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The Visby Corvettes - Mother Ships for HKP 15B (Sea Based Operations)
The Visby and its four sister ships is the latest class of
corvettes
developed by the Swedish Navy. The design emphasizes low
visibility/stealth technology and network-centric
capabilities. The ships are built by Kockums AB. Most of the
technology is developed in Sweden in cooperation between the Armed
Forces, the Defense Materiel Administration (FMV), the Defense Research
Agency (FOI), Swedish and foreign defence industries and universities.
The hull is constructed with a sandwich design consisting of a
PVC core with a carbon fibre and vinyl laminate. The material
is one of the factors that give the ships very low signature levels, in
terms of radar, magnetic and hydro-acoustic. This makes them difficult
to detect on radar and infrared camera. At the same time the ships can
withstand shock effects very well and they can also take a big load. The
angular design also reduces the radar signature. The 57 mm cannon barrel
can also be folded into the turret to further reduce its cross section.
One of the tasks of the corvettes is to act as mother ships to the
HKP 15B (Agusta A109LUHS) in sea based operations.
Otherwise, the Visby corvettes are designed to operate in several roles,
such as mine hunting, anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare,
maritime surveillance and maritime security and in international
operations. They will also provide support to the society for
example at sea accidents.
The ships are equipped to be able to cooperate with other parts
of the Armed Forces that occur in the maritime area, such as the Air
Force, Coast Guard, Civil Defence, Customs, Police and civilian
shipping. The Visby corvettes will be able to behave in particular
as a good management of resources for long-term efforts at sea.
The Visby corvette type is the first ship designed to combine all these
skills together in a single hull.
The corvettes
will belong to the 3rd Naval Warfare Flotilla (Tredje
sjöstridsflottiljen) based at Karlskrona.
The five ships are
- K31 HMS Visby
- K32 HMS Helsingborg
- K33 HMS Härnösand
- K34 HMS Nyköping
- K35 HMS Karlstad
Main
Dimensions
Displacement: 650 t
Length: 72 m
Beam: 10.4 m
Draught: 2.4 m
Propulsion
Combined diesel or gas turbines (CODOG) including:
- 2 × KaMeWa Water jets
- 4 × Vericor TF50A gas turbines. Total rating 16 MW
- 2 × MTU Friedrichshafen 16V 2000 N90 diesel engines, total rating 2.6
MW
Speed: 40+ knots
Complement for 43 officers and crew
System for Replenishment at Sea (RAS)
Sensors and processing systems
Ericsson Sea Giraffe ABM 3D surveillance radar
Ceros 200 Fire control radar system
Condor CS-3701 Tactical Radar Surveillance System
Hull-mounted sonar
Towed array sonar system
Variable depth sonar
Electronic warfare and decoys
Rheinmetall TKWA/MASS (Multi Ammunition Softkill System)
Armament
1 × 57 Mk3
8 × RBS15 Mk2 AShM Sea-Sea missiles
8 x IR Surface-Air missiles
Mines
Depth charges
Photos
on this page: - HMS Härnösand at Free Harbour, Gothenburg
2006-06-03.
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