Netherlands Orders...

[kato]

I see distinct similarities with the French "sentry frigate" concept (as realized in the Floreal class).

- high-sea capable ship
- armament primarily poised towards surface interception, limited fire support
- helicopter support
- sensor outfit tilted towards capable surface/air surveillance
- capacity for passengers
- limited cargo and evacuation capacity
- comparably slow, but with long range and endurance
- cheap
- forward based for primary patrol, surveillance and presence roles

Anyone else see that?

 

[rickusn]

Yes

OPVs have really become the way to go.

It may be said though IMHO that the UK started the trend in the mid 1970s when it nominally replaced the 1950s built Type 14 Blackwood ASW frigates with the Island and Castle class OPVs in addition to building the Peacock class (OPV2) a smaller version of the former class for service in Hong Kong.

This trend was predictable with the implementation of "the new 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)" some 30 Plus years ago along with decreasing Naval budgets but increasing costs.

France had already embarked on the A-69 class as replacements for its 1950s built Type E50/52 ASW frigates.

More on this:

" Three nautical miles was the generally agreed distance, although that is a bit too far. Most 19th century cannons would do very well if they could reach a mile with any degree of accuracy. The old 3-mile limit is omitted from the chart above as it was generally replaced in 1967 by the 12-mile limit."

Iceland:

"The fisheries limit was subsequently extended to 12 miles in 1958, 50 miles in 1972 and 200 miles in 1975, increasing its area from 25,000 km2 during the pre-1952 period to 758,000 km2 in 1975, when Iceland's territorial waters were also extended to their present 12 miles."

This of course led to the so-called "Cod Wars" and ultimately the LAW Of The SEA Agreement of 1982 fixing the 200mile EEZ.

 

[kato]

It may be said though IMHO that the UK started the trend in the mid 1970s when it nominally replaced the 1950s built Type 14 Blackwood ASW frigates with the Island and Castle class OPVs

Indeed, the Castles - and to a certain extent the A69 Avisos, though they still had their primary ASW/ASuW role - were the "start" of this.

The Floreal and these Dutch OPVs imo show a certain refinement towards the "big gun + organic helo" combination on a comparably very large hull - the A69 and Castle/Island were corvettes by size, while these two are frigate-sized.
Could be debated whether the USCG WMSL (NSC project) and the 378' WHEC "frigates" they replace fall into this category as well, though in the case of the WMSL/NSC the armament and sensor suite isn't at the same level really.
The Spanish BAM project goes in the same direction of course.

 

[spsun100001]

Looks impressive and good value for money. It could be a good candidate for the Royal Navy's C3 vessels if we didn't seem to be determined to make the C3's a complete waste of money by not having a helicopter hanger on them

 

[swerve]

Looks impressive and good value for money. It could be a good candidate for the Royal Navy's C3 vessels if we didn't seem to be determined to make the C3's a complete waste of money by not having a helicopter hanger on them

Yes, would do perfectly for the "oceanic patrol vessel" part of the C3. Not so sure about the minesweeping part of the envisaged role. Overkill for that.

 

[submerged]

These ships are designed only for low-level conflicts and patrols in the Netherlands and Netherlands-Antilles EEZ and territorial waters so it's quiet a good choice, the low speed can be expected when u take a look at the hull shape, wich is quiet large and tall, therefore a higher speed then the current one would lead to doubling the costs for the propulsion system, something not liked by our politics who wanna be in first row for the lowest costs possible. For disaster relief there seems to be place for about 100 evacuees. The sensorfit is impressive but the weaponfit is far from that, not even proper CIWS...kind of funny when the ship's secundary tasking is to patrol in the lower-force spectrum wich leads me to believing coastal patrols..wich like we allready seen are full of the dangers of landbased RPG's and stuff like that. Too bad allmost all MFF's had to be sold for this too but well The last remaining 2 MFF's will get a MLU with improved radar systems and probably some other updates (sonar system and comms as well as infrared surveillance) alltho there aren't much details known about this yet. All in all nice to see some ships entering service in the RNLN instead of leaving

 

[harryriedl]

Yes, would do perfectly for the "oceanic patrol vessel" part of the C3. Not so sure about the minesweeping part of the envisaged role. Overkill for that.

i like the size aspect of the vessel 3,750 tons gives expansion oppertunitires. For the mine sweeping role UUV, drones like the LCS modular system would work. If for the C3 role the only thing i would realy change is the Radar set to a more austrer set.

the C3 desgin will be the most difficult to chose as there are many very good desgins on the market.

i personaly prefer spliting the C3 into two tender one for the minesweepers and the OPV

[sorry about the spelling]