Bedwyr Ó Máille-class destroyer
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Bedwyr Ó Máille-class |
| Operators: |
 Royal Ossorian Navy |
| Preceded by: | Ruairí Ó Síoda-class |
| Built: | 1990 - 2008 |
| In commission: | 1993 - Present |
| Planned: | 43 |
| Completed: | 43 |
| Active: | 43 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Guided-missile destroyer |
| Displacement: | 7,500 t standard |
| Length: | 161 meters |
| Beam: | 21 meters |
| Draught: | 6.2 meters |
| Propulsion: | |
| Speed: | +30 kts |
| Range: | Unlimited |
| Complement: | 300 |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
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| Electronic warfare & decoys: |
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| Armament: |
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| Armor: |
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| Aircraft carried: |
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The Bedwyr Ó Máille-class destroyer is a class of destroyers, built for and serving with the Royal Ossorian Navy (RON) starting in 1993. The class was the fifth class of guided-missile destroyers built by the RON and represented a radical redesign of the guided-missile destroyer in Ossorian service, being the first destroyer class to be specifically built around the Caer Warfare System, enhanced passive protection and survivability elements, and to incorporate stealth features in its design.
Design
General characteristics
The Bedwyr Ó Máille-class ships have an overall length of 161 m, a beam of 21 m, and a draught of 6.2 m. They displace approximately 7,500 t at standard load. Each of the class' two steam turbines drive a single 5-bladed Variable-pitch propellers and are powered by a single CS-3 LFTR and are rated at 100,000 shaft horsepower. This gives ships of the class a reported speed of approximately 30 knots.
Protection
The Bedwyr Ó Máille-class design is the first Ossorian warship to incorporate stealth techniques, such as much of the external hull being sheathed in a continuous all-steel superstructure and all exposed surfaces being canted at an angle rather than left presenting a flat surface as in most traditional designs, which has the effect of reducing the radar cross-section of the ship and making the vessel more difficult to detect by radar systems, in particular by the guidance systems of antiship missiles. The class is also designed with an air-filtration system to protect against nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) agents.
The class also integrates lessons learned from the 1986 Sorcha Ní Bhuachalla Incident, in which the LB Sorcha Ní Bhuachalla was attacked by Shalumite forces in the vicinity of the Arzell Islands. Post-battle analysis led the RON to abandon the use of aluminum in future ship designs as a main structural element and to incorporate passive defenses around the ship's vital spaces, including double-spaced steel armor (thus creating a buffer against modern warheads) and kevlar spall liners.
Sensors
The Bedwyr Ó Máille-class ships were designed and built around the Caer Warfare System and its active phased array radar. The ships are also equipped with a hull-mounted sonar system and a towed sonar array.
Armament
- One 115 mm/55 calibre gun for use against surface, airborne, and shore targets, mounted on the foredeck.
- Two 30 mm autocannons for use against close-in surface targets, mounted amidships on either beam in single mounts.
- Four 12.7 mm machine guns for use against close-in surface targets, mounted fore and aft of the superstructure on either beam in single mounts.
- Two 30 mm close-in weapon systems for use against close-in surface and airborne targets, mounted fore and aft of the superstructure.
- Two batteries of vertical missile launchers totaling 96 cells capable of launching a variety of surface-to-air missiles, surface-to-surface missiles, and anti-submarine missiles for use against standoff-range airborne, surface, and subsurface targets, with one battery of 32 cells mounted on the foredeck and a second battery of 64 cells mounted on the afterdeck.
- Two quad-canister anti-ship missile launchers for use against standoff-range surface targets, mounted amidships between the forward and aft superstructures and trained outward of either beam.
- Two triple torpedo tubes for use against close-in subsurface targets, mounted on the afterdeck on either beam.
Aviation
The Bedwyr Ó Máille-class ships are outfitted with a helicopter hangar and a flight deck on the stern and are capable of operating a single helicopter. The ships were additionally outfitted with the launch and retrieval system for a set of five reconnaissance UAVs.