As part of its bid for integration into ATO, Romania agreed to acquire the retired British Royal Navy Type 22 Batch II frigates London and Coventry on 1 March 2002. Instead of having the 4,850-ton pair refitted and modernized in the United Kingdom as originally planned, however, the Romanian Navy will have them updated in Romania after their delivery this fall, with plans calling for the installation of four to eight antiship missiles and a medium-caliber, dual-purpose gun. The Coventry is shown here at Portsmouth with her pennant number painted out, shortly after her decommissioning on 28 February. The 456-foot ships were completed in the late 1980s and will be by far the largest and most sophisticated warships in Romanian service. The only remaining Batch II in Royal Navy service, the Sheffield, is to be placed in reserve this November.
The underway replenishment oiler Ciudad Bolivar was ordered for the Venezuelan Navy in 1999 from Hyundai Heavy Industries, Ulsan, South Korea, and was commissioned on 23 September 2001. Seen here early this March during UNITAS operations with the U.S. Navy off Curaqao, the 452-foot ship has a crew of 85 and is equipped with sliding-stay replenishment stations on each side to transfer her cargo of 4,400 tons of ships' fuel, 100 tons of aviation fuel, 500 tons of potable water, 150 tons of munitions, 385 tons of general stores, and 17 tons of provisions. A helicopter deck is fitted, but the planned armament of twin 40-mm antiaircraft mount has yet to be installed. The Ciudad Bolivar is the largest ship in Venezuelan Navy service and that fleet's only logistic support auxiliary.
Control of Germany's Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft (HDW), the world's most prolific exporter of submarines, has been acquired by a subsidiary of the Chicago-based firm Bank One, which is reported to be negotiating to sell its share of the yard to either Northrop Grumman or General Dynamics. HDW currently has an order book worth more than $5 billion and has submarine projects under way for the German, Italian, Greek, Turkish, South African, and South Korean navies. HDW, in turn, owns Sweden's only submarine builder, Kockums, and has all but clinched the acquisition of Greece's Hellenic Shipyards, which is to assemble Type 214 submarines for the Greek Navy. The first of four Type 212A submarines for the Germany Navy, the U-31 is shown here at HDW's Kiel building hall on her christening day, 20 March 2002. To commission in March 2004, the 1,840-ton (submerged displacement), 187.5-foot U-31 is the first U-boat launched for the German Navy since 1974. HDW also is assembling sister U-33, and Germany's Thyssen Nordseewerke will launch the U-32 and U-34 at Emden. Two sisters for the Italian Navy are being built by Fincantiere at Muggiano, where the first, the Salvatore Todaro, is scheduled to launch next January. The Type 212A is powered by a combination of eight 34-kw Siemens polymer electrolytic membrane fuel cells to generate electricity for low-speed, air-independent cruising and a single 1,040-kw MTU diesel generator set. The Type 212A's 4,184-shaft-horsepower Siemens Permasyn electric motor will provide submerged speeds of more than 20 knots.