So, you want to build your own frigate, eh?

All the usual caveats apply, yadda yadda yadda, but this is just plain fun.

LandSharkUK has a fun program where you take some entering arguments about what some version of the planned Royal Navy Type-31 frigate may or may not have on it. The template is the proposed BMT VENATOR-110 Frigate.

You can pick any mix from sensors, to weapons, to engineering, to aviation/mission support.

I made a few compromises (always get the largest gun option, natch) - and here is what I came up with in about 2-minutes of pondering. I'll convert to Imperial and USD for you;

SALAMANDER Class Frigate

Length; 463 ft

Beam; 58 ft

Draught; 16 ft

Displacement; 4,821 tonnes

Top speed; 33 Knots

Range; 7,231 Nm

Armaments and sensors; 5" main gun, 24 CAMM & 8 MK-41 VLS Cells, 2 Phalanx CIWS, decoys and ECM amidships, CAPTAS II Sonar.

Aviation support and mission bays: average range.

Engineering; two diesels and a gas turbine (CODAG).

Unit cost; $519 million

Royal Navy Budget for T31; $3.12 billion

Units possible from budget; 6 Units

And yes, the pic is about my ship ... with frick'n lasers instead of CIWS.

So...there.

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UPDATE: If you are wondering what this STRALES system is, go to the 2:50 point in the below video.