Braunschweig class corvette
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The upcoming K130 Braunschweig class (sometimes Korvette 130) will be Germany's newest class of ocean-going patrol craft. They will supplement the Fast Attack Craft that are currently used but not that well suited for this mission. This will be the first class of ships in the German Navy since the age of sail classified as corvettes. Neverthesless, due to their size and role their international callsign begins with an "F" for frigate.
They will feature reduced radar and infrared signature ("stealth" beyond the Sachsen class frigate) and should have been equipped with two helicopter UAVs for remote sensing. The UAV program has been delayed indefinitely, but the Braunschweig will be fitted with a small hangar and a helo pad nonetheless. The UAV is still planned and will probably be developed jointly by the German Navy and the German Army. The hangar is too small for standard helicopters, but the pad is large enough for Sea Kings, Lynx or MH-90s, the helicopters of the German Navy.
The planned program of the Polyphem missile system - optical fiber-guided missiles with a range of 60 km - was cancelled in 2003. In stead, the RBS 15 will be mounted. While the RBS15 has a much greater range (200 km, after upgrade up to 400 km) it lacks the ECM-resistant video feedback of the Polyphem and is also just too large (and too expensive) for most targets.
The German Navy currently searches a replacement for the Polyphem missile.
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[edit] Specifications
- Length: 89.12 m
- Width: 12.80 m
- Displacement: 1840t
- Propulsion: 2 diesel-engines, 7.4MW each, driving 2 controllable pitch propellers
- Speed: >26kts
- Range: over 2500nm at 15kts
- Endurance: 7 days (without tender), 3 weeks (with tender)
- Sensors
- Communications: Link 11 and Link 16
- Armament
- 1 76 mm gun
- 2 MLG 27 mm autocannons
- 2x 21 cell RAM launcher
- 2x 2 cell launcher with RBS-15 Mk3 anti-ship missiles with land-attack capability
- mine laying capability
- Countermeasures
- Helopad and Hangar (too small for manned helicopters)
- Complement: 1 commander, 10 officers, 16 chief petty officers, 38 enlisted
[edit] Ship list
| Pennant number |
Name | Shipyard | Laid down | Launched |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F260 | Braunschweig | Blohm + Voss | December 3, 2004 | April 19, 2006 |
| F261 | Magdeburg | Lürssen-Werft | May 19, 2005 | |
| F262 | Erfurt | Nordseewerke | September 22, 2005 | |
| F263 | Oldenburg | |||
| F264 | Ludwigshafen |
The ships aren't actually built at a single shipyard. Sections are constructed at different locations at the same time and later married. The table lists the yard, where the keel was officially laid down in a ceremony.
The five ships will form the Korvettengeschwader (corvette squadron) of the Einsatzflotille 1 (Flotilla 1) and their home port will be Warnemünde at the Baltic Sea.
A second batch with at least five ships (probably with varying equipment and armament) is planned from 2008 on.
[edit] References
- Korvette Braunschweig-Klasse @ Marine (official homepage of the German Navy)
[edit] See also
| Ship classes of the Deutsche Marine | |
|---|---|
| Destroyers | 101A Hamburg | 103B Lütjens |
| Frigates and Corvettes | 122 Bremen | 123 Brandenburg | 124 Sachsen | F125 | 130 Braunschweig |
| Fast Attack Craft | 143 Albatros | 143A Gepard | 148 Tiger |
| Mine warfare | 332 Frankenthal | 333 Kulmbach | 352 Ensdorf | 742A Mühlhausen |
| Submarines | 205B | 206A | 212A |
| Auxiliary ships | 404 Elbe | 423 Oste | 441 Gorch Fock | 520 Barbe | 702 Berlin | 703 Walchensee | 704 Rhön | 720 Helgoland | 721 Eisvogel | 722 Wangerooge | 760 Westerwald |
