HMS Albion, the first of two long-awaited assault landing ships for Britain's Royal Navy, was launched by BAE SYSTEMS' yard at Barrow on 9 March for delivery in March 2003. The 16,981-ton (full-load displacement), 18-knot Albion and Bulwark are intended to replace the 35-plus-year-old Fearless and Intrepid; the latter has been in reserve since 1990 and is to be stricken this July, and the heavily used Fearless had to return from a Mediterranean deployment after a serious engineroom fire and has not yet returned to service. The diesel. electric Albion-class ships are able to carry up to 710 troops each, and the well deck aft can accommodate four of the Royal Navy's now-building LCU Mk 10 landing craft or two US. Navy air-cushion landing craft (LCACs). Four smaller landing craft will be carried in davits, and the 550 lane-- meters of vehicle parking will fit up to 31 heavy tanks or a mix of up to 52 smaller vehicles. There will be two deck spots for Merlin troop-carrying helicopters. The artist's concept above depicts the ships' completed appearance, with the forward Goalkeeper 30-mm close-in weapon system visible on the foredeck.
Mounted to port in place of the normal Phalanx close-in weapon system (CIWS) on board the Royal Navy Type 42C guided-missile destroyer York is a prototype Raytheon Systems Sea RAM CIWS. The prototype system substitutes an 11-round RIM-116A RAM (Rolling Airframe Missile) container in place of the usual 20-mm Vulcan gun of the Phalanx system, but it retains the Ku-band Mk 90 search-and-track radar and also incorporates low-light television and infrared electro-optical sensors. The system does not carry as many missiles per mount as does the US. Navy's 21-round Mk 49 RAM launcher, but it offers the advantage of a stand-alone detection and fire-control system for ships not otherwise equipped with sophisticated combat data management systems, and it also is easily cross-decked from one ship to another. No missiles are to be launched during the February to December compatibility trials, but the Sea RAM already has been proven in land-based trials in the United States.
The first of two French Floreal-class patrol ships on order for the Moroccan Navy, the Mohammed V, is seen fitting out at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique yard at St. Nazaire in March. The ship is scheduled to be delivered this December, and the Hassan II will follow in July 2002. The pair will differ only slightly from their half-dozen French Navy sisters, which were delivered from 1992 to 1994 for use primarily in patrolling the waters of France's still-numerous island colonies in the Pacific. While the French sextet carry a 100-mm dual-purpose gun forward, the Moroccan pair will have 76mm guns recycled from a pair of Spanish-built missile boats. Also recycled will be the two MM 38 Exocet antiship missiles mounted atop the superstructure. Constructed to merchant marine standards, the 307-foot, 2,950-ton, diesel-powered pair will have a maximum speed of 20 knots and a range of 10,000 nautical miles at 15 knots. Carrying a crew of 120, the ships also will be able to hangar a medium-sized helicopter.