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Combat Fleets

By A. D. Baker III, Editor, Combat Fleets of the World
October 1995
Proceedings
Vol. 121/10/1,112
Article
View Issue
Comments

In December 1994, Norway delivered three surplus, disarmed 37-knot Storm- class guided-missile patrol boats to the Baltic Republics to assist in their devel­opment of maritime forces capable of performing coastal patrol and sovereignty assertion missions. The Arg became the Estonian Maritime Border Guard’s Torm; the Traust became the Latvian Navy’s Bulta (seen here); and the Glimt became the Lithuanian Navy’s Dzukas. All three nations have received donated ships and craft from a variety of benefactors, including Germany (former East German units), Poland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Russia.

The U.S. Army’s sixth Gen. Frank S. Besson-class vehicle landing ship, Spec. 4 James A. Loux (LSV-6), is seen here at Hook of Holland on her first voyage after commissioning at Fort Eustis, Virginia, on 5 July 1995. Since 1988, five sisters have been delivered to the U.S. Army, all to the Corps of Transportation except the Gen. Brelion B. Somervell (LSV-3), which serves the Washington Army National Guard at Tacoma, while two other slightly modified sisters have been presented to the Philippine Navy. The 272-foot-long LSVs displace up to 4,199 tons full load, about the same as a World War Il-era LST, and can carry up to 1,815 metric tons of vehi­cles or containerized cargo. The blunt- bowed design is based on that of an Australian-built merchant ship, and all eight were built by Trinity Marine’s Halter-Moss Point Marine facility at Escatawpa, Mississippi. LSV-6 differs from the other U.S. Army units in having portable classroom modules mounted before the bridge superstructure, while the Philippine pair sacrifice the after vehicle ramp in favor of additional accommoda­tions for 150 troops and the addition of a helicopter platform.

The Singapore Navy’s Sea Wolf-class guided-missile patrol boat Sea Lion now carries no less than three different missile systems on her 254-ton hull. Seen here in June 1995, the 37-knot ship has had the after 40-mm antiaircraft gun replaced by a twin Simbad manned launcher for Mistral heat-seeking point-defense missiles; for­ward of the Simbad platform are two Harpoon and two Gabriel anti-ship missile canisters. Flanking the Simbad platform are four Hycor Mk 137 sextuple rocket decoy launchers, while on the forecastle the ship’s Bofors 57-mm dual-purpose gun can be seen. Note the plethora of radomes added since the ship’s completion in 1972; in addition to the original WM 28 weapons control radar atop the bridge, radomes for an Israeli-supplied electronic warfare system flank and surmount the mast, and the smallest radome is for a commer­cial satellite communications system. Mistral has been a major sales success for France’s Fngins Matra, with recent orders having gone to Brazil, Singapore, the French Navy, Finland, Denmark, Norway, and another Asian Fleet.

Digital Proceedings content made possible by a gift from CAPT Roger Ekman, USN (Ret.)

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