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Adelaide-class frigate

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Template:Infobox Ship Class

The Adelaide class is the name given to the Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates in service in the Royal Australian Navy. The first four units were built as the seventeenth, eighteenth, thirty-fifth and forty-fourth in the US Navy production run, with the final two units built in Australia. The ships are classed as guided missile frigates, with a weapons fit optimised for general warfare.

Since the withdrawal of the Perth class destroyers, these ships are the RAN's primary air defence vessels, armed with the SM-1 missile. They also have significant surface capability thanks to a 76 mm Mk 75 gun and the Harpoon ASM, and a pair of triple torpedo tubes for ASW. In addition, a pair of S-70B Seahawk [1] helicopters are carried.

Upgrades

There have been two major upgrades distinguishing the Adelaide class from the American Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates.

Lengthening

The first three units, as initially constructed, had a length identical at both the main deck and the keel, similar to that of the early Oliver Hazard Perry class ships. From Darwin onwards, the ship's overall length was increased by angling the transom (the section between the fantail and the keel) - this enlarged the flight deck, allowing the larger Seahawk helicopter to be accommodated. This was retrofitted into Adelaide, Canberra and Sydney at their periodic refits.

FFG Upgrade

As part of a major programme of improvements, a AU$1 billion upgrade project for the Adelaide class is in progress, which will see enhancements to both weapons and equipment. The costs of the project will be partly offset by the decommissioning of the two oldest units, with Canberra paying off in 2005, Adelaide is due to be paid off early in 2008. The first upgraded vessel, Sydney, returned to the fleet in 2005. Some of the new features include the ability to fire the SM-2 missile, the addition of an 8 cell Mk 41 VLS for Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile[2] and enhanced air search radar and long range sonar. When these upgrades are complete, the Adelaide class frigates the will be the only FFG-7 class ships in the world to be capable of employing ESSM and SM-2. Each unit to be upgraded will do so at Garden Island in Sydney, with the modifications taking between 18 months and two years. The ships will be replaced starting in 2013 by three new air defence destroyers equipped with the Aegis combat system.

See also


References

  1. ^ http://www.navy.gov.au/aircraft/seahawk.html
  2. ^ RAN FFG 1st of Class Firing of Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile http://www.defence.gov.au/media/download/2007/Sep/20070911a/index.htm
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