Tuesday 27 March 2018

A Kiel International Seapower Symposium experience!

Written by D-Mitch

Some days ago, I received an invitation to the Kiel International Seapower Symposium 2018 (KISS18), titled "Allied Maritime Strategy – A Theory for Success", the second of the Kiel Seapower Series international symposiums, which is organized by the Center for Maritime Strategy and Security, of the Institute for Security Policy, Kiel University (ISPK) with support from the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), Arlington, Virginia, U.S.A. The invitation from the Head of the Center, Dr. Sebastian Bruns, brought me back good memories from the KISS'17, the first of the Kiel Seapower Series international symposiums, which I had the great privilege to attend.

The symposium venue at the historical Hotel Kieler Yacht Club

Saturday 17 March 2018

FLEETS #20: The German Federal Navy in 1960

The destroyer Zerstörer 2 (D 171)
U-Boot Hecht (S 171, ex U 2367)
The German Navy was originally known as the Bundesmarine ("Federal Navy") from 1956 until 1995 when Deutsche Marine ("German Navy") became the official name with respect to the 1990 incorporation of the East German Volksmarine ("People's Navy"). The following graph includes includes all ships which were in service with the West Germany's Navy on July 1st, 1960. I would like to mention here that the original source of the graphs is not known; the graph was posted by the reddit user J4yJ4m on WarshipP0rn.

Thursday 1 March 2018

INFOGRAPHICS #28: The attack submarines of the Mediterranean in 2018

Written  by D-Mitch

Numerous Turkish Type 209/1200 and 209/1400 submarines in formation
In the following infographic, named The Attack Submarines of the Mediterranean in 2018, I depict all the attack submarines that are in active service in the Mediterranean Sea right now (and will continue to be part of their Navies until the end of 2018). Please note that in comparison with the previous graphs about The Attack Submarines of Europe in 2017 (updated for 2018) and The Attack Submarines of Latin America in 2018, there are nuclear-powered  submarines (SSN) in the region, and specifically only France has that type in its inventory. There are also navies that have submarine-launched cruise missile capability which belong to Algeria (Kilo class with Club-S) and Israel (Dolphin I/II class with Popeye Turbo). Moreover, there are three countries in the region with submarines in their inventories equipped with Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) system; Greece (five in its inventory), Italy (four in its inventory) and Israel (two in active service, one more to be commissioned). It should be mentioned also that from the 21 the countries with coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea, only seven navies (7) have submarines in their fleet. Specifically, Turkey has the most numerous fleet but France has all its submarines nuclear-powered while Greece has five (5) of its eleven (11) submarines (only one boat less than Turkey) equipped with AIP. Furthermore, Egypt, has in its inventory the longest submarines in the region (Romeo class: 76.6 meters length) and the oldest as well and Algeria the largest ones (Kilo class: approximately 3,200 tons submerged).