Tag Archives: freedom class lcs

Slumming it in the colonies

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What an idyllic nautical scene! This image, posted by the Forces Armées de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, the French garrison in their of New Caledonia, is of the Floréal-class light surveillance frigate Vendémiaire (F734) tied up at her base at Noumea, that South Western Pacific colony’s primary port.

Vendémiaire just left Noumea last week on one of her regular two-month cruises around the West Pac.

The six Floreals, built in the early 1990s just after the end of the Cold War, are interesting 3,000-ton (full load) 306-foot ships that split the difference between a standard frigate and a Coast Guard cutter. Built with a diesel-only suite, rather than CODAG/DOG, they have a maximum speed of just 20 knots but can range over 9,000nm without searching for a tanker and pull into ports that can accommodate a 14-foot draft.

Their hulls were reportedly built to commercial standards, but that hasn’t stopped them from putting in three decades of solid overseas service and still looking good and well-maintained.

Armed with simple weapons pulled from retired platforms– a single 4-inch/55 cal CADAM Modèle 68 main gun, a pair of 20mm GIATs, and accommodation for some Exocets– they can also embark a light helicopter and a platoon of French Marines (who are notorious for being unable to take a joke).

Note her recognition “VN” marks on her helicopter deck, and her twin 20mm GIATs with ready boxes over the hangar. The vacant deck space behind her stack was originally for MM38 Exocets, but could always pick up a more modern AShM, such as the NSM.

Vendémiaire has spent almost her entire 29-year career at Nouméa while her sisterships Floréal and Nivôse are based at Réunion– the French Indian Ocean colony between Mauritius and Madagascar– Prairial at Tahiti (what a horrible duty station!) while Ventôse and Germinal are at Martinique in the Caribbean, with the latter two vessels often supporting U.S. 4th Fleet training, humanitarian, and counter-drug initiatives.

Shorter and slower than the more expensive LCS concept, they also can provide NGFS in the littoral if needed, though arguably are even more prone to air attack. 

MARTINIQUE, FRANCE (June 23, 2021) The Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Sioux City (LCS 11) conducts a bilateral maritime exercise with the French Navy Floréal-class frigate FS Germinal (F735) following a port visit to Martinique, France, June 23, 2021. Sioux City is deployed to the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations to support Joint Interagency Task Force South’s mission, which includes counter-illicit drug trafficking missions in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Marianne Guemo)

Saudis go big on LCS, err, make that FFG

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Details of the $11 billion (with a B) Saudi Naval Expansion Program II (SNEP II) are trickling out and it looks like the big spender of the Persian Gulf is looking to get 4 (maybe 5 judging from the number of weapons systems) of Lockheed’s Freedom-class LCS hulls– only with real teeth.

Can you guess which variant is closer to what we will have as the next FF over what the Saudi FFG will likely look like?

Can you guess which variant is closer to what we will have as the next FF over what the Saudi FFG will likely look like?

Rather than be marginal and modular, the Saudis are going for a 76mm Oto Melara MK-75 gun over the 57mm Mk110, adding two 8-cell VLS MK41s (which can also launch Standard missiles) for quad packed Enhanced Sea Sparrows (giving each ship 64 of these missiles, of which the Saudis are buying more than 500), 128 RIM-116C Block II Rolling Airframe Missiles for five MK-15 Mod 3 SeaRAM air defense systems and 48 Block II Harpoon anti-ship missiles along with eight quad launchers and five control systems.

Sure Harpoon is dated, but its all we are selling right now and is still good enough to smoke anything the Iranians have afloat– plus Sea Sparrows and SeaRam have a surface-to-surface mode which means they can put the hard goodbye on small craft as needed. To deal with sneaky subs, they will also have anti-submarine warfare (ASW) sonar suites and torpedoes.

Also in the package are 10 MH-60Rs.

Overall, the LCS when so equipped looks like a decent little guided missile frigate and a worthy successor to the old Perry class. Hopefully the USN will take an interest.

That reminds me of the time…

It shouldn’t be surprising that a Persian Gulf state picked up a fully-fleshed naval combatant from the U.S. while the Navy looks on with a sigh. The same thing happened in the late 1970s.

In 1978, Ingalls Shipbuilding laid down His Iranian Majesty’s Ship Kouroush, a 9,700-ton variant of the Spruance-class destroyer, which Ingalls was also cranking out. However instead of the modest arms of the Spru-can, Kouroush had a pair of Mk 26 missile launchers for the Standard Missile SM-2MR with magazines for 80 missiles– making it one of the best DDGs in the world. Basically, a Ticonderoga-class cruiser but without the Aegis system.

Well Kouroush and her three sisters, Daryush, Nader, and Anoshirvan never made it to the Shah’s Navy, being embargoed after the Ayatollah came to power.

Instead the USN picked them up for a bargain and commissioned them as USS Kidd (DDG-993), Callaghan, Scott and Chandler and they served through the 80s and 90s (often, ironically, in the Persian Gulf).

USS Kidd (ex-Kouroush, now-Tso Ying), also known as "What the Spruance class should have been"

USS Kidd (ex-Kouroush, now-Tso Ying), also known as “What the Spruance class should have been”

Taiwan picked them up in 2005 as Tso Ying, Su Ao, Kee Lung, and Ma Kong respectively where they continue to serve, their Standard missiles replaced with the locally made Tien Kung (Sky Bow) system.