Flower-class sloop
 Flower Class Sloop
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Flower Class sloop |
| Builders: | Arthuristan Dynamics |
| Operators: |
list error: <br /> list (help) Commonwealth Navy Eagleland Coast Guard Royal Hardenburghian Navy |
| Preceded by: | Bittern-class sloop |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Sloop-of-war |
| Displacement: | 2,820 tonnes |
| Length: | 99m |
| Beam: | 13.6m |
| Draught: | 7.2m |
| Propulsion: | CODAD, 4 x Apollo Motors Wayfarer diesel engines, 25,400bhp in total OR CODOG, 1 x Rollers Engineering Spey gas turbine, 2 x Apollo Motors Wayfarer diesel engines, 36,000 bhp in total, |
| Speed: | 25kn (CODAD) or 27kn (CODOG) |
| Range: | 8,000km at 15kn (CODAD) or 12,000km at 15kn (CODOG) |
| Crew: | 60+32 |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
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| Armament: |
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| Armour: | steel shrapnel sheets, kevlar spall liners |
| Aircraft carried: | Hangar space for 1x light helicopter or up to 4 x rotary-wing drones, helipad capacity for medium helicopter |
The Flower-class sloop is a sloop-of-war in service with the Commonwealth Navy. It was conceived after the Ahkadian Anti-Piracy Campaign of the mid-1990's as an economical long-endurance patrol vessel which may be deployed in relatively large numbers in overseas presence, peacekeeping, maritime security and other such peacetime missions in lieu of purpose-built frigates. It replaces the Bittern-class sloop.
The class's weapons fit is scalable according to need. In its basic configuration, its primary armament is a 76mm Strales gun mount which may engage surface and air targets, including sea-skimming anti-ship missiles as a close-in weapon system. It is supplemented by a quartet of heavy machine guns and four 324mm anti-submarine torpedo tubes. In wartime configuration, these may be supplemented by up to eight ACM-13 Lilith or similar anti-ship missiles, eight vertical-launch cells for 32x quadpacked AD-16 Adder anti-air missiles, and a 21-cell RIM-116_Rolling_Airframe_Missile CIWS launcher.
The ship's real value, however, is its ability to act as a mothership for manned and unmanned small boats and rotary-wing aircrafts. Using both the helipad and the dedicated boats area, it may carry up to four Protector USCVs or four RHIB's. The helipad can deploy up to one heavy and two light helicopters, as well as rotary-wing UAV's (although it only has sufficient hangar space for one light helicopter and/or a number of small UAV's). Together, they constitute a valuable force multiplier which allows the vessel to significantly enlarge its radius of control while staying relatively out of harms' way.
The stern gate used for USV's may also be configured for other purposes. For instance, it may be used to deploy a towed-sonar for anti-submarine missions. A sloop of this class may also be equipped with mine-hunting equipment in lieu of towed sonar or boat-handling gear. It can use the Seafox drone to find and destroy mines.
In a full scale war with a peer power, Flower class vessels have the additional function of operating as auxiliary convoy escorts. Their boat-handling equipment at the stern may be exchanged for a towed-sonar array which, together with its on-board helicopter and optional ASROC mount, allows it to act as an ASW unit to supplement the fleet's frigates in the role. In hostile environments, the X-form construction of the ship's superstructure minimises radar return and enhances the ship's survivability.
Flower (mod.) Class
The Flower (mod.) is a variant of the standard vessel. It replaces two of the diesel engines with a Rollers Engineering Spey turbine engine in a CODOG arrangement. The ship's top-speed when run using the turbine is raised slightly to 27 knots. Furthermore, the use of a much more compact powerplant increases the ship's fuel load by 100 metric tonnes, increasing the ship's endurance to nearly 12,000km. Roughly a quarter of the Commonwealth Navy's sloops are constructed to this configuration.