PHOTO GALLERY #12: Kanaris, frigate of the Hellenic Navy

F464 Kanaris, Kortenaer class frigate of the Hellenic Navy

Yesterday, March 26th of 2015, I had the opportunity to visit some Hellenic Navy ships and boats that were moored at Piraeus Port for the celebrations of the Greek Independence Day on March 25, the day that commemorates the start of the War of Greek Independence in 1821. Such day of the year is a great opportunity for citizens of Athens and Piraeus to visit warships of Hellenic Navy that visit Piraeus for three days (March 25-27). As usual, Hellenic Navy brings one frigate, one submarine and one fast attack missile craft for the celebrations at Piraeus. F464 Kanaris was the representing frigate, one of the nine (ten once as Bouboulina was decommissioned in 2013) of the Elli class frigates (Kortenaer/Standard class) of the Hellenic Navy. This is the former HNLMS Jan van Brakel (F825), launched on the 16th May 1981 at the Royal Schelde shipyards in Holland and commissioned on the 14th April 1983. On the 29th of November 2002 she was acquired by the Hellenic Navy and was renamed Kanaris, becoming the 8th Standard class frigate of the Hellenic fleet. The ship is one of the three non-modernized frigates in the class (you can compare the ship with the modernized Kountouriotis frigate) but despite that, she is an excellent condition. The ship's name derives from the hero Konstantinos Kanaris, who participated gloriously in the Hellenic Revolution in 1821, serving the Navy. To all the officers and non-commissioned officers of the ship: thank you a lot for the tour! Εnjoy more than 40 photos of the ship!

PHOTO GALLERY #11: Okeanos, submarine of the Hellenic Navy

S118 Okeanos Type 209/1500

Today, March 26th of 2015, I had the opportunity to visit some Hellenic Navy ships and boats that were moored at Piraeus Port for the celebrations of the Greek Independence Day on March 25, the day that commemorates the start of the War of Greek Independence in 1821. Such day of the year is a great opportunity for citizens of Athens and Piraeus to visit warships of Hellenic Navy that visit Piraeus for three days (March 25-27). Once again I was there, not so much for the other ships but especially for the submarine Okeanos S118 (English: Ocean), a unique boat in the Greek fleet. This time I skipped visiting the fast attack craft that was there because I have visited already two boats of the class (photos of Daniolos and Roussen); I should mention that usually Hellenic Navy brings one frigate, one submarine and one fast attack missile craft for the celebrations at Piraeus. The fast attack craft was Ritsos P71, the newest boat in the Roussen class (5th in the series) and the newest vessel in the Greek fleet. Some photos of the boat I will include them in the article I have written about the Roussen class.

WARSHIPS OF THE PAST: Colbert and De Grasse anti-aircraft cruisers of the French Navy

Written by D-Mitch

Cruiser Colbert in the early '60s

Cruiser De Grasse in the early '60s

The De Grasse (C610) and Colbert (C611) were two anti-aircraft cruisers of the French Navy (Marine Nationale) that served the period 1956-1991. The two warships were the ultimate anti-aircraft gun cruisers after the WWII era with a number of guns of medium caliber dedicated for this role more than any other warship before in the cruiser category with the exception of the first four ships of the Atlanta-class cruisers that had the heaviest anti-aircraft armament of any cruiser of World War II (16x5in guns). Only battleships were some of the few ships that had more 5 or 6in guns than the two French cruisers. Elegant ships with a powerful armament they were promising that could overcome any future aerial threat. However, the introduction in service of the missiles, which can engage targets in much longer distances and much more precisely than guns, made them quickly obsolete for this role.

Armidale class patrol boats of the Royal Australian Navy

Written by D-Mitch

HMAS Albany and HMAS Maryborough of the Armidale class

The Armidale class patrol boats is a class of 14 boats which were commissioned the period 2005-2008 in the Royal Australian Navy. The boats were built in order to replace the 15 aging boats of the Fremantle class that entered service the period 1980-1984. Of the seven proposals tendered, the Austal Ships/Defence Maritime Services (DMS) proposal for twelve vessels based on an enlarged Bay-class patrol boat was selected. Two additional patrol boats were ordered in 2005 to provide a dedicated patrol force for the North West Shelf Venture. The vessels were built at Austal's Henderson shipyard near Freemantle. The Armidale class ships are operated by the Australian Patrol Boat Group, and based in Darwin. They are primarily tasked with border protection, fisheries patrols, and the interception of unauthorised arrivals by sea. The Armidales are longer and heavier than their Fremantle class predecessors, with improved seakeeping ability and increased range, allowing them to reach Australia's offshore territories. Initially, the ships are multi-crewed, with three ship's companies available for every two vessels, allowing allows the patrol boats to spend more time at sea without cutting into sailors' rest or training time. The last years however, are no more multi crewed .

WARSHIPS OF THE PAST: Jeanne d'Arc helicopter cruiser of the French Navy

Written by D-Mitch

The helicopter cruiser of the French Navy, Jeanne d'Arc

Jeanne d' Arc was a helicopter cruiser of the French Navy (Marine Nationale). She was the third vessel of the French Navy named after Joan of Arc ("Jeanne d'Arc", in French). In the mid-1950s the need arose to replace the old training cruiser Jeanne d'Arc of 1930. Various proposals were considered, including the use of a flotilla "avisos escorteurs", but in 1956 it was decided to construct a specialized helicopter cruiser which in wartime could be employed for ASW operations, for amphibious assault, or as a troop transport capable of lifting a battalion of 700 men. The resulting PH 57 design adopted a hull form based on that of the anti-aircraft cruiser Colbert. A conventional cruiser superstructure forward accommodated all command and control facilities, together with the boiler uptakes, while the after part of the ship was dominated by a helicopter deck (62x21m) beneath which were located the hangar and aviation facilities.

INFOGRAPHICS OF COAST GUARD VESSELS #3: Russia, China, Peru and Greece

Written by D-Mitch

This is the third post of infographics of various coast guard vessels from around the world. These infographics aim to highlight the most important equipment of the vessels; I do not analyze the systems in depth as I do for the warships instead I provide some basic information mainly from wikipedia (if else I provide the source) about the ships, their history and their capabilities.

1. Krivak III (pr. 11351, NATO codename Nerey) class frigates of the Russian Coast Guard

Varovsky Krivak III class frigate. Photo: Владимир Кононов

The Project 1135 Burevestnik (Storm Petrel) class were a series of frigates built for the Soviet Navy. These ships are commonly known by their NATO reporting name of Krivak and are divided into Krivak I, Krivak II (both navy), and Krivak III (coast guard) classes. These ships were designed as a successor to the Riga class. The design started in the late 1950s and matured as an anti-submarine ship in the 1960s. A total of 40 ships were built, 32 ships for the Soviet Navy (Russian Navy) and nine (9) modified ships of Nerey (Krivak III) subclass for the KGB Maritime Border Guard. Of the nine Nerey class vessels, eight (8) served in the FSB Coast Guard and two (2) units were transferred to Ukraine prior to completion (the Hetman Bayda Vishnevetskiy never completed) of which one, the Hetman Sagaydachny, is till today the flagship of the Ukrainian Navy.

INFOGRAPHICS #20: The Battleship-Carrier and the Battleship of the Future!

How do you imagine the warships of the future? See how an American designer was imagining in 1940 the Battleship of the Future and how another designer in 1943 was imagining the Battleship-Carrier, a battleship with extensive flight deck that could be "transformed" to a light aircraft carrier!!!

From Popular Mechanics magazine of September of 1940 via James Vaughan, flickr.com. High resolution image here.

WARSHIPS OF THE PAST: Panagopoulos class coastal patrol boats of the Hellenic Coast Guard and the Hellenic Navy

Written by D-Mitch

Panagopoulos class coastal patrol boats of the Hellenic Navy

The three coastal patrol boats of the Panagopoulos class were designed and donated by the engineer and reserve sub-lieutenant Eugenios Panagopoulos a graduate of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). Panagopoulos after the events in Cyprus on July 20, 1974, took the initiative to strengthen the Hellenic Navy fleet with the donation of three heavily armed and quite innovative, small and very fast warships. The total cost was about 3 million US dollars. The following year the three boats entered in service with the Hellenic Coast Guard. (source) All the boats of the class, were built at the Hellenic Shipyards.

NAVAL FORCES #8: North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Naval Forces

Written by D-Mitch

Member States of NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO /ˈneɪtoʊ/; French: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique Nord; OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, where the Supreme Allied Commander also resides. Belgium is one of the 28 member states across North America and Europe. (source: wikipedia) The following graph depicts the Naval Forces of NATO in categories/types of warships. Next to the quantities I have included the percentage of the United States Naval Forces in order to highlight the important contribution of the U.S.A. to the Alliance. This time, I have included a table in the image, where I explain briefly the acronyms, the classes and how they differ with each other, as well the criteria I set for the inclusion or exclusion of a number of countries' warships.  I avoided each country's system of pennant numbers and classification (sometimes for political reasons) such as -D- for George Leygues class making them in that way to belong to destroyer type despite the non destroyer's capabilities and the small size of the class. I tried to avoid also the unfair categorization of warships in a higher position in the hierarchy such as the Pauk or Joao Coutinho class to corvettes without having missile launch capability while other larger ships such as those of Holland class are classified as oceanic patrol vessels. I tried to avoid all these unfair classifications and based on capabilities, size and armament I divided all the classes (in brackets) except of the auxiliary ships in 18 main types/categories. Warships that are out of service (cannibalized) or in reserve (without sensors or weapons) are not included in the graph.