Tag Archives: patrol frigate

Danish keeping it flexible

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The Royal Danish Navy has, for the past few decades, really been hitting it out of the park in terms of low-cost, flexible, and multi-function patrol frigates. One that allowed ASW, AShM, and MCM modules that could be added or swapped out as needed. You know, what the LCS was supposed to be.

The Flyvefisken and Thetis classes are to the left, and the newer Knud Rasmussen class offshore patrol vessels and Absalon and Iver Huitfeldt-class frigates are to the right. Via Breaking Defense

Besides the small 400-ton Flyvefisken-class patrol vessels with their innovative containerized weapon systems (again, what the LCS was supposed to be), the Danes also produced the excellent follow-on Thetis-class ocean patrol vessels, small 3,500-ton 368-foot surveillance frigates that were good for an 8,700nm cruising rang on an economic diesel plant while carrying a light gun-only armament (although ASMs could be fitted) while being able to carry a Marine platoon and an MH-60 sized helicopter. Plus, they did this with just a 40-50 man complement.

A good recent primer on how the Thetis class is used is in the below 11-minute video from NATO, showcasing the HDMS Triton (F358).

This comes as the Danes are looking towards the new OMT MPV80 program to develop a replacement for these arctic patrol frigates.

These are about as modular and multifunctional as it gets, as befitting the third generation of Danish LCS. 

Manning the Oerlikon

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Official caption: “Five steward’s mates stand at their battle stations, as a gun crew aboard a Coast Guard-manned frigate in the southwest Pacific.”

Note the gunner is missing his left shoe but doesn’t seem that affected by it, as there is a pile of 20mm brass in the gun tub. NARA 26-G-3797 https://catalog.archives.gov/id/513214

“On call to general quarters, these Coast Guardsmen man a 20mm AA gun. They are, left to right, James L. Wesley, standing with a clip of shells; L. S. Haywood, firing; William Watson, reporting to bridge by phone from his gun captain’s post; William Morton, loading a full clip, assisted by Odis Lane, facing camera across gun barrel.”

Besides their own vessels, the Coast Guard manned a myriad of ships on the Navy List to include LSTs, LCIs, and transports. Notably, of the 96 Tacoma-class patrol frigates built during the war, the USCG ran 75 (the balance had gone as Lend-Lease to Russia and Britain). Of those 75, most were detailed to convoy duty in the Atlantic but 18 that were built on the West Coast were dispatched in a squadron to the Pacific where they gave a good account of themselves in ASW patrols, landing Rangers and Marines on isolated atolls, and providing NGFS for invasion forces throughout the Philippine littoral.