Thursday 25 November 2010

Littoral Combat Ships:A Brief Comparison


It is not appropriate to compare warships on the basis of their obvious features.

Many of the most important features of a modern warship are invisible.

Important features such as the combat system,signatures,hull performance and construction standards are less than obvious.

It is also difficult to compare prices for warships directly for a number of reasons.

Nevertheless the following two ships make an interesting comparison.


The United States Ship (U.S.S.) Freedom is the first of a planned series of  "Littoral Combat Ships".

She is said to have cost $637 Million,excluding her specialised mission systems.


She displaces 3,000 tonnes.


She draws 4.1 metres.


She makes 47 knots.


She has a range of 3,500 miles at 18 knots.


She has an endurance of 21 days.


She has a crew of 75 (including "mission package" crew).


She has a 57mm main gun.


She has 2 x 30mm cannon.


She has 4 x 0.5" (12.7mm) manually operated machine guns.


She has no anti-ship missiles but was intended to carry the now cancelled Non Line Of Sight (N.L.O.S.) missile system.


She has a 21 cell Rolling Airframe Missile (R.A.M.) anti-aircraft system.


She has no torpedo tubes.


She can carry up to 2 Seahawk helicopters.


She can carry mission packages to configure her for anti-submarine or anti-mine warfare.



Türkiye Cunhuriyeti Gemisi (T.C.G.,Turkish Republic Ship) Heybeliada is the lead ship of the Turkish Milli Gemi (MILGEM,National Ship) class of corvettes.
She is said to have cost $260 Million.


She displaces 2,000 tonnes.


She draws 3.75 metres.


She makes 29 knots.


She has a range of 3,500 nautical miles at 15 knots.


She has an endurance of 21 days.


She has a crew of 93 (with space for 104).


She has a 76mm main gun.


She has no medium cannon.


She has 2 x 0.5" (12.7mm) stabilised remotely operated machine guns.


She has 8 anti-ship missiles.


She has a 21 cell Rolling Airframe Missile (R.A.M.) anti-aircraft system.


She has 2 x 3 13" (324mm) torpedo tubes.


She can carry 1 Seahawk helicopter.


She has a full range of sensors for air,surface and underwater warfare.


A variant of this class will carry a Mk.41 Vertical Launch System (V.L.S.) for Enhanced Sea Sparrow Missiles (E.S.S.M.).


3 comments:

Chuck Hill said...

I'm afraid it may be worse than you suggest. The NLOS missiles and 2x30mm were considered a mission module. As I understand it, LCS-1 is weight critical enough that they cannot carry these and also carry an ASW or MCM module.

There isn't much to choose between the 57 mm and the 76 mm. The ranges are essentially the same and they throw the same amount of steel, but the Gun Fire Control System on the Freedom is also inferior.

Domo said...

I just dont for the life of me understand the LCS.
For what possible reason does it need to do 45 knots?
Thats 50% faster than the Capital ships!
Madness

Anonymous said...

It's the Spruance all over again. Except with a lot more aluminum. Pretty ships that can't defend themselves. At least the Spruances could later be up armed.