Castor class coastal patrol vessels of the Belgian Navy (plus PHOTO GALLERY #36)

Written by D-Mitch

The two coastal patrol vessels of the Belgian Navy

The Belgian Navy, officially the Belgian Maritime Component (Marinecomponent) of the Belgian Armed Forces, provides the maritime component of Belgium’s defence capabilities. The Naval Component of the Belgian Armed Forces consists currently of two frigates, five mine hunters, two offshore patrol vessels, one command and support ship and one oceanographic ship, all located in the Belgian naval base in Zeebrugge. The Navy also operates a sail training ship, a number of tugs and a large number of rigid-hulled inflatable boats (RHIBs), the majority of them carried by the naval units. It is a small but modern and very capable naval force and will be even more capable in the future thanks to two major projects which will provide six new multi-mission large minehunters and two multi-mission frigates. In this article we will analyze the patrol boats.

PHOTO GALLERY #35: Binzhou, frigate of the People's Liberation Army Navy

Binzhou, Type 054A-class frigate of the PLAN

Another photo gallery from my visit to Kiel in 2018, on the first weekend of the 136th Kiel Week. More galleries will follow from 2018-19 Kiel Weeks. The Kiel Week (German: Kieler Woche) or Kiel Regatta is an annual sailing event in Kiel, the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The first weekend of the Kiel Week, the famous Naval Base of Kiel, opens its gates for just four hours per day, for thousands of tourists who are eager to visit the German Navy warships and dozens of foreign warships which visit the city of Kiel, to honor the Kiel Week.This post is about a very unique visitor to Kiel, a People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 054A class frigate (Jiangkai II), Binzhou (515)! The Type 054A (NATO codename Jiangkai II) frigate is a class of Chinese multi-role frigates, the first of which entered service with the People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force in 2007. It is a development of the Type 054 frigate (2 ships), using the same hull but with improved sensors and weapons (such as a VLS instead of a trainable launcher, new CIWS and main gun). This is the second frigate of the class I visited after the Yuncheng (see here) in 2015. Binzhou was commissioned in December 2016 and she is the 23rd vessel (Batch III) in a class of total 30 ships (pus the two Type 054s) until now. A new frigate that is under development will succeed the class. Binzhou is 134 meters long and has a full displacement around 4,000 tons. Enjoy the photos!

CNV P355GR, the new coastal patrol vessels of the Hellenic Coast Guard

Written by D-Mitch

The first two P355s at CNV shipyard in Italy

One of the new boat designs that will join the Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG) (Λιμενικό Σώμα - Ελληνική Ακτοφυλακή) naval forces in the near future (ream more here) is the P355GR, a coastal patrol vessel design by the Italian shipbuilder Cantiere Navale Vittoria (CNV) SpA. On Jan 22, 2019, the Greek Ministry of Shipping and Island Policy signed a €42 million contract with Cantiere Navale Vittoria, through the exclusive representative of the company in Greece, Gladius PC, for the supply of three (3) state-of-the-art patrol boats to the HCG and an option for a fourth vessel. This day marked the beginning of an ambitious mini-armament program for HCG, a program that aims to strengthen the organization with modern boats with increased capabilities and new equipment but also to modernize existing equipment such as craft and aircraft.

MAGNA 960RIB Invader, the workhorse of Hellenic Army Amphibious Special Forces

Written by Γ.Μ.

Motomarine Magna 960RIB Mk I Invader

The Hellenic Army Amphibious Raider (Special) Forces (Δυνάμεις Αμφίβιων Καταδρομών, Ελληνικός Στρατός) which were developed in the islands of the eastern Aegean after 1974, are the most elite part of the Greek defense against the threat from the east to these islands. The main and, at present, the most capable and most numerous floating mean available to the Amphibious Special Forces, are the high speed rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIBs) Magna 960RIB Invader. The procedures for their acquisition began immediately after the events in Imia between Greece and Turkey in 1996, under the urgent need to replace the old boats of the types L19, L27 and L30 used by the Special Forces of the Hellenic Army of that time.

SuperTermoli (ST) 60 - The best fast interceptor craft of the Hellenic Navy Underwater Demolition Command

Written by D-Mitch

 

The SuperTermoli (ST) 60 ΣΑΠ 11 returns into active
service fully modernized and upgraded!

The Underwater Demolition Command (UDC) (Greek: Διοίκηση Υποβρυχίων Καταστροφών), abbreviated as DYK) is the Hellenic Navy's elite special warfare unit. The DYK is organized into sections called Underwater Demolition Teams (Greek: Ομάδες Υποβρυχίων Καταστροφών), commonly known in their abbreviated form as OYK, that specialize in a particular area. DYK integrates Special Operation Forces (SOF) teams, Amphibious Reconnaissance Teams, Explosive Ordnance Teams (EOD), Special Operation Craft (SOC, ΣΑΠ in Greek) and Underwater Vessels (UV), the Underwater Demolition School (UDS), and the Underwater Demolition Base (UDB) according to the Operation Planning and under the orders of Hellenic Navy General Staff and Hellenic Navy Fleet Command. Among the several boats of different types (unfortunately) in the Command's inventory, there is one that distinguishes from all the rest thanks to its performance and size. This is the ST60 multi-mission interceptor (ΜΜI), the only real interceptor craft actually in the SOC fleet, designed by the Italian manufacturer SuperTermoli and built in Greece.

VIKING Norsafe Munin S1200 Extended Cabin ambulance boat of the Hellenic Coast Guard

Written by D-Mitch

VIKING Norsafe Munin S1200 Extended Cabin

As I had reported in early February, in the article VIKING Norsafe boats for the Hellenic Armed Forces (Part B: Hellenic Navy and Hellenic Coast Guard), the VIKING Norsfafe Hellas was manufacturing that time three (3) VIKING Norsafe Munin S1200 Extended Cabin offshore, high-performance, ambulance boats, for the the Hellenic Coast Guard at its facilities in Theba, Greece. The boats are designed to support emergency services in the Aegean Sea. The international tender was concluded after cooperation between the Hellenic Coast Guard and the Greek Emergency Response Organization (E.K.A.B), in an initiative supported and financed by the European Union under the INTERREG V-A Cooperation Program 2014-2020. The cost for the three boats reached the 1,398,000 euros. All three ambulance boats are scheduled for delivery during the summer of 2020 and will operate in remote Greek islands of the Aegean. This post will walk you through the first boat that was delivered on August 3 and will be stationed in Naxos island, the largest of the Cyclades island group. Τhe other two vessels will be stationed in Rhodes and Leros.

PHOTO GALLERY #34: Karathanasis, fast attack craft of the Hellenic Navy

Ypoploiarchos Karathanasis, the new FACM of Greece

In this new photo gallery I share the photos I took on two different days of the new 6th Roussen-class fast attack missile craft (FACM) of the Hellenic Navy, Ypoploiarchos Karathanasis (P-78). The new boat was named after Lieutenant Christodoulos Karathanasis who was killed on 31 January 1996, during the Imia crisis, when the AB 212 helicopter PN 21 crashed into the sea. The first six photos were taken while I was onboard the new general support ship Heracles (A-472) on July 2 during a Photographic Exercise (Photex), when Karathanasis was on her final sea trials. The rest of the photos, 30 in total, were taken during the naming ceremony of the ship on July 28. Finally, I have included also at the end of the post seven photos which were taken on these two days by the Hellenic Navy. Unfortunately, I did not have the chance to visit the ship neither I had enough time to take more photos; I hope I will do that in the near future and thus to learn more about her differences from her older sisters in the class and subsequently to enrich this article with more photos. Enjoy!

FLEETS #28: Royal Swedish Navy, Royal Norwegian Navy, Argentine Navy and Royal Canadian Navy in WWII

The following images illustrate the most important classes of warships that were in service with the navies of Sweden, Norway, Canada and Argentina during the World War II. All the images are created by www.naval-encyclopedia.com. In that page you can read some excellent naval history articles, to download other graphs or you can purchase the same graphs in high resolution in the online shop! More posts will follow for your collection of current naval fleets but also of fleets from the past.

Royal Swedish Navy (Svenska marinen) in WWII

Click to enlarge and save the image to view the details - Royal Swedish Navy in WWII

PHOTO GALLERY #33: Mount Whitney, amphibious command ship of the United States Navy

USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20), flagship of the the U.S. 6th Fleet

This is another photo gallery from my visit to Kiel in 2019, on the first weekend of the 137th Kiel Week. The Kiel Week (German: Kieler Woche) or Kiel Regatta is an annual sailing event in Kiel, the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The first weekend of the Kiel Week, the famous Naval Base of Kiel, opens its gates for just four hours per day, for thousands of tourists who are eager to visit the German Navy warships and dozens of foreign warships which visit the city of Kiel, to honor the Kiel Week. Among the visiting ships, was the U.S. 6th Fleet (Commander Vice Adm. Lisa Franchetti) Blue Ridge-class command and control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20). The ship is named for Mount Whitney, a peak in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California. Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous United States, with an elevation of 14,505 feet (4,421 m).