The Spanish Navy's first F-100-class guided missile destroyer, the Alvaro de Bazan, was launched at Empresa Nacional Bazin, Ferrol, ahead of schedule on 27 October 2000. The first hull section for the second ship, the Roger de Lauria, was placed on the ways the same day. At 5,802 tons full load and with an overall length and maximum beam of 481 feet and 61 feet, respectively, the ships will be the smallest yet to be equipped with the Aegis weapon system, here in the form of an AN/SPY-ID radar, two AN/SPG-62 target illuminators, and a 48-cell Mk 41 vertical missile launch group planned ultimately to accommodate 32 Standard SM-2 Block HIA and 64 Evolved Sea Sparrow surfaceto-air missiles. The Alvaro de Bazan is to be delivered in October 2002. Capable of 28.5 knots on the power from two LM-2500 gas turbines and with a range of 5,000 nautical miles at 18 knots on their two Caterpillar cruise diesels, the ships are to be operated by crews of 35 officers and 215 enlisted personnel. The Royal Australian Navy is reported to favor the F-100 design for its badly needed replacement area-defense missile ship program. E. N. BazAn also is to construct Norway's five-ship Fridtjof Nansen class, which although to be equipped with an AN/SPY-IF radar, will carry only 32 Evolved Sea Sparrows, a much-delayed missile now not likely to be available before 2005, when the 5,100-ton Fridtjof Nansen is to be delivered.
British strategic sealift will be enhanced considerably by contracts announced in October 2000. Four 16,000-ton, 577-foot alternative landing ship logistic (ALSL) dock landing ships will be built, two-each, by Swan Hunter at Wallsend-on-Tyne and BAE Systems, Govan, Scotland, to replace four overage and much smaller vehicle landing ships. Six 20,000-ton, 558-foot roll-on/roll-off vehicle cargo ships—two to be built by Harland & Wolff at Belfast and four at Flensburg, Germany—will be operated in support of Britain's Joint Rapid Deployment Force by the AWSR Shipping consortium on a 25-year, $1.8-billion contract, with the ships to be made available to the Ministry of Defence on demand and otherwise to be employed in commercial service. The RO/ROs (above) will have 2,700 lane-- meters of vehicle capacity to accommodate 130 armored vehicles each, including 25 Challenger-2 heavy tanks, plus 60 trucks, helicopters, and ammunition; the 22-knot vessels will have crews of 18. The ALSLs (right) will have 60-strong civil service Royal Fleet Auxiliary crews and berthing for 350 troops each in a design based on that of dock landing ships recently delivered to the Netherlands and Spanish navies. The stern well will accommodate a single Mk 10 utility landing craft, and two Mexiflote powered pontoons will be stowable on the hull sides. The large upper deck will have a single helicopter spot but no hangar, and the 500 lane-meters of vehicle capacity would be used for as many as 36 Challenger-2 tanks or up to 150 light trucks, and as much as 70 tons of combat cargo also will be carried. The first ALSL (rumored to be named Largs Bay) is to complete in 2005 and all six vehicle cargo ships by the end of 2004. The Royal Navy commissioned the 21,578-ton assault helicopter carrier HMS Ocean in March 1999 and expects to receive the 16,981-ton assault landing ships Albion and Bulwark in 2003-4 as part of the ongoing modernization and expansion of its amphibious warfare capabilities.