Royal Swedish Navy DDG and FFG:s

bezobrazov

Post subject: Re: Royal Swedish Navy DDG and FFG:s

Posted: July 29th, 2011, 6:26 pm

Posts: 3406
Joined: July 29th, 2010, 2:20 pm

As the decision was taken to delete the 'Landskaps'-destroyers in 1982, due to their inability for medoernization (too little hull volume and low stability being the chief concerns!) and eventually retire the Halland-class guided missile destroyers as well, a question arose in the Swedish defence sector of how to replace these ships. Especially, it was felt, the two otherwise very capable Hallands would be sorely missed, but their advanced age and the fact that their inherent stability might suffer with an extensive rebuilding, precluded maintaining them beyond 1984/85. As it were, Småland was retired in the midst of a submarine chase in the Hårsfjärden, leaving Halland as the sole destroyer in the 'Kustflottan'. She, however, went to the scrappers in 1987, having been retained in materiel commission only for the last three years.

A Selected Parliamentary Subcommitee, in early 1983 reached the conclusion that it would be advisable to replace the two Hallands with ships

Quote:

"equally capable, but demanding less manpower and being of a higher endurance."

The Communists, of course voted no, but with a strong four-party backing (out of five) it was proposed, in Jan. 1984 that tenders would be sought for two replacement ships. The 'Försvarets Materielverk' (Defence Procurement Agency) realized quite quickly that no Swedish yards stood a chance of securing a contract, since it would take too long time to set up drawings. So therefore the agency looked abroad. Both Italian, French and British yards were consulted. The German Stülcken in Hamburg was a very close contender, offering to build a modified version of their Standard-frigate. The Italians offered the Animoso-class (not yet renamed!) but attached such conditions that the Swedish authorities withdrew their interest. The French offered to sell a couple of elderly destroyers, albeit extensively rebuilt and modernized. This, however, was not to the Swedes' liking and they withdrew.

Finally only Yarrow and Vickers at Burrow remained. They were currently busy completing the last of the Type22 Batch 2s for the RN. This type had been widely acclaimed by RN officers. Yarrow could offer to build two vesels of near-identical specifications as the RN-built ones for the RSwN. Armament would be an interesting mix of British-made and Swedish (Bofors)-made weapons. Sensor outfit would follow the same guidelines. In June 1984, in time for the proroguement of the Swedish Parliament for the summer, the decision was clubbed through the chamber.

Building started at Yarrow on the first ship, named HMS Wachtmeister, in Oct. that year, followed in Jan. 1985 of the second unit, named HMS Wrangel.
The two units featured all the latest design elements of the Batch 2s, such as a widened heliopad (though Sweden at the time did not possess a shipborne helicopter larger than the Bell JetRanger! [HKP6]).

Unique features of the design included the fitting, atop the bridge house, of four RBS 15 SSMs (though 8 could be carried, it was never practiced for stability reasons!), a Bofors 120mm gun in place of the original design's Exocet missile beds. Integrated Swedish twin torpedotubes for the newly developed Tp83 and the British Stingray torpedoes were fitted just in front of the hangar area.

The directors for the SeaWolf SAMs were uniquely covered by two large fibre glass domes, designed to protect the sensitive equipment in the, often, inclement and chilly Nordic weather.
Four 40 mm M48 complete with cupolas were removed from the stricken 'Landskaps'-destroyers and fitted abreast the forward superstructure, instead of the open 30mm mountings the British preferred. They also received their separate directors adjacent to them.

Altogether, when the ships commissioned in Sept. 1987 and June 1988 respectively, they were widely positively received. They were also highly regarded in service, always affectionately being referred to as the "English Ships' (or Boats) (Engelska båtarna/skeppen). Interestingly enough, both ships were classified as 'jagare' or destroyers in Swedish service, hence the prefix 'J' at their bows.

With much reduced crews compared to the old ships, and with a much more economic and reliable gasturbine machinery the ships initially saw extensive service. However, by the time of the financial crisis of 1995, both ships were laid up and very little maintenance was done on either one. Only by the beginning of the Iraq conflict, in 2001, did the ships recommission, albeit with some difficulty, due to deteriorated material condition.

They again saw service between 2002-2005 when they, again, were laid up. In 2007 the Wrangel was recommissioned for taking the Royal Family to the United States; the following year her sister, the Wachtmeister was outfitted to visit St Peterburg, Russia and tour the Baltic major ports.

Having been modernized with more extensive communication outfit and sensors, and serving as testbeds for larger, more capable shipborne helicopters, both vessels are still in commision, although mostly on reduced basis, one always being in full commission for mission-specific purposes, such as Operation Atalanta, which the Wrangel joined in Sept. 2010, and her sister currently operates under as of July 2011.

I present for you the Swedish Wachtmeister-class as of 1990:

[ img ]

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My Avatar:Петр Алексеевич Безобразов (Petr Alekseevich Bezobrazov), Вице-адмирал , царская ВМФ России(1845-1906) - I sign my drawings as Ari Saarinen

Last edited by bezobrazov on July 31st, 2011, 10:18 am, edited 2 times in total.

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