Although the trend toward downsizing the world's navies that began with the fall of the Soviet Union shows little sign of abating, new warships entering service at the beginning of the 21st century have a remarkable number of innovations that offset declining fleet sizes. At the same time, however, shipyards and naval systems suppliers have downsized and consolidated—initially within national boundaries, but now across borders and oceans. A decade ago, few could have predicted the world's leading submarine builder, Germany's HDW (which owns Sweden's sole major producer of warships and the only Greek yard that can build submarines) would come under the control of a Chicago bank; or United Defense in the United States would acquire Sweden's famous gun manufacturer, Bofors; or second-tier U.S. shipbuilder Friede-Goldman-Halter would become a subsidiary of a Singaporean technology firm.
In addition, cooperative international warship construction programs had gotten a bad name as a result of failure of the NATO frigate program. But now, stark economic and political realities have forced such ventures as the Franco-Italian Horizon missile frigate program and a host of other international construction projects. The Horizon program spawned an agreement between France and Italy on 8 November 2002 for the joint design and construction of 27 replacement frigates by 2015: 17 for the French to replace nearly all their current destroyers and frigates, and 10 for the Italians to replace their frigates. Further cooperative ventures can be expected through 2010 and beyond—though always at the risk of losing strategic independence, unintended transfer of vital technologies, and loss of the many benefits of competition and innovation.
Aircraft Carriers
Impending export availability of the U.S. F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is likely to drive designs of future aircraft carriers and the eight large, flight deck-- equipped amphibious ship programs under way abroad. Aging AV-8 Harriers will be superceded by the far more versatile F-35Bs in navies requiring short take-off and vertical landing combat aircraft for shipboard operations. The United Kingdom already has selected the JSF to operate from the two 950-foot, 60,000-ton carriers it plans to commission in 2012 and 2015, respectively. The French Thales design was selected on 30 January 2003, but rival BAE Systems was chosen as project director. Construction contracts are to follow in 2004, and the pair will have only space and weight reservations for possible installation of catapults and arresting gear. It is probable, however, that the 160 JSFs to be acquired for the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force will include 60-90 of the U.S. Navy's F-35C variants. Until the first of the new carriers enters service, the Royal Navy will be dependent largely on shore-based aircraft or its allies for fleet air defense. The tiny current force of FA.2 Sea Harriers is to be retired between 2004 and 2006 and their places taken on Britain's two active Invincible-class minicarriers by ground-attack Harriers upgraded to GR.9 configuration but not equipped for air interception. The possibility of war with Iraq came at a bad time for the Royal Navy—most of its new amphibious warfare ships are not ready and only one carrier, the newly reactivated Ark Royal, is available. When the Ark Royal deployed to the Middle East in mid-January, instead of fixed-wing aircraft, the ship carried only troop-carrying helicopters and some of the 3,000 Royal Marines being positioned for possible missions in Iraq.
The United Kingdom may sell its Sea Harriers (the newest was delivered in 1999) to India for use on its only carrier, the more than 50-year-old Viraat. She is slated for retirement in 2010, but may have to sail farther because her replacement, the indigenously designed and built 40,000-ton "Air-Defense Ship," will not be available until at least 2012. Negotiations between India and Russia continue over the price of the proposed major reconstruction and transfer of the 1987-vintage Russian Navy carrier Admiral Gorshkov. Both parties seem to agree that the deal will go through, but the decision on which principal combat aircraft to employ—the untried Russian MiG-29K or the vastly more expensive but more capable French Rafale-M—has yet to be made. Since the Gorshkov is to be provided free, with India picking up only the cost of the modifications, the Russians are depending on sales of the MiG-29K to make the program profitable.
The French government decided on 6 September 2002 to construct a new, conventionally powered carrier at a cost of about two-thirds that of the Charles de Gaulle ($2 billion instead of $3 billion). The French Navy, however, had hoped for a much larger ship than the slow and cramped 40,600-ton de Gaulle. For a while it seemed possible that the new ship might be essentially a third unit of the new British carrier class, but cost analyses showed that another de Gaulle would be considerably less expensive. In addition, because the French carrier would operate the conventional take-off and landing Rafale-M fighter, it would need catapults and arresting gear, thus further driving up the cost of a French version of the British carrier. A final decision on the new carrier's design remains well down the road—the ship is not scheduled for completion until 2015.
Work on two 21,000-ton assault helicopter carriers for the French Navy got under way during July 2002, with the Mistral to be delivered in 2005 and the Tonnerre in 2007. They will have full-length, 689-foot by 105-foot flight decks, but will not have ski-jump bows; nonetheless, they are to be capable of operating six U.S. MV-22 Osprey aircraft. The normal air complement will be 20 French Army Cougar troop-carrying helicopters to support 900 embarked troops. Belgium and Luxembourg have agreed to jointly fund a large amphibious assault ship and the Mistral design is said to be the favored entrant. The second Italian aircraft carrier, the 26,500-ton Andrea Doria, will be able to carry 450 troops along with her complement of five AV-813 Harrier-Plus jets and nine Merlin helicopters. Unlike the French helicopter carriers, the Doria will not have a stern docking well for landing craft.
The Republic of Korea Navy ordered two 19,000-ton assault helicopter carriers from Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction on 17 September 2002; the first will be delivered in July 2007. Although they will have 656-foot, full-length flight decks, design illustrations show a Goalkeeper close-in-weapon system (CIWS) on the centerline at the bow, precluding operation of short take-off and landing aircraft. These diesel-driven carriers will have air complements of ten Merlin heavy helicopters and be able to carry 600 troops and a vehicle load that includes ten tanks. Their stem docking wells will accommodate two air-cushion landing craft. Spain is concluding plans for a 25,000-ton helicopter carrier that—like the South Korean ships—will have a starboard-side island superstructure and a stem docking well; the flight deck, however, will not extend all the way to the stem.
Elsewhere, Russia's rarely operated carrier, Admiral Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza Kuznetsov, again entered a repair yard in 2002 and is not scheduled to emerge until 2004. (She has made only one brief deployment from home waters since delivery in 1991.) Brazil's former French carrier, the 32,780-ton Sao Paulo, continued to operate through 2002 and conducted exercises with Argentine Navy Super Etendard fighters and S-2 Tracker anti-submarine aircraft on board in addition to her own small air group of former Kuwaiti Skyhawks.
Submarines
The British Ministry of Defence revealed in July that the first of three 7,200-- ton nuclear-powered attack submarines on order, the Astute, was 12-18 months behind schedule and would not be delivered before late 2006. Plans to order three more have been delayed into 2003.
Delays also are affecting the third Le Triomphant-class ballistic-missile submarine on order for the French Navy: launch of the Vigilant, scheduled originally during the spring of 2002, was delayed to early 2003, and the fourth of the class will not be completed until 2010. The first two of a planned six Barracuda-- class replacement nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) were included in the French 2003-2008 defense budget plan, but the first of the underfunded submarines is not to enter service until 2012. Subsequent boats will be completed at two-year intervals. Joint construction of Scorpene-class diesel submarines with the Spanish builder Izar, however, is helping the French DCN naval shipbuilding authority to maintain its work force and cash flow. In addition to the Scorpene projects, DCN and Izar are building two of the class for Chile and hope the Spanish Navy will place an order during 2003 for the first two of a planned four. The newest of four Spanish Daphne-class submarines, the Narval, is set to decommission on 23 April 2003, with the Delfin to follow later this year.
The first of four Type 212A replacement submarines for the German Navy, the U 31, was launched on 20 March 2002 for delivery in March 2004. But with no immediate plans to order further units, the current German force of 12 elderly Type 206 submarines likely will be gone before any further new submarines are available. Italy's Fincantieri planned to launch the first of two Type 212A boats for the Italian Navy, the Salvatore Todaro, during 2003; the second is to be named the Sirce', and two additional boats are programmed. The Type 212A employs nine 34-kilowatt Siemens fuel cells in its extremely quiet air-independent propulsion (AIP) system, while its batteries also can be charged by the single 1,040-kilowatt diesel generator set. The similar Type 214 export submarine, however, has two diesel generators and carries only two AIP fuel cells. Thus, the German and Italian Navy boats will be true AIP submarines with long underwater endurance, while the Greek and South Korean export versions will have AIP primarily as auxiliary systems. Greece took a $654-million option for a fourth Type 214 on 3 June 2002: the first-of-class Papanikolis is to be launched late this year by HDW at Kiel. HDW's Hellenic Shipyard at Skaramanga began work on the first of three Greek-assembled units, the Pipinos, on 15 October 2002. Three of the four Greek Navy Type 209/1200 submarines will be modernized under a 3 June 2002 contract and receive a hull section incorporating two Siemens 120-kilowatt fuel-cell AIP sets.
The German Type 209/1400 design is still being built for export as well—in Germany, where three are on order for the South African Navy, and in Turkey, where four are being built under license. The South African trio is to be delivered one per year between July 2005 and July 2007 and probably will be the last of their type. The second Turkish boat, the Canakkale, was launched last July for delivery in July 2004, and the fourth, the 1. Inonii, was laid down on 25 February 2002 for commissioning in 2006. The last U.S.-built GUPPY IIA in Turkish service, the Murat Reis (ex-Razorback, SS-394), was retired last March.
The sixth and final Collins-class diesel attack submarine for the Royal Australian Navy, the Rankin, was launched on 26 November 2001 for delivery during March 2003. The entire class will not be fully operational until 2009-2010—23 years after being ordered. Raytheon Corporation is developing CSS Mk 2, a new combat control system to replace its CSS system. Installations will not begin until 2006, when replacement torpedoes for the Australian Navy's Mk 48 Mod. 4s will become available. Meanwhile, with U.S. assistance, numerous improvements have been made to the submarines' engineering plants, propellers, and hydrodynamic forms.
Norway withdrew from the joint Danish/Swedish/Norwegian Viking submarine project during July 2002 and now plans to defer ordering new submarines for almost 20 years. Sweden and Denmark were reconsidering their options at the end of 2002; they may opt to drop Viking and sign up for the Type 214 program. Norway retired its four remaining Type 207 Kobben-class submarines at the end of 2001 and has transferred them to Poland. The Sokol (ex-Norwegian Stord) was recommissioned in Polish service on 4 June 2002, and the Sep (ex-Skolpen) was transferred during July. The Bielek (ex-Svenner) will be handed over this year and the Kondor (ex-Kunna) will follow in 2004. Also transferred in July 2002 was the already retired Kobben, which will be used for pierside training under the name Jastrzab.
Although the U.S. intelligence community predicted in the mid-1990s that new classes of nuclear-powered ballistic-missile and attack submarines would begin to enter service in China in the early 2000s, there are no signs the Project 093 SSNs and Project 094 nuclear-powered ballistic-missile boats (SSBNs) will be available for several years. The one Xia-class SSBN, however, has been active since 2000 and may serve as the trial platform for the Ju Liang-2 missiles in the Project 094 series. On 3 June 2002, China placed a contract with the Russian arms export agency for eight additional Project 636 Kilo-class submarines, plus an option for three more. One of the eight apparently is an unfinished boat that has been at Nizhniy Novgorod since the early 1990s; five are to be newly built models from Admiralty Shipyard, St. Petersburg; the other two were to be built at Amur Shipyard, Komsomol'sk, in the Russian Far East. After the contract had been signed, the Russian government reassigned the Komsomol'sk pair to Sevmashpredpritiye at Severodvinsk, which angered the Chinese and endangered the entire contract. The new Project 636 Kilos are to be armed with the Russian 3M54E Klub-S subsonic antiship missile. Meanwhile, slow progress continues in China on the indigenously developed Song-class diesel program. The fourth boat was slated for delivery during 2002, and the fifth is due in 2003. At the same time, several mothballed Romeo-class diesel submarines are said to have been recently returned to service after many years in reserve. Chinese submarines have been operating increasingly outside home waters—several boats were reported east of Taiwan during 2002.
President George W. Bush announced two years ago that the United States would provide eight diesel-electric submarines for Taiwan. The Netherlands, Australia, and Germany moved almost immediately to appease China by declaring that their submarine builders could not participate. Bids for eight submarines were requested by the U.S. government during October 2001. At the end of 2002, the four bidders were Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman; a formal request for proposals is to be issued during the second quarter of 2003 and the winner selected in the last half of the year. Construction will start in 2006, and the first boat is scheduled for delivery in 2010. The Republic of China Navy reportedly prefers the German Type 214 design, but how German government objections would be overcome has not been explained. Meanwhile, the Taiwanese submarine fleet still operates only two 1945-46-vintage U.S.-built GUPPY II submarines and two Dutch-built Hai Lung-class boats completed in the late 1980s.
Japan's modern diesel attack submarine force maintained its force level of 16 with the commissioning of the fifth 3,600-ton Oyashio-class submarine, the Isoshio, on 14 March 2002. The seventh of the class, the Kuroshio, was launched on 23 October for commissioning in March 2004. The ninth boat was laid down during January 2002 and the tenth and last one is to be completed in March 2007. The follow-on class will incorporate the Stirling-cycle AIP system that has been under test since 2000 in the Harushio-class auxiliary submarine Asashio.
North Korea has not completed a new submarine in more than five years; as of 2002, its operational fleet reportedly had been reduced to 20 aging Romeo-class small fleet submarines, six indigenously designed Song-class coastal submarines, and as many as 36 small Yugo-class special forces transport minisubmarines. The Republic of Korea Navy's technologically far superior submarine force, on the other hand, took delivery of the ninth and last Type 209/1200 submarine, the Lee Eokgi, on 30 November 2001 and has three German-designed Type 214 submarines on order from Hyundai.
In South Asia, the new commander-in-- chief of the Royal Thai Navy dashed Israeli hopes of selling two retired IKL 500 submarines when he declared in July 2002 that he had no plans to add a submarine component to his fleet. Neighboring Malaysia placed a $1.1-billion contract on 5 June 2002 for construction of two 1,908-ton French-designed Scorpene-class submarines and also arranged to purchase the Agosta-class Ouessant, which had been retired on 1 July 2001 as France's last operational diesel attack submarine. The ex-Ouessant will be refurbished and used to train Malaysian crews in French waters for two years; then the boat will transit to Malaysia ahead of the two Scorpenes, which are to be delivered in September 2007 and October 2008, respectively. Work began during December 2002 on an underground base for the new Malaysian submarine force at Kampung Sepanggar, Sabah. To the south, Singapore commissioned its second ex-Swedish Sjoormnen-class submarine, the 1,400-ton Chieftain, on 25 August 2002. The final two modernized Sjoormens are due to arrive in 2003. Although all four submarines are more than 30 years old, their pressure hulls are in excellent condition and they are said to be good for several decades of additional service.
Although India has had an indigenous nuclear-powered submarine design program under way since 1974 and has been receiving considerable Russian technological aid for the past decade, the first of the submarines is not projected to enter service until 2010, if then. On 4 February 2002, Indian Minister of Defense George Fernandes rejected a Russian offer to lease two Akula-class nuclear attack submarines for five years for the huge sum of $5 billion. (They would have been used to refamiliarize Indian sailors with nuclear-powered operations.) But at the end of 2002, India again was considering the offer. Also still under negotiation into February 2003 were contracts for two Russian Project 667E Amur 1650 diesel attack submarines to be built in Russia (with as many as ten more to be assembled in India later) and six French Scorpene-class submarines—the first two to be built in Europe, later boats to be built at Mazagon Dock, Mumbai, and another six planned for future orders. During 2002, a fourth Indian Navy Project 677EKM Kilo-class submarine returned from modernization overhaul in Russia, and a contract was signed for the refit of a fifth. The updated Kilos have been fitted to launch four subsonic Russian 3M54E Klub-S antiship missiles. Finally, India is working with Russia to develop the BrahMos antiship and land-attack missile, a 300-kilometer-ranged supersonic weapon that India hopes to put into production in 2004 for use in surface ships (and later in Indian-built nuclear-powered submarines).
Pakistan launched its first indigenously assembled submarine, the French Agosta-90B-class Saad, on 24 August 2002 for delivery this month. The air-independent propulsion hull section for the third unit of the class, the Hamza, arrived in Karachi early in 2002, but the boat will not be completed until 2006. Pakistan will continue to operate two earlier Agosta-class boats and four obsolescent Daphne-class boats, but there has been no announcement of further plans for submarine construction after the Hamza.
The Russian Project 955 strategic ballistic-missile submarine to be named the Yuriy Dolgorukiy was laid down late in 1996. It was to have carried the Grom (NATO SS-N-28) missile, which was cancelled early in 1998. According to several recent reports, the program has been altered radically by adoption of the smaller Bulava missile and the original Dolgorukiy has been abandoned in favor of adding a new 12-round missile-launching section to the incomplete third Akula-II nuclear-powered attack submarine. All that is known for certain, however, is that Russian Navy leaders continue to maintain that an SSBN named Yuriy Dolgorukiy will enter service some time in this decade. On 26 June 2002, in support of development of the Bulava missile, the first Typhoon-class ballistic-missile submarine was ceremonially rolled out of the repair hall at Yagriy Island, Severodvinsk, where it had been secluded in overhaul since October 1990. Once the dignitaries and the press had departed, however, the giant submarine—renamed the Dmitriy Donskoy in 2000—reportedly was rolled back into the building for further work that will delay her availability for missile trials until 2005. At the end of 2002, the only SSBNs available for operational patrols were the Typhoon Severstal', three Delta IVs, and as many as five Delta IIIs, the latter to be retired by the end of 2005. Three other Delta IVs are in overhaul, and the third remaining Typhoon hull—in reserve since 1997—was given the name Arkhangel'sk on 30 July 2002 in anticipation of funding to restore her to operation.
The Sevmash building yard has been funding a low level of construction activity on the 12th Oscar II nuclear-powered cruise-missile submarine (SSGN) Belgorod (launched at Severodvinsk in 1999) in hopes the Russian government will buy the 19,400-ton submarine as a replacement for her sunken sister Kursk; but thus far the government has shown no sign of wanting her. Other SSGN and nuclear-powered attack submarine construction has been halted, although the incomplete Akula I submarines building at Komsomol'sk may be the boats on offer to India. The previously stricken Pacific Fleet Akula I prototype may have been retrieved for return to service. She was seen aboard a floating transport barge being moved from her Kamchatskiy Peninsula storage facility to the Vladivostok region in the fall of 2002. Lack of funding probably has delayed the expected 2002 launch of the first Project 677-class diesel-electric submarine, the St. Petersburg, but work still is expected to be completed. Although negotiations to build a second boat of the class for the Russian Navy were said to be under way during 2000, there has been no mention of a contract having been signed. Refits for Kilo-class diesel submarines continue, however, with several having been returned to service in the past two years. During 2002, one Northern Fleet Kilo began overhaul and a contract was signed for the refit of two Pacific Fleet units at Komsomol'sk.
Canada's leasing (for later purchase) of the four mothballed British Upholder-class submarines has proved a mixed blessing. Problems with piping welds and other engineering difficulties have slowed deliveries severely. As of late 2002, the four were not considered likely to be ready for operational deployment until 2004 or 2005; plans to add an AIP system to the boats have been deferred to around 2013. The Victoria became operational for training duties in April 2002 and the Windsor is to be commissioned this June for training duties, but without a torpedo fire-control system. The Corner Brook left British waters on 13 October 2002 and will be commissioned this September; the Chicoutimi was to arrive early this year.
Surface Combatants
Aside from the many assault helicopter carriers mentioned above, general trends evident in the surface warship category are: near-cessation in construction of new mine countermeasures ships and craft and a paucity of new small guided-missile combatant programs. While the major navies have new and sophisticated major surface combatant programs in place, for the most part they will not replace the number of such ships operating now. There continues to be strong growth in the numbers of offshore patrol vessels for navies, coast guards, and "paranaval" organizations. The U.S. Navy's abandonment of the Standard SM-1 surface-to-air missile by the end of fiscal year 2003 would seem likely to cause problems for the ten foreign fleets that use the system—and for U.S. efforts to sell retired ships equipped with the SM-1. Even so, Raytheon Corporation has won a contract to provide support service through 2020 for the estimated 2,500 to 3,000 SM-1s abroad, and the remaining U.S. stocks of the weapon are likely to be put up for foreign sale.
In the Far East, four Project 52B guided-missile destroyers (DDGs) are in various stages of completion at China's Jiangnan Shipyard, Shanghai. The second was launched on 25 May 2002, the hull for a third was nearing completion at the end of the year, and the fourth had been laid down. The gas-turbine-powered ships appear likely to displace more than 6,000 tons. They may carry as many as 48 vertically launched, medium-range, surface-- to-air missiles in addition to antiship missiles, a 100-mm gun, and two Type 730 30-mm CIWSs. Each ship will carry a helicopter, and three-dimensional air-search and targeting radar already has been installed in the first two ships. While the indigenous DDG program is moving rapidly, construction in Russia of two additional Project 956, Sovremennyy-class DDGs for China is not. After several false starts and Russian squabbles over which yard would build the pair, a contract was signed on 10 May 2002. Although plans called for work to begin on the first at Severnaya Works, St. Petersburg, the following month, Baltic Shipyard—which originally had been assigned the building contract—announced on 7 October it would not provide components to Severnaya for the program. The two ships were to have been delivered in 2005 and 2006. They will have enhanced helicopter facilities compared to the relatively primitive installations on the first two, but there is no indication that there will be other major improvements to the 35-year-old design. At China's Hudong Shipyard, the eighth 2,393-ton Project F-22 (Western Jiangwei II) frigate was completed during 2002.
Following hard-won approval of the program by the Taiwanese legislature, the U.S. Congress was notified on 24 November of the Navy's intent to sell four retired Kidd (DDG-993)-class DDGs to the Republic of China (ROC) Navy. The 9,950-ton ships are to be delivered within three years. The ROC Navy desperately wants Aegis destroyers to help counter the numerically stronger mainland Chinese fleet. Although the Bush administration has made no promises, the impending retirement of the five oldest Ticonderoga (CG-47)-class guided-missile cruisers might provide an opportunity. Taiwan wants new ships, however—preferably units of the Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) class. While indigenous surface combatant construction in Taiwan has all but halted, the 4,104-ton eighth and final PFG-2-class guided-missile frigate, the Tian Dan, was launched on 17 October for commissioning in May of 2004. In addition, the 180-ton prototype for a proposed class of 30 guided-missile patrol boats was launched on 2 October to begin replacing the more than 50 boats of the aging Hai Ou class.
The Aegis weapon system was selected on 25 July 2002 for the Republic of Korea's class of three 7,000-ton KDX III guided-missile destroyers to be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries at Ulsan for a planned cost of $2.31 billion. The first is to be delivered late in 2006, the last by the end of the decade, and possibly another three to be built later. At Daewoo Shipbuilding, Okpo, the first of three 5,000-ton KDX II destroyers, the Chungmugong Yi Shun-Shin, was launched on 20 May 2002 for delivery this year. Thirty-two 250-ton PKM-X patrol craft were ordered during 2002 to begin replacement of the 85 Chamsuri-class 156-- tonners; the new craft reportedly will carry four Sea Skua short-range antiship missles and two single 40-mm guns. The Chamsuri-class PKM-357 was sunk by North Korean gunboats on 29 June 2002. She was raised and found to be beyond repair but will be retained ashore as a memorial. There have been no new surface combatants completed in North Korea since the mid-1990s, and recent reports indicate that its fleet of technologically primitive ships and craft is declining rapidly in numbers.
For Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force, the third 5,350-ton Takinami-class general-purpose destroyer, the Makinami, was launched on 8 August 2002. The class-name ship and the Okinami were to be commissioned this month; subsequently, ships of this class will be completed at the rate of one per year. The last two destroyers of the slightly smaller Murasame class were commissioned during 2002: the Ariake on 6 March and the Akebono on 19 March. The old destroyer Takatsuki was retired on 16 August. In the pipeline are two 10,000-ton successors to the quartet of Kongo-class Aegis DDGs. They are similar in appearance except for addition of a hangar for two SH-60J helicopters. The first ship is planned for completion in 2007.
Japan has stopped building frigates and is embarked on a program of ten Hayabusa-class, 350-ton high-speed guided-missile patrol craft armed with four SSM-1B antiship missiles. The Hayabusa was commissioned on 25 March 2002 and the Wakataka on 11 March. The Otaka and the Kumataka were launched 13 May and 2 August, respectively. The fifth of a planned dozen 260-ton Sugashima-class mine hunters, the Toyoshima was commissioned on 4 March; the eighth, the Aishima, was launched on 10 October. The Hatsushima-class mine countermeasures ship Hahajima was redesignated a mine countermeasures drone control ship on 4 March, replacing sister ship Niijima, which was stricken the same day. The third Osumi-class "tank landing ship"—really a dock landing ship carrying two U.S. LCAC-1 air cushion landing craft and having a full-length upper deck for helicopter operations and stowage of vehicles and equipment—the Kunisaki, ran trials late in the year. A 25,000-ton replenishment oiler (AOR) was laid down by Mitsui at Tamano on 21 February 2002 for launch last month. The first AOR will replace the old Sagami, while the second ship of the new class will increase to five the number of Japanese AORs in service.
Among the smaller East Asian navies, the Philippine Navy has been unable to acquire new warships for many years owing to lack of funding. But its subordinate Coast Guard was given authorization at the end of 2001 to negotiate with Tenix Defense Systems in Australia for the first 4 of a projected 14 114-foot patrol craft in a design updated from the ADI 315 class boats built previously for many small Southwest Pacific Island nations. Also for the Coast Guard, a third 184-foot patrol craft, the Pampanga, was delivered by Tenix on 30 January 2003. The Navy announced plans to update its newest combatants—three early 1980s-vintage, ex-British Peacock-class patrol combatants—with modern fire-control systems for their 76-mm guns, new communications, and the addition of a 30-mm Bushmaster gun. The U.S. Coast Guard is to transfer the former Cyclone (PC-1) to the Philippine Navy during 2003. Across the South China Sea, Vietnam continues the slow renovation of its small and aging fleet with the addition of two new Russian-built Svetlyak-class patrol craft. The 365-ton craft are of the Project 1041.2 configuration, without antisubmarine weapons or sensors. They left St. Petersburg on 14 December 2002 as deck cargo on a Dutch merchant ship.
The hitherto tiny navy of the Sultanate of Brunei is about to make a major increase in size and capabilities. BAE Systems launched the third of three 1,940-ton Nakhoda Ragan-class small frigates, the Jerambak, on 22 June 2002. The class-name ship, launched in January 2001, has been working up in British waters since 2001 and is due to depart for home waters this September. The second ship, the Bedahara Sakam, was launched in June 2001 and will follow in June 2004; the Jerambak will arrive in March 2005. Brunei's huge neighbor Indonesia continues in the doldrums of a major economic slump. Its navy is suffering from not being able to afford new ships and the steep decline in operational availability of much of the current fleet, which is having great difficulty controlling piracy and incursions by foreign poachers. During 2002, however, the local PT PAL yard was able to complete the third of four PB 57 Variant V patrol craft, the 447-ton Layang, and the 170-ton former mine countermeasures route survey craft Jupiter was transferred from the Singapore Navy on 21 March 2002 for use as a patrol craft and renamed the Cucik. A new navy was created on 12 January 2002 when two 45-- ton, former Portuguese Navy Albatroz-class patrol boats were transferred to East Timor; Portugal provided training for the newly renamed Atauro and Oecusse until East Timor became independent on 20 May.
The fourth Royal Australian Navy MEKO 200ANZ-class frigate, the Stuart, was commissioned on 24 August 2002. The sixth, the Ballarat, was launched on 25 May 2002; the seventh, the Toowoomba, was laid down on 26 July; and the eighth and final ship, the Perth, was to be laid down during January 2003 for delivery in May 2006. Plans for a major upgrade to the small MEKOs, which have been doing yeoman service in the Middle East, have been dropped, but a major upgrade program for Australia's six Oliver Hazard Perry (FFG-7)-class guided-missile frigates is to start this year. The winning design for an intended dozen 52- to 55-meter offshore patrol ships to replace the 15 Fremantle-class patrol craft was to have been announced by the end of 2002 but had not been decided by early February 2003. The first ship is to be named the Armidale, will carry a single 25-mm Bushmaster gun, and will not have helicopter facilities. The fifth 720-ton Huon-class mine hunter, the Diamantina, was commissioned on 4 May 2002, and the final unit, the Yarra, was delivered on 12 December 2002 for commissioning on 1 March 2003.
The tiny but highly professional Royal New Zealand Navy has been able to provide one of its two MEKO 200ANZ frigates for Middle East patrol duties, and during 2002 the Te Kaha made the navy's first visit to Shanghai in modern times. The contract for a large multirole ship to replace the Leander-class frigate Canterbury is not to be awarded until early next year, although the 32 year-old frigate is due to retire during 2005. The same contract also will cover construction of three 24-knot offshore patrol vessels, each armed with a 40- to 76-mm gun.
The Singapore Navy suffered a major calamity on 3 January 2003, when the 500-ton Fearless-class patrol combatant Courageous was hit by the merchant vessel ANL Indonesia and lost several crewmembers. The Courageous was towed back to base, but she had lost most of her after half and appeared beyond economical repair. The navy continues its expansion: the first of six Delta-class frigates was laid down at DCN, Lorient, France, on 14 November 2002, and the first steel was cut for the second and third ships at Singapore Technologies Marine, Jurong, on 2 October. The 3,200-ton French-built prototype is to be delivered during 2005 and the last of the five locally built ships in 2009.
The Malaysian Navy had a major engine-room fire on board its amphibious landing ship Inderapura (ex-USS Spartanburg County, LST-1192) on 16 December. Although there were no serious injuries to personnel, the ship was said to need at least six months for repairs, and navy leaders are considering the less costly alternative of buying a replacement ship from the United States. Work continues at Blohm + Voss, Hamburg, Germany, though on the first two MEKO 100 Malaysian small frigates ordered late in 2000 and laid down at the end of 2001. Initially, the 1,650-ton ships were not to have had an antisubmarine warfare (ASW) capability, but now they are being fitted with sonar sets and will carry an ASW-capable helicopter. Capable of 22 knots, the 299-foot ships will be lightly armed with one 76-mm OTO-- Breda gun and a 30-mm cannon.
Two offshore patrol ships were reordered for the Royal Thai Navy on 21 December 2002 from China Shipbuilding Trading Company for construction at Shanghai. An earlier contract to the same company had been canceled during October 2001 because of alleged contract irregularities. The ships are to displace between 1,000 and 1,500 tons and will be equipped with the German STN-Atlas COSYS combat data system, an Oerlikon-Contraves weapon control system, and a Raytheon navigational suite. As many as ten more may be ordered later.
India is importing one class of major surface combatants from Russia and building several other classes at its own yards. Although the Russian program—three highly modified variants of the old Soviet Krivak frigate design—had great promise, it has experienced frustrating delays. The first ship, the 3,780-ton Talwar, was to have been delivered by the end of last July but remained in Russian hands as of mid-February 2003. During builder's trials last spring, the ship's hull cracked and flooding resulted; repairs were reportedly unsuccessful and the hull cracked again with Indian Navy representatives on board. During weapon trials in July, numerous problems with weapon system integration were experienced—the surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missile systems reportedly failed to demonstrate the promised range and accuracy. Russia has been negotiating since 1999 to sell another three ships of the class to India; at one point there was discussion of building examples in an Indian yard. When all problems are cured to India's satisfaction, the heavily armed Talwars probably will make useful warships.
Of the indigenous Indian programs, contracts have yet to be signed to build a planned trio of 5,900-ton Project 15A guided-missile destroyers that are to be armed in part with the Russo-Indian Brah-Mos long-range, supersonic antiship and land-attack missile (based on the Russian Yakhont and said to be nearing production). The first of three 5,000-ton Nilgiri-class (Project 17) frigates was laid down on 11 July 2001 at Mazagon Dock, Mumbai, for launch next month. The 469-foot ships are to have many of the same weapon systems as the Talwar class. Garden Reach Shipyard at Calcutta is having trouble completing its trio of Improved Godavari-class (Project 16A) frigates. The first ship, the Bramaputra, took more than 11 years to reach commissioning in 2000; fitting out of the Beas, launched in 1998, is incomplete; and the Betwa was not begun until 2001, but might be completed in 2005. Completions were delayed in part by problems with their Indian-developed Trishul surface-to-air missile systems. (The Bramaputra has been given an eight-cell Israeli Barak system as an interim armament.) One of the three original Godavari-class frigates, the Ganga, completed installation of a trio of eight-cell Barak systems during 2002, replacing the obsolescent Russian-supplied Osa-M (SA-N-4) system. Among the smaller combatant programs, the eighth and final 1,400-ton Khukri-class (Project 25A) corvette, the Kharmuk, was launched in April 2000 and is due for commissioning this year. Two Project 12418 Tarantul IV missile craft were commissioned last year: the Prabal on 11 April and the Pralaya on 18 December. A price has been paid, however, for the increases in weapon payload and sensor performance over the original Russian Tarantul design—a growth of almost 100 tons displacement, which reduces maximum speed to about 40 knots. Also under construction in India is a class of 260-ton patrol craft (the fifth was launched on 12 June 2002) and a series of Israeli-designed Super Dvora Mk II fast patrol boats, as many as 20 of which may be acquired. During 2002, India was reported to be negotiating with a Polish yard for an unknown number of Ropucha-class (Project 775) amphibious landing ships, with the first to be built in Poland and the rest in India.
To India's east, the Bangladesh Navy handed the nascent South Korean export warship market an embarrassing setback when it decommissioned the 2,300-ton, Saudi Arabian-financed, Daewoo-built frigate Bangabandhu on 14 February 2002, less than a year after its commissioning. The ship was said to be suffering from numerous engineering plant and weapon system defects, and negotiations continued throughout 2002 over how—or whether—the ship's problems were to be rectified. An announcement in August 2002 by the Bangladeshi prime minister that her country would be buying two retiring Italian Navy Lupo-class frigates was apparently more than a bit premature because it now appears those ships will be going to Peru (see pp. 53, 57). A more successful acquisition of retiring European warships was the purchase of all five remaining British Royal Navy Island-class offshore patrol ships. The 1,280-ton Shetland became the Bangladeshi Karatoa on 29 July 2002, followed by the Kapatkhaya (ex-Alderney) on 31 October; sister ship Anglesey is to be handed over on decommissioning this July; and the Guernsey and Lindisfarne are to follow at the end of the year, thereby providing Bangladesh with a ready-made and still useful long-endurance offshore patrol force.
To India's west, the Pakistani Navy has not significantly benefited from the country's uneasy alliance with the United States. Negotiations with China have been ongoing since at least March 1995 for the purchase of four Jiangwei II (Project F-22P, in this instance) frigates, with the first to be built in China and the rest at Karachi. The ships would carry Western electronics, communications systems, and weapons. But despite optimistic pronouncements by Pakistani Navy leaders last year, funds have not yet been provided to order them. Pakistan's Karachi Shipbuilding and Engineering received an order for two additional 23-knot, 185-ton Jalalat-class guided-missile patrol boats during October 2002, and the first boat was laid down on 10 December.
It is not quite correct to say that Iraq does not have a navy, although it is true that its only potentially effective warships—two 650-ton guided-missile combatants—have been sequestered at the Italian port of La Spezia since their completion more than 20 years ago. The Moussa ben Noussair and the Tarek ben Ziad have Iraqi Navy cadre crews who faithfully run engine and system checks every day and who are rotated home once a year. It seems unlikely, however, that the missile craft and the Iraqi Navy oiler Agnadeen (sequestered at Alexandria, Egypt, since 1986) will ever ply the waters of the Persian Gulf. The rump Iraqi Navy has as many as 70 locally built Sawari-series open launches in service. Iran's much better equipped fleet is attempting to construct three Project Mouj 1,000-ton "destroyers" armed with a variety of missiles and guns. The status of the program is murky. The first hull may have been launched on 2 March 2001—or it may not have been launched, or it may never be launched. The name of the program also has been given as the Zulfiqar by Iranian naval officials. A more concrete program seems to be the construction of a series of 92-foot catamaran-hulled guided-missile boats armed with the 12-nautical mile-ranged Chinese C-701 antiship missile. A prototype built in China may have been delivered during 2002; the first Iranian-built example, the Sina-1, was said in early 2003 to be preparing for launch next month.
The largest and potentially most effective indigenous Middle Eastern navy is that of Saudi Arabia, which has three 4,650-ton frigates on order from France. The Al Riyadh was delivered on 26 July 2002 and will arrive in home waters this July; the third ship, the Al Damman was launched on 7 September 2002 and is to be handed over in January 2004. They each have a helicopter hangar and flight deck. The only other noteworthy development among the Arabian Peninsula navies was the delivery of the Polish-built, 1,410-ton vehicle landing ship Bilqis to Yemen in July 2002. During 2003, Yemen is to receive six small harbor patrol boats from the United States.
Although the Israeli Navy has been negotiating with Northrop Grumman since 2001 for as many as five missile-equipped "Sa'ar V Plus" corvettes—all to be delivered by 2011—no contracts have been announced. They would carry 16 200-kilometer-ranged surface-to-surface missiles and 16 surface-to-air missiles. A 488-- ton guided-missile patrol craft named Herev was officially reported to have been launched on 9 May 2002 as a boat of the Nirit class, but the ship may instead be a renamed and reconstructed unit of the earlier Reshev (Sa'ar IV) class, two of which were reported earlier to be under reconstruction. To further confuse matters, a December 2002 German press report stated that Israel was to deliver two "Sa'ar IV" missile boats to Greece, with a third to be constructed in Greece—all intended to provide security for the 2004 Olympics. The report is probably in error, but it is possible that Greece has ordered small patrol boats from Israel, perhaps of the speedy Shaldag class. The Israeli Navy definitely ordered six Super Dvora series patrol boats on 15 January 2002, with an option for five more of the 65-ton, 45-knot craft. Two days earlier it had placed an order for two 56-ton, 46-knot Shaldags.
Facing increasing maintenance problems with its current guided-missile craft and uncertainties as to acquiring new-construction missile boats from the United States, Egypt accepted an offer of the remaining five active German Type 148 missile boats in November 2001. The first craft to be transferred, the former Alk, departed Germany as deck cargo on 20 July 2002, while the former Dommel, Fuchs, Lowe, and Weihe were transferred on their retirement from the German Navy on 16 December. New names have not been announced, but the 27-year-old, 264-ton craft have been renumbered 601 through 605. Also parts of the sale agreement with Germany were the 4,014-ton ammunition transport Oldenwald, transferred in August, and the 3,900-ton ammunition and fuel replenishment ship Glucksburg, transferred in October. Both ships were completed in the late 1960s.
The new 2,950-ton patrol ship Mohammed VI was delivered to Morocco by Chantiers de l'Atlantique, St. Nazaire, France, on 12 March 2002. Built to the same design as the French Navy's Floreal class, the ship was armed later in Morocco with two MM 38 Exocet missiles and a 76-mm gun removed from a retired guided-missile patrol boat. A sister vessel, the Hassan II, continued fitting out in France at the end of the year. Early in 2003, the Tunisian Navy is set to become the recipient of two former Greek La Combattante II-class guided-missile patrol boats: the former Ipopliarchos Arliotis and Ipopliarchos Batsis, which were completed in France in 1971-72.
Contracts placed in Germany during December 1999 for four new MEKO-200SAN frigates for the South African Navy are beginning to show concrete results. Blohm + Voss launched the 3,590-ton Amatola on 7 June 2002, and the ship began builder's sea trials on 18 December. Her sister Isandlwana entered the water on 5 December 2002 at HDW's yard at Kiel, and the keels were laid for their sisters Spioenkop and Mendi in November and December, respectively. The quartet is to be delivered to South Africa for outfitting with weapons and sensors and will enter operational service between August 2004 and June 2005. They will arrive just in time to maintain a credible South African Navy seagoing presence, as only four of the fleet's Warrior-class guided-missile patrol craft remain operable.
Elsewhere among the African continent's navies, photos received late in 2002 showed that the locally constructed, 540-- ton, 35-knot Algerian Navy patrol craft Djebel Chenoua and El Chihab (completed in 1988 and 1995, respectively) recently had been rearmed with four launchers for Chinese C-801 antiship missiles, a Russian 76.2-mm AK-176 gun mount forward, and a 30-mm AK-306 gatling antiaircraft gun aft. Plans appear to have fallen through, however, for further modernization of Algerian Navy Koni-class frigates and Nanuchka-class missile combatants in Russia. Late in the year, the southwest African navy of Namibia was reported to have bought the laid-up, 47-year-old, 960-ton Brazilian Navy Imperial Marinheiro-class patrol ship Purus. It also bought four 45-ton former Brazilian Navy Tracker-class patrol boats and placed an order for a new, 263-ton Brazilian-built Grauna-class patrol craft. With most of its remaining naval fleet unable to go to sea, Nigeria is receiving assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard. The 1944-vintage navigational aids tender Sedge (WLB-402) was transferred to Nigerian control on 20 December 2002 as the Kyanwa; her older sister Cowslip (WLB-277) was transferred on 23 January 2003 and renamed the Ologbo; and the Firebush (WLB-393) is to be transferred this June. The 12-knot buoy tenders are to be used for maritime law enforcement, training, and search-and-rescue duties. Other African navies are generally in a state of decline because their governments cannot afford new equipment and even basic maintenance.
Among the European NATO navies, the United Kingdom's is facing one of its greatest challenges in 2003. At a time when fleet numbers and fleet readiness have fallen to new post-World War II lows, the possibility of extended combat operations in the Persian Gulf must be especially daunting. Six 7,350-ton Type 45 DDGs were ordered on 18 February 2002, with construction to be shared by BAE Systems and Vosper Thornycroft. They have been named Daring, Dauntless, Diamond, Dragon, Defender, and Duncan, with the last to be completed in 2011. Costing more than $1 billion each, the Type 45s have had many of their originally planned combat systems deleted to be even remotely affordable. Capable of 29 knots, the 500-foot Daring will be delivered in 2007. Space and weight reservations have been made for later addition of land-attack and antiship missiles, antisubmarine torpedo tubes, two CIWSs, and deck-traversing equipment to accommodate the more capable Merlin helicopter. There is no guarantee that further Type 45s ever will be ordered—the Royal Navy has been ordered to reduce its destroyer and frigate force from 32 to 26 ships to make the new carrier program more affordable.
The grounding of the Type 42 guided-missile destroyer Nottingham off the coast of Australia on 7 July 2002 was not used as an excuse to discard the ship, which had been scheduled to retire in 2012. Instead, the 4,250-ton Nottingham was loaded aboard a heavy lift vessel and arrived at Portsmouth on 2 December for repairs scheduled to take 18 months. The final unit of the 16-ship Type 23 frigate class, the 4,300-ton St. Albans, was commissioned on 6 June. But she sustained serious damage when hit by the commercial vehicle ferry Pride of Portsmouth on 27 October and faced lengthy repairs before she could begin her first operational deployment. The last active Type 22 Batch II frigate, the 4,850-ton Sheffield, was decommissioned on 14 November. She was sold to Chile later (see p. 57), leaving only the four general-purpose Batch III examples of the Type 22 series in service out of an original 16 Type 22s completed between 1979 and 1990.
The 1,677-ton offshore patrol vessel Tyne was launched by Vosper Thornycroft on 29 April 2002 and was delivered to the Royal Navy on 13 January 2003. Her sister Severn was launched on 4 December; the final ship of a trio to replace the five Isles class on fisheries protection duties, the Mersey, is to be launched this May. (Thereafter, Vosper will close its Woolston yard and move its large shipbuilding activities to the nearby Portsmouth Naval Base.) Strictly maritime enforcement ships, the River-class patrol vessels will be armed with only a single 20-mm gun. Each will be at sea for 320 days a year, using rotating crews of 40, with only 30 aboard at any given time. The three craft are on lease from the builder for five years, after which the options of ten-year extension, purchase, or return to Vosper's control can be exercised.
As noted, the Royal Navy's new amphibious warfare ships are behind schedule. The long-delayed, 16,981-ton dock landing ship Albion is scheduled for delivery next month and the Bulwark for next year. With the elderly and hard-used dock landing ship Fearless having been decommissioned on 18 March 2002 and the helicopter carrier Ocean undergoing modifications, the Royal Navy had no dedicated and deployable amphibious ships at the beginning of 2003. Although three of the six innovative new Hartland Point-class military vehicle transports have been delivered, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary's older transport complement was reduced when the vehicle cargo ship Sea Centurion went off charter last July and the Sir Geraint was laid up in the fall. Thus, the Ministry of Defence chartered three Russian and five Swedish-owned vehicle cargo ships early in January 2003 to transport cargo to the Middle East. Of the four 16,160-ton Largs Bay dock landing ships ordered at the end of 2001 for operation by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, the class-name ship will not be available until early 2004. The Iraqi crisis indeed has come at a bad time for the Royal Navy. Some good news, however, was the belated delivery of two new 31,500-ton fleet oilers during October 2002: the Wave Knight on the 16th and the Wave Ruler on the 31st. They will replace two larger ships retired more than two years ago.
A third 6,900-ton DDG was authorized for the French Navy's Horizon program in September 2002, but it will not be ordered until 2006. First steel for the initial ship of the class, the Forbin, was cut on 8 April 2002, and the ship is to be delivered by 31 December 2006. The French versions of the class differ from their Italian Horizon counterparts in having two six-round Sadral launchers for heat-seeking missiles; the Italian pair will add a third 76-mm OTOBreda gun atop the hangar to provide all-around fire. Also authorized in September were the first eight of a planned 17 Fregates d'Action, which will be developed cooperatively under an agreement signed with Italy on 8 November. The 459-foot French version will displace about 5,400 tons and carry 16 SCALP-N and/or MM-40 Block III Exocet missiles (the latter a new turbojet-powered, 180 kilometer-ranged version of the missile scheduled to begin development for initial production in 2006). Eight of the ships are to be in antisubmarine warfare configuration—the first ASW surface combatants so configured for the French Navy since 1979—and the others will be optimized for the land-attack role. Also during 2002, the seven Georges Leygues-class and two Cassard-class frigates were modified to prevent further hull-cracking problems by adding stiffening strakes amidships at the upper deck level. The last of six A-69-class corvettes sold to Turkey, the Second-Maitre le Bihan, was decommissioned on 26 February 2002, leaving nine sisters in service.
The first of two Horizon-program DDGs for the Italian Navy, the Carlo Bergamini, was laid down at Fincantieri's Riva Trigoso yard on 19 July 2002 for completion in 2007. The ship's cruise missile complement will be eight Teseo Mk 2 antiship weapons. The ten new frigates to be developed cooperatively to replace the existing dozen Lupo- and Maestrale-class ships may be of a different design than the French Navy's planned versions. Cooperation is limited to weapon, sensor, and command systems. The preliminary design is for a 443-foot, 5,000-ton ship equipped with 16 Sylver vertical launchers for Aster-series missiles, an unspecified number of a planned new vertically launched antiship missile called Tesla, a 127-mm dual-purpose OTOBreda lightweight gun, two 76-mm guns, and six antisubmarine torpedo tubes. There is a hangar to accommodate two helicopters, and the Italians hope to incorporate electric drive in the propulsion system. The frigates Lupo and Sagittario were deactivated several years early last spring and the Peruvian government was negotiating for their purchase at the end of the year. They would be transferred this year, followed by the Perseo and the Orsa in 2004.
The 1,580-ton offshore patrol ship Sirio was delivered on 11 May 2002 and her sister Orione on 27 July; they will become operational this year. Of the four similar corvettes ordered in 1999, the 1,520-ton, 25-knot Comandante Cigala Fulgosi was delivered during February 2002 and the Comandante Borsini during June; sister Comandante Bettica was to have been delivered last month and the final ship, the Commandate Foscari, this June. The ships have an OTOBreda 76-mm gun forward, in addition to two 25-mm cannons and a helicopter facility. The Foscari will incorporate a new glass-reinforced plastic and Kevlar superstructure. The elderly patrol corvettes Albatros and Alcione were stricken on 1 February 2002.
The first of Germany's three 5,690-ton, Type 124 guided-missile frigates, the Sachsen, was commissioned on 29 November 2002, but the 469-foot ship will not be ready for operational deployment until late this year. The second ship of the class, the Hamburg, was launched on 16 August and the Hessen is to be launched in April 2004. The Type 124s replace three U.S.-built Charles F. Adams (DDG-2)-class DDGs. (The Rommel was stricken in 1999, the Molders was decommissioned on 20 November 2002 for striking this May, and the Lutjens is to be laid up this June for disposal at the end of the year.) Only five Type 130 corvettes are to be built: the first 1,690-ton Type 130 not to be laid down until April 2005 and the last to be completed in November 2006. Instead of more Type 130s, the German Navy plans a new, larger design, the Type 125, that will replace the existing Type 122, Bremen-class frigates. The 20,243-ton fleet replenishment ship Frankfurt/Main was commissioned on 27 May 2002.
The first of four new Royal Netherlands Navy guided-missile frigates, the elegant De Zeven Provincien, was commissioned on 26 April 2002 and will become fully operational at the end of this year. The De Ruyter was launched on 13 April 2002 for commissioning a year from now, and the Evertsen is to be launched next month for delivery in 2005. Although these 6,048-ton, 30-knot ships were designed in cooperation with the German Type 124 program, they share only the major weapons and sensors and have a different outward appearance. Retired from the Royal Netherlands Navy during 2002 was the Kortenaer-class frigate Philips Van Almonde, which was stricken on 27 June and sold to Greece. The last of the once-numerous class in Dutch service, the Bloys Van Treslong, is scheduled to remain as Caribbean region patrol ship into 2005, when she too will be sold to Greece. A government cost-cutting decision requires that two additional frigates retire by 2004. Whether that will include the Van Treslong, one or both of the Jacob Van Heesmkerck-class guided-missile frigates, or two of the eight newer Karel Doorman class has not been announced yet. A second large dock landing ship, the 16,000-ton Johan De Witt, was ordered on 3 May 2002 for delivery in 2007. It is 20% larger than the recently completed Rotterdam and will have a much larger superstructure to accommodate 400 staff personnel or 555 troops in addition to her crew. The basic Rotterdam configuration has been adopted by Spain and the United Kingdom (for the Hartland Point class) and is under consideration by Germany and Belgium. A decision on ordering a new fleet oiler to replace the 1975-vintage Zuiderkruis has been deferred to 2004. Two more of the remaining Tripartite mine hunters are to be decommissioned by 2004, leaving only nine available for a much-deferred modernization program. Sister ship Vlardingen was damaged beyond repair in a collision on 29 April 2002, and three others were deactivated in 2001 for possible foreign sale.
Although five 5,121-ton Fridtjof Nansen-class frigates were ordered for the Royal Norwegian Navy during June 2000, there have been no reports of keels having been laid by the principal contractor, Izar, in Spain. Izar's Norwegian partner, Mjellum and Karlsen, briefly ceased operations last August but reopened by the end of the month—and there have been reports of Izar having had difficulties in reaching agreement with other Norwegian firms that were to provide ship subsystems. The Nansens are peculiar in concept in that, even though they are to be equipped with the AN/SPY-1F Aegis weapon system, the only missiles the system will serve are some 32 short-range RIM-162 ESSM Sea Sparrow surfaceto-air weapons housed in eight Mk 41 vertical launch cells recessed into the foredeck. Other armament announced for the ships is rather meager also.
The 240-ton Norwegian Navy surface effect craft prototype Skjold made a most favorable impression during her year-long lease in the United States (that ended early in September 2002). The design was said to be the basis for one of the competitors for the potentially lucrative 60-unit Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program. But the loss in a spectacular fire of the similarly constructed foam core, glass reinforced plastic-hulled surface-effect minesweeper Orkla on 19 November 2002 has raised questions as to the safety of the hull construction technology. Reportedly, the fire, which burned so furiously that the ship's crew and those of nearby units could not extinguish it, caused the foam core to melt and give off highly toxic fumes. (Similar technology is used in the Swedish Visby class, a competing LCS design.) Other developments in the Royal Norwegian Navy fleet during 2002 included retirement of the minelayer Vale (transferred to Latvia on 27 January 2003 as the Virsaitis) and the grounding of the recently modernized guided-missile patrol boat Jo during February 2002. Although the Jo ran aground on a rock at high speed, the strongly constructed craft was back in service within a month.
The other NATO navy that employs the Aegis system is that of Spain, where the first of four ships equipped with the AN/SPS-1D version of the weapon system, the 5,802-ton Alvaro de Bazan, was commissioned on 19 September 2002. The second ship of the class, the Almirante Juan de Borbon, was launched on 28 February 2002 and the Blas de Lezo was laid down on 4 March; the final ship, the Mendez Nunez, will be laid down this July. Work also progresses in Spain on a second series of four 550-ton Segura-class mine hunters; the first, the Duero, is to be completed in May 2004.
The Greek Navy provided an unusually large number of new developments during 2002. Two of its four U.S.-built Charles F Adams-class DDGs were retired: the Themistokles (ex-Berkeley, DDG-15) on 18 February and the Formion (ex-Joseph Strauss, DDG- 16) on 29 July. Their two sisters will be maintained in commission into 2010. Greece hopes to order two new guided-missile frigates in 2004—the Dutch De Zeven Provincien and German Type 124 designs are said to be the leading contenders. In the interim, however, the navy is rejuvenating its frigate force by acquiring prematurely retired Dutch Kortenaer-class frigates and now owns nine of the ships. The Bouboulina (ex-Pieter Florisz) was recommissioned at Salamis on 4 April 2002; the Kanaris (ex-Jan Van Brakel) was bought on 27 March and transferred on 27 November after a refit; and the ex-Philips Van Almonde was bought on 22 October for delivery this October.
During July 2002, a 326-foot Vosper Thornycroft small frigate design won the competition to build an initial three in a Greek yard, with the first to complete in 2005. The first of three additional 555-ton P-100-class patrol combatants, the Nikiforos, was launched during 2002, and the Atitos and Krateos were laid down. The first of three Vosper Thornycroft Super Vita-design guided-missile patrol combatants, the 570-ton Roussen, was launched on 12 November by Eleifsis Shiyard for delivery this November, with sisters Daniolos and Kristalidis to follow at six-month intervals. Six Type 148 guided-missile boats acquired from Germany between 1994 and 2000 are being reequipped with Harpoon antiship missiles—two have been refitted already and the contract to modify two more was signed during November 2002. Two of the four older La Combattante II guided-missile patrol craft were being retired at the end of 2002 for transfer to Tunisia during 2003.
Greece had been negotiating with Russia for three 365-ton Svetlyak-class (Project 1041) patrol craft during 2001-2002, possibly for use in providing offshore security for the 2004 Olympics. At the end of the year, however, a German press report indicated that an Israeli program may have been selected instead. The Russians did receive a $63.9-million order for a third 550-ton Pomornik-class (Project 1232.2) air-cushion vehicle and personnel landing craft during October 2002, the result of Greek rejection of the second of two of the craft that were ordered from Ukraine. The Russians still hope for an order of two more. Other Greek Navy fleet developments during 2002 include retirement of the navy's last dedicated minelayer, the Amvrakia (ex-U.S. LSM-303), during August and the launch of the 13,400-ton Italian-designed Etna-class fleet replenishment ship Promithefs on 19 February at Elefthis Shipyard.
Turkey's current economic situation does not permit many new military acquisition programs; thus a series of 1,800-ton TF-2000 Program small frigates was put on hold. Nonetheless, the Turkish Navy received the Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate Samuel E. Morison (FFG-13) on her decommissioning on 10 April 2002 and has renamed her the Gorkova. An eighth Oliver Hazard Perry, the Estocin (FFG-15) will follow when decommissioned from the U.S. Navy this October. A third Knox-class frigate was to be decommissioned from Turkish service during 2002, however, leaving only five in service. The sixth and final former French Navy A-69-class corvette was transferred on 26 June and renamed the Bafra. The sixth 540-ton, 38-knot Kilic-class guided-missile patrol combatant, the Imbat, was laid down on 25 July at Pendik Shipyard, Istanbul. Ten of these craft have been ordered and three were in service by the end of 2002.
NATO member Poland received the former Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate Wadsworth (FFG-9) on 28 June. Renamed the General Tadeusz Kosciuszko and recommissioned on 25 October in Poland, the ship and her sister, General K. Pulaski (ex-Clark, FFG-11) will operate the four SH-2G Super SeaSprite helicopters transferred from the United States (two on 27 September 2002 and two this January). Work is under way on the first of a planned seven 2,090-ton German-designed MEKO A-100 light frigates at Stoznia Marynarki Wojennej, Gdynia, with the keel laid on 20 October 2001 and the ship to be delivered during 2004. The first Polish Navy ship assigned to NATO, the refurbished mine hunter Mewa, joined Mine Countermeasures Force North on 12 October 2002.
Adapting the modular system replacement concepts used in the highly successful 14 Standardflex 300 multirole small combatants completed between 1989 and 1996, the Danish Navy ordered two 6,300-ton, 450-foot Standardflex 3000 multimission ships from Odense Staalskibsvaerft during October 2001. The pair will be delivered in December 2004 and May 2005 as the largest vessels ever built for the Danish Navy. They will carry modules containing eight RGM-84C Harpoon Block II antiship missiles, RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missiles, a 127-mm United Defense Mk 45 Mod. 4 dual-purpose gun, launchers for MU-90 antisubmarine torpedoes, and one or two helicopters. The diesel-powered SF-- 3000s will have a maximum speed of 24 knots and carry a crew of 100, plus 75 staff and 25 aviation personnel. They will be employed for peacetime expeditionary support operations, using six to eight portable modules installed amidships to support a task group commander and staff, a maritime component commander and staff, or a joint task force commander and staff. A 22-bed modular hospital facility can be installed as well. Foreseeable missions include ASW (with a variable-depth sonar module and torpedo tubes), mine countermeasures, and humanitarian aid. The first of a smaller, 3,600-ton SF-1000 version configured for fisheries protection and economic exclusion zone patrol will be ordered during 2003, with a second ship during the 2008-2012 building plan and two more to follow after 2012.
Romania is to join NATO in 2004 and has begun the upgrading its navy through the purchase on 14 January 2003 of the retired British Royal Navy Type 22 Batch II frigates London and Coventry. Under the $188-million contract, they will be refitted in Great Britain and delivered to a Romanian yard by December 2004 for installation of new command, communications, and sensor systems, a medium-caliber gun mount, and new antiship missiles. They are expected to be ready for operational deployment by 2007. Bulgaria—which also anticipates joining NATO—announced during November 2002 a program to acquire six new corvettes, with the first entering service in 2006. Funding for this program, however, would be largely dependent on contributions from the European Union.
The 620-ton multirole, composite-construction patrol combatant Visby was laid down in December 1996 by Karlskronavarvet and launched during June 2000. She was handed over to the Swedish government on 10 June 2002 to begin a series of trials and modifications that will culminate in the ship's entering Swedish Navy service during February 2005. Four more of the class are on order, but the order for a sixth was canceled because of major program cost overruns. A greatly scaled-up version of the Visby design has been offered as a candidate for the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship program. The two 1985-vintage Stockholm-class guided-missile patrol craft completed major modernizations during 2002.
In southeast Europe, aspiring NATO member Croatia has had little funding available for naval programs, but did manage to complete a second Kralj Petar Kresimir IV-class guided-missile patrol combatant at the end of 2001, the 385-ton, 36-knot Kralj Dimitar Zvonimir. Plans to construct a series of inshore mine countermeasures craft have been put on hold, however, and at the moment there are no new construction programs under way. The neighboring Yugoslav Navy, increasingly isolated at its base in Tivat, Montenegro, retired a number of warships during 2002, including the Koni-class frigates Beograd and Podgorica, the Rade Koncar-class guided-missile craft Ramiz Sadiku, and its last three aged Osa I-class missile boats. Remaining at least nominally in service are the two 1,850-ton Kotor-class frigates, four 242-ton Rade Koncar-class guided-missile craft, and three 142-ton Mirna-class patrol craft.
A planned further 20% reduction in the number of ships in the Russian Navy—primarily from among ships already in reserve but being maintained by cadre crews—was officially announced on 5 January 2003. Although some monies for warship overhauls have been released by the central government in the past three years, the fleet continues to deteriorate and the number of active uniformed personnel is almost certainly below 100,000. The last Kynda-class guided-missile cruiser, the Black Sea Fleet flagship Admiral Golovko, was retired during the fall of 2002. Baltic Fleet Krivak I (Project 1135) frigate Druzhnyy was stricken on 3 October to become a museum exhibit at St. Petersburg, leaving only 7 of the original 32 Russian Navy Krivak-series frigates operational. Most of the few new surface warships being completed for domestic service are going to the Federal Maritime Border Guard. Of those, most are being sent to the Caspian, where Russia foresees increasing tensions above the ill-defined waters over potentially valuable petroleum deposits. Of the two new warships delivered to the Russian Navy during 2002, the largest, the first Gepard-class (Project 11660) light frigate, was commissioned in July, nearly ten years after completion. Assigned as flagship of the Caspian Flotilla, the 2,090-ton Tatarstan is far behind the cutting edge of even Russian naval technology. The other new warship was the 873-ton Natya-- class minesweeper Valentin Pikul', completed 20 January 2002 and assigned to the Black Sea Fleet in July. A second Gepard may still be completed and another Natya, the Vitse-Admiral Zakharin, was launched at Kolpino in June 2002, presumably ending a more than 40-year production run for the class.
Unable to afford to complete the nearly finished 11,490-ton guided-missile cruiser Ukrayina, which it inherited on the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine offered the ship to Russia late in 2001—but the Russians rejected the offer in January 2002 and the ship languishes at Nikolayev. Funds have, however, trickled to Yantar Shipyard in the isolated Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad to permit a small amount of effort toward completion of two 4,350-ton Neustrashimyy (Project 11540) frigates, with a possible view toward selling them abroad. The Yaroslav Mudryy, laid down in 1988 and launched in 1991, received funding under the 2002 budget, and the Tuman, launched in November 1998, was moved to the yard's fitting-out pier last summer. Yantar apparently abandoned its attempts to have the government fund construction of the Novik-class frigate that was begun at the yard in 1997 and canceled shortly thereafter. During 2002, there was no news of the progress of the 2,100-ton Project 20380 frigate Steregushchiy, which had been laid down on 21 December 2001 at Severnaya Verf, St. Petersburg. No orders for further ships of the class have been announced, although discussions were held with Iran during 2002 for an order of one or more of them. Although new export orders have been hard to obtain lately, it is only the export market that is likely to preserve the Russian naval shipbuilding industry for the next few years.
Ukraine, whose fleet of former Soviet Navy warships has declined steadily since the mid-1990s, launched the 1,070-ton Grisha V-class (Project 1124EhM) corvette Ternopil at Kiev on 20 March 2002. Work on the ship was halted in 1995, but funds have been found to complete her and she is scheduled for commissioning this year. The Tarantul III (Project 12411RZ) guided-missile patrol craft Kremenchuk—earlier reported to have been stricken during 2000—was instead refitted and returned to service as the Pridniproviya in September 2002. Ukraine's attempts at exporting warships have thus far found few takers and received an embarrassing setback with the Greek Navy's rejection of the Pomornik-class Kerkyra. Begun at least a decade earlier for the Soviet Navy as the MDK-- 93 (and later to have been completed for the Ukraine Navy as the Horlivka), the craft was scrapped at Feodosiya last year owing to numerous hull cracks. But some export success was achieved through production of small, sturdy patrol launches, such as the eight-ton Kalkan-M class, ten of which have been ordered by Turkistan.
Aside from the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, there were only a few noteworthy developments among the navies of the Western Hemisphere during 2002. While the aging and underfunded Canadian Maritime Command struggled nobly to maintain a presence in support of antiterrorism operations in Middle Eastern waters, the frigates assigned there recently have had to make do without their normal on-board helicopters—the superannuated Sea King force can no longer be deployed to an area of potential combat. A long-overdue decision on a replacement helicopter was promised for next month. The hard-used replenishment oilers, the Protecteur and Preserver, were said to be nearing the ends of their useful lives as of early 2002, but they may have to be kept in service until 2010. Although Canada is considering construction of as many as three 35,000-ton combination logistic support and intervention ships, funding them will prove difficult and the decision to order them has been postponed to late 2005. During 2002, Mexico's fourth Knox-class frigate, the Amiral Francisco Javier Mina (ex-Whipple, FF-1062) was towed from Pearl Harbor on 3 May en route to Manzanillo for reactivation overhaul. And the old Gearing (DD-710) FRAM I-class destroyer Quetzalcoatl (ex-Vogelgesang, DD-862) was stripped of her weapons and sensors and awaits disposal. The retired U.S. Navy landing ship Frederick (LST-1194) was sold to Mexico on 9 December 2002 and renamed the Rio Usumacinta.
At the end of 2002, Chile and the United Kingdom reached an agreement for the purchase of the 4,850-ton Type 22 Batch II frigate Sheffield, which had ended a 14-year Royal Navy career on 14 November. The ship will be delivered in October 2003 to replace the retiring County-class destroyer Almirante Blanco Encalada in 2005. Chile continues to seek additional surface combatants to replace its aging surface fleet. It would prefer the German MEKO A200 design previously selected under the currently suspended Project Tridente if favorable economic terms can be arranged. If not, the United States has offered two retired Spruance (DD-963)-class destroyers, although those large vessels probably would be prohibitively expensive for the Chilean Navy—indeed, nearly all foreign navies—to operate.
The U.S. Navy also has offered four retired Spruances to the Brazilian Navy, which, however, is facing major funding shortfalls and laid up ships throughout the second half of 2002. The first to go were two of the four former U.S. Navy Garcia-class frigates, the Paraiba (ex-Davidson, FF-1045) and Parana (ex-Sample, FF-1048), which were decommissioned on 26 July. In addition, a number of auxiliaries were retired. The government previously instructed the navy to halt all construction programs and terminate new acquisition programs; the draft of new enlisted personnel for the second half of the year was cut by 80%. Nonetheless, the 2,350-ton frigate Barroso, which had been on the ways since December 1994, finally was launched at Rio de Janeiro on 20 December 2002.
In late 2002, the Peruvian Navy was in serious negotiations with Italy for the purchase of the four 2,525-ton Italian Navy frigates of the Lupo class. Completed between 1977 and 1980, the quartet would complement the four current Peruvian units of that class and would replace the world's last active gun cruiser, the Dutch-built Almirante Grau, and the old former Royal Navy Daring-class destroyer Ferre. If the deal goes through (as expected), the already deactivated Lupo and Sagittario will transfer this year and be renamed the Palacios and Aguirre. The other two ships will be handed over next year.
Two Venezuelan Navy frigates that arrived at Pascagoula, Mississippi, on 10 September 1998 for modernization overhauls were redelivered during 2002: the Mariscal Sucre on 16 June and the Almirante Brion on 26 October. Four others of the class (completed in Italy between 1980 and 1982) are being refitted in Venezuela—although the country's economic and political turmoil doubtless will slow an already protracted effort.
Conclusions
This report does not include most of the naval auxiliary and extensive "paranaval" construction going on worldwide, but it does show that there is a vigorous effort to construct new warships and equip them with modern combat systems—many of which are not of U.S. origin. The U.S. Navy continues to build ships in classes that were designed in the 1980s and that employ weapons and sensors whose concepts date as far back as the 1950s. Meanwhile, the world's developed nations have been pushing forward with new ships and combat systems that, while not necessarily superior to what is available here, offer strong evidence of their intent to maintain a healthy degree of technological independence.
A.D. Baker III is a columnist for Proceedings and Naval History. He prepared the Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World from 1977 to 2002.