Cost of Naval Ships

groundpounder

New Member
Hello, i am new here. Didn't see an introduction thread. Former US Marine 0311 and i have been interested in the military since i was a kid.

Can anyone show me any links the cost of frigates, corvettes, fast attack crafts, and offshore patrol vessels. I want to see how much each type of vessels cost, whether its European, American, or Asian made.
 

Sea Toby

New Member
Hello, i am new here. Didn't see an introduction thread. Former US Marine 0311 and i have been interested in the military since i was a kid.

Can anyone show me any links the cost of frigates, corvettes, fast attack crafts, and offshore patrol vessels. I want to see how much each type of vessels cost, whether its European, American, or Asian made.
Its a tough question to answer. The better the sensors and weapons control systems, the more expensive the ship where ever its built.

Generally speaking worldwide, destroyers or air warfare destroyers with long range SAMs run over a billion USD, and up to as much as 2 billion USD. Frigates run over 200 million USD, but have been known to run up to 400 million USD. Corvettes run up to 150 million USD. but can be less. On the other hand a OPC can run up to 100 million USD, but as low as 50 million USD.

As you can see, much depends upon not so much the weapons or size of the ships, but on the sensors and weapons control system. The black boxes and electronic computer equipment. For example a nice militarized 12k ton NZ ferry without expensive weapons control systems can run around 100 million USD whereas a 1.2k ton corvette can run half as much more than that up to 150 million USD.

Similar looking ships the same size and built at the same shipyard can have significant costs differences even with the same weapons aboard. As I noted the better the sensors and weapons control systems, the more expensive the ship.

Another simple example would be to compare different iPods. You can buy the smallest 8 GB iPod for half the price of a 64 GB iPod. The camera is the same, the speakers are the same, the head phones are the same, and even the retina display is the same.

Alike iPods, buying old ships, any old ship, can be bought for the price of a refit from a number of nations or like a used car with significant savings. Pakistan recently bought an old USN FFG for the price of a refit, and the Philippines recently bought two old USCG HEC for the price of a refit. The Philippines paid only 10 million USD. A new smaller OPC would run at least 50 million USD.
 

vivtho

New Member
Hello, i am new here. Didn't see an introduction thread. Former US Marine 0311 and i have been interested in the military since i was a kid.

Can anyone show me any links the cost of frigates, corvettes, fast attack crafts, and offshore patrol vessels. I want to see how much each type of vessels cost, whether its European, American, or Asian made.
The exact price will vary depending on the type of sale (Government to Government is usually cheaper than a direct commercial purchase) and configuration. That said I've recently started maintaining a list of prices for aircraft and ships (link)

The only ships I have prices for are
Gowind class ($465 million, purchased by Malaysia) and
MEKO A-200 ($571.5 million purchased by Algeria)
 

Dodger67

Member
The only ships I have prices for are
Gowind class ($465 million, purchased by Malaysia) and
MEKO A-200 ($571.5 million purchased by Algeria)
I'm curious about the eventual "sticker" price South Africa paid a few years ago for four MEKO A200s with a similar equipment fit:
4 x Exocet SSM
16 x Umkhonto SAM (VLS)
1 x 76mm Oto (from existing SA Navy stock)
1 x dual 35mm CIWS.
 

Belesari

New Member
They might have made some changes or their could be increased cost they didnt forsee. It happens alot with new equipment and thats about all the Zumwalts are.


According to this information the new Zumwalt class DDG costs as much as a Nimitz class Super Carrier? That doesn't sound correct at all. Still expensive, but I show the Zumwalt as being $3.3 Bln USD, not $6 Bln USD.
 

aussienscale

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
The problem with sites like this guy's is you really have to take it with a pinch of salt.
A good example is the quoted price for the Juan Carlos I $490 Mil and the price of the Canberra Class LHD's at $1.3 Bil.

Just about every country uses different pricing models for project costs, so in this example I would assume that Spain just quotes the build cost and nothing else ? whereas Australia factor in many other things in our Defence projects such as thru life support, weapons, fuel, crewing, upgrades etc

It makes it very hard to get true comparitive prices on things, let alone as mentioned actual fitout and types of systems, but also a big factor is the intended life of the product, how many years do the US get out of their hulls compared to the rest ? This is yet another factor that impacts on not just build price but thru life as well

Cheers
 
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AegisFC

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
According to this information the new Zumwalt class DDG costs as much as a Nimitz class Super Carrier? That doesn't sound correct at all. Still expensive, but I show the Zumwalt as being $3.3 Bln USD, not $6 Bln USD.
Most likely the $6 billion figure includes money spent on systems development (the new guns, new combat system, engineering plant, ect) that is not normally listed in ship costs, it is usually a seperate budget item. I suspect the same thing with the Ford as well. New computer baseline development is not included in Flight IIA costs nor was the cost of developing SPY-1D or D(V) included in those ship costs as well.

If you remove those costs a DDG-1000 isn't that much more expensive than the restarted Flight IIA Burkes.
 

TACTICIAN

New Member
Most likely the $6 billion figure includes money spent on systems development (the new guns, new combat system, engineering plant, ect) that is not normally listed in ship costs, it is usually a seperate budget item. I suspect the same thing with the Ford as well. New computer baseline development is not included in Flight IIA costs nor was the cost of developing SPY-1D or D(V) included in those ship costs as well.

If you remove those costs a DDG-1000 isn't that much more expensive than the restarted Flight IIA Burkes.
you hit the nail on the head the boat is 3.3billion however the additional cost are relative to R/D and production modification techniques.
 

Belesari

New Member
Most likely the $6 billion figure includes money spent on systems development (the new guns, new combat system, engineering plant, ect) that is not normally listed in ship costs, it is usually a seperate budget item. I suspect the same thing with the Ford as well. New computer baseline development is not included in Flight IIA costs nor was the cost of developing SPY-1D or D(V) included in those ship costs as well.

If you remove those costs a DDG-1000 isn't that much more expensive than the restarted Flight IIA Burkes.
While im not a fan of the DDG-1K i do think it has alot of systems in it that should be fully worked out and brought into the fleet like sometime yesterday. Like the fully electric drive and such.
 

AegisFC

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
The USN's been wanting an electric drive train since the 1990's but could never get the funding.
 

Belesari

New Member
The USN's been wanting an electric drive train since the 1990's but could never get the funding.
Yes even though its superior to what we have now and i think far better. Azimuth thrusters would just be better, as well as freeing up alot of room by taking out those drive shafts.

Never understood the resistance to either the azimuth pods or the all electric drive.

These are 2 things which i think we should see most in future naval vessels.
 

ASSAIL

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
Yes even though its superior to what we have now and i think far better. Azimuth thrusters would just be better, as well as freeing up alot of room by taking out those drive shafts.

Never understood the resistance to either the azimuth pods or the all electric drive.

These are 2 things which i think we should see most in future naval vessels.
From what I have been reading on the RN/Type 45 thread, its all about acoustic signature and degraded sonar performance.

I haven't seen specific details.

Cheers
 
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