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Monday 3 October 2022

Arctic Patrol Ships

The research I did for the High North game that I took part in made me aware that the Norwegians, Canadians, and Russians are all building similar Arctic Patrol Ships.

Svalbard (Norwegian Coast Guard offshore patrol vessel)

  • Displacement: 6,375 tonnes
  • Dimensions:
    • Length: 340ft 3in/103.7m
    • Beam: 62ft 7in/19.1m
    • Draught: 21.3ft/6.5m
  • Propulsion: 4 x Rolls-Royce Bergen BRG-8 diesel generators powering 2 x ABB azipods Vl1500A units
  • Speed: 17.5 knots
  • Complement: 50
  • Armament: 1 x 57mm Bofors automatic gun; 1 x 12.7mm machine gun; equipped for 1 x Sinbad anti-aircraft missile launcher
  • Aircraft: 2 x helicopters (initially Westland Lynx; later NHIndustries NH90)

Harry DeWolf-class (Canadian Arctic offshore patrol vessel)

  • Displacement: 6,615 tonnes
  • Dimensions:
    • Length: 339ft 11in/103.6m
    • Beam: 62ft 4in/19.0m
    • Draught: -
  • Propulsion: 4 x diesel generators powering 2 x electric motors, each powering a propeller
  • Speed: 17.0 knots
  • Complement: 65 (with accommodation for 87)
  • Armament: 1 x BAE Mk.38 25mm automatic gun; 2 x 12.7mm M2 Browning machine guns
  • Aircraft: 1 x helicopters (Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone or Bell CH-146 Griffon and/or CU-176 Gargoyle UAV

It is planned to build a total of eight ships of this class, six for the Royal Canadian Navy and two (unarmed) for the Canadian Coast Guard.

Project 23550/Ivan Papanin-class (Russian ice breaking patrol vessel)

  • Displacement: 6,800 tonnes
  • Dimensions:
    • Length: 374ft/114m
    • Beam: 59ft 1in/18.0m
    • Draught: 19ft 8in/6m
  • Propulsion: 4 x Kolomna 28-9 diesel generators powering 2 x electric motors, each powering a propeller
  • Speed: 18.0 knots
  • Complement: 49 (with accommodation for 96)
  • Armament: 1 x 100mm AK-190 or 1 x 76.2mm AK-176MA automatic gun; 8 x 3M-54 Kalibr cruise missiles
  • Aircraft: 1 x Ka-32 helicopter

It is planned to build at least four ships of this class, two for the Russian Navy and two for the Russian Border Patrol Service/Coast Guard.

4 comments:

  1. I never ceased to be amazed by the displacement of modern warships. 6,800 tons would put these in the Light Cruiser class in WW2!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Martin Rapier,

      Ship steel is relatively cheap, and larger warships tend to be easier to upgrade during their lifespan. A classic example of this is the Type 42 destroyer. The earliest batches were built to a budget that was imposed by the Treasury, and were too short to really warrant midlife upgrades. The last batch was built to the longer, heavier, original design, and were much better ships.

      When the USN built the first of their post-war carriers (the Forrestal), the design had significant void space. This enabled them to be upgraded over the years and formed the basis of the carrier design used by the USN for the next fifty years.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  2. Although I have no interest in naval war gaming I have found these last couple of posts very intriguing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Codsticker,

    I suspect that the Russian designs are not so much copies of the Norwegian and Canadian ones as ‘derived from’.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete

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