Joint Warrior 13-1

Bremen Class Frigates

Fgs Bremen and Fgs Emden

The German Navy has eight Bremen Class frigates designed and built by Bremer Vulkan in the 1980s. The eight F122 Bremen class frigates of the German Navy were commissioned between 1982 and 1990 (Bremen F207 in 1982) and Emden (F210 in 1983).  The design is similar to the Dutch Kortenaer class but uses a different hull and propulsion system. The ship's primary role is for operation within the NATO and German task forces. The ship is designed primarily for anti-surface warfare missions with strong anti-air and anti-submarine warfare capability.

The first of class, Bremen (F207) was commissioned in 1982 and Emden (F 210) in 1983

All eight Bremen-class frigates will be replaced by the planned F125 class frigates, starting probably around 2016. Until then, the Bremen class serves as the backbone of the German Navy.

Bremen and Emden are seen here arriving in awful weather at HMNB Clyde (Faslane) on Friday 12^th April to participate in Joint Warrior 13-1.

Fgs Emden

Fgs Bremen

HMS ILLUSTRIOUS (R06)

Fresh from her final visit to Liverpool in February and deck landing practice in the Irish Sea with Chinooks and Sea King helicopters, the nation’s on-call helicopter carrier, HMS Illustrious, is seen here taking on provisions at the Glen Douglas Armament depot at Loch Long in Scotland. 

‘Lusty’ is due to retire from active service in 2014 but before her retirement she has a very busy schedule planned with various foreign and British port visit and a major naval exercise next month she is far from taking her final months easy.

HMS Illustrious is seen here alongside at the Armaments depot on the 2nd March before heading back out to sea.

KV Sortland

The Norwegian Coastguard vessel KV Sortland returned to Leith between 22nd - 25th February to offload the Nato Submarine vessel.

She was previously in the port at the begining of last week click HERE for photos of her arriving

She is seen here alongside on the 23rd February.

HMS Portland F79

Hms Portland is a type 23 frigate in the Royal Navy she is one of the youngest in her class having been commissioned in 2001.

Portland completed a major 50 week upkeep period at Babcock’s Rosyth dockyard in 2012.  However a few problems came to light during her post refit trials including problems with her gyros which resulted in an emergency dry docking at the Rosyth yard at the end of January. 

She is seen here departing (again) on the 15^th February 2013 having completed her emergency repairs.

HMS Portland will undertake a further three months of sea trials before returning to Fleet and operational duties in early spring of 2013.

More information and further photos of Hms Portland can be seen here 

KV Sortland

Barentshav-class offshore patrol vessels

KV Sortland is one of three Barentshav class offshore patrol vessel built for the Norwegian Coastguard. Barentshav and Bergen are the other two vessels.

The class is claimed to be the world’s most energy efficient and environmentally friendly Coast Guard vessels due to the use of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) as the primary fuel source.

W340  Barentshav

W341  Bergen

W342  Sortland

The class are 92 meters in length and displace around 3,200 tons, they have a top speed of 16.5 knots on gas, 18.5 knots on diesel and 20 knots on combined gas/diesel, the ships are manned with a compliment of up to 40, the ships are also ice strengthened.

The Barentshav class will be equipped ready for the NATO Submarine Rescue System.

Kv Bergen is seen HERE in Leith in February 2012.

Kv Sortland is seen here arriving and alongside in Leith on 10^th February 2013 on the same berth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HrMS Urk (M861)

HrMs Urk is a Tripartite class and she is in a class of mine warfare vessel used by the navies of Belgium, France and the Netherlands, as well as Pakistan, Indonesia, Latvia, and Bulgaria.  They were conceived in the 1970s and built in the 1980s. France built the mine-hunting equipment, Belgium provided the electronics, and the Netherlands constructed the propulsion train. France and the Netherlands originally bought 15, with Belgium buying 10.

All three countries' Tripartite ships contribute at times to NATO's Standing Maritime MCM capability groups (SNMCMG1 or SNMCMG2).

The Netherlands “Alkmaar” class consists of the following units:

M857 Makkum

M860 Schiedam

M861 Urk

M862 Zierkzee

M863 Vlaardingen

M864 Willemstad

Two of her sisters and more details on the class can be seen arriving at Leith previously HERE 

The main task of the minehunters is to keep the sea, coastal waters and harbour approaches free of mines. They also protect maritime units in areas where there are mines by conducting specific mine countermeasures operations.  The minehunters can be deployed anywhere in the world to provide support to land operations from the sea. But they can also operate closer to home, locating and clearing mines and other explosive ordnance at sea in the Dutch sector of the Continental Shelf.  Thanks to their special glass-reinforced polyester construction, minehunters produce very little sound and no magnetic field disturbance. They will not, therefore, set off a mine if they pass over it.

The size of the crew depends on the tasks to be carried out. The total size can vary between 28 and 38 crew members. Everyone on board has their own tasks and specialty. In addition, every crew member has a specific role in the event of, for instance, a fire or if the ship sustains damage. At all times, the crew is a single team, working closely together in a relatively small space, often under difficult circumstances.  The six minehunters of the Alkmaar class operated by the Royal Netherlands Navy are a joint design of the Netherlands, Belgium and France. France built the mine-hunting equipment, Belgium provided the electronics and the Netherlands constructed the propulsion train. To reflect the cooperation between the three countries, the international name of this class of ship is the Tripartite class.  As a cost-cutting measure, four minehunters were decommissioned in 2011. These were HrMs Haarlem, HrMs Maassluis, HrMs Hellevoetsluis and HrMs Middelburg.

HrMs Urk is seen here departing Leith on Monday 21st January 2013 in a snow blizzard..