. Kuwait's navy has expressed an interest in acquiring new corvettes, possibly from Lürssen, in the near future.
In June 2005, the German Navy will decommission its final Type 205 class submarine. Laid down in January 1966 at Howaldtswerke in Kiel, Germany, the submarine has remained in service since 1969. Though built with eight 533-mm bow-mounted torpedo tubes, the U 12 no longer carries armament and is not considered a combatant, having operated as an auxiliary trials submarine for over a decade. Most recently she assisted in the development of new technologies for the Type 212 submarine program. In March 2005, the U 12 traveled on her final foreign deployment, taking part in the German-Swedish "Northern Star" exercises in the Baltic Sea.
Combat Fleets
By Eric Wertheim, Editor, <i>Combat Fleets of the World</i>