Tuesday, March 22, 2022

A Friend's Frigate Benchmark

Want to take a break from the Second Russo-Ukrainian War? 

Good, so do I.

As we (well at least I) impatiently wait for the USS Constellation (FFG 62) and her sisters to start displacing water, it is interesting to see the design decisions other nations have made to meet their frigate requirements. 

As our new FFG will be the USN version of the French and Italian FREMM, it is natural to compare it to other European designs, but what about our friends in the Pacific? 

What are the South Koreans building? Let's take a quick side-by-side look at their Daegu-class frigate presently under serial production.

Of course, different nations have different requirements, and you can see it in the fact that the US Navy,  as a global navy, needs a larger frigate to get the range and endurance requirement we need to get to the fight and stay there. ROKN's concerns are a lot closer to home, and their design reflects this reality.

Constellation is expected to displace twice as much as the ROKN frigate...but does she bring twice the punch?

Well, you all know how stupid I think a 57mm is on a ship this size, but if you look everywhere else, you are getting a lot of fight for the size. I'm not too happy with the lack of TLAM. A ship this size should have this capability. We may want it to only do escort and ASW missions, but when war comes, warships over 7,000 tons won't have the luxury to pick out missions they want. I hope some of those MK-41 have ASROC in them and the NSM retain their surface-attack capability.

Anyways,  that is my quick look. The ROKN ship does not have the legs a USN ship needs, but for her size, she's a nice bit of kit.

h/t PointLuck.

No comments: