Skjold class patrol boat

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Career

Ordered:	July 1996
Laid down:	August 4, 1997
Launched:	September 22, 1998
Commissioned:	April 17, 1999
General Characteristics
Length:	47,5 metres
Beam:	13,5 metres
Draft:	1,0 metres
Displacement:	274 tonnes full load
Propulsion:	Loiter diesel engine →608.5 kilowatts Twin boost turbines →12,170 kilowatts Twin diesel engines →1490 kilowatts
Complement:	16 men
Armament:	8 Naval Strike Missile SSMs (when available) kept in an internal weapons bay 76mm Oto Breda Super Rapid multi-role cannon Mistral missile SAM 12.7mm gun
Speed:	In rough sea: 45 knots In calm sea: 60 knots
Sensors:	Thales MRR-3D-NG air/surface radar Ceros 200 FC CS-3701 electronic warfare suite Sagem Vigy 20 Electro-optical sensor
Soft kill:	MASS decoy (32)
Other:	Link 11 and Link 16

The Skjold class patrol boats (skjold means "shield" in Norwegian) is a new class of superfast, stealth missile boats, also known as MTBs (missile torpedo boats). This design is completely Norwegian, they are built at the Umoe Mandal AS yard, and they are at this time the fastest warships in the world. The Skjold-Class MTBs will be added to the pool of "old" Hauk class MTBs. Six Skjold class MTBs are to be commissioned, but at this time only the lead ship Skjold has been built, to test the design. The rest are at various levels of completion, with the next, Storm, to be delivered in April 2008. Following that, one new ship will be delivered every three months until Gnist is delivered in June 2009.

The first of the class, the Skjold was commissioned in 1999, and operated by the Norwegian Navy. The U.S. Navy had expressed interest in the design and leased the vessel for a period of year. During this time it was operated by a 14 man Norwegian crew out of Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek. Raytheon had an international partnership to offer an improved Skjold vessel in the American Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) competition. Though, as quoted in the Jan-March 03 issue of Fathom LCdr. Andersen says "We--I and the crew--are here in uniform as Norwegian navy representatives: We're part of a navy-to-navy relationship... ". Later on in the article he is quoted saying, "It is my hope that our presence here has been helpful to the process the U.S. Navy has started toward transformation and that we have offered some new ideas for ship design..". The Raytheon consortium was one of three to make it to the final round of contenders. It would not be selected, the Navy opting for larger all-new designs (a monohull, and trimaran with heli-pads). However, it did make it farther then another Scandic contender, a LCS contender based off the Swedish Visby class corvette class, which was offered by a Northrop Grumman (with Kockums AB) lead group.

To ensure stealth capabilities radar absorbent materials (RAM) have been used in the load bearing structures over large areas of the ship. This strategy leads to significant weight saving compared to conventional construction techniques of applying RAM cladding to the external surfaces. The ship's profile has a faceted appearance with no right angle structures and few orientations of reflective panels. Doors and hatches are flush with the surfaces and the windows are flush without visible coaming (edge of window aperture) and are fitted with radar reflective screens.

The final design will see some changes compared to the prototype Skjold, which itself is being rebuilt to the new specifications. Most notably, the new vessels will use 4 gas turbines, two big ones and two small ones (no diesel engines), giving even more power. Furthermore, the foredeck will be strengthened due to the 76mm Super Rapid gun chosen, the production of the hull material is being done using a different method to improve strength and minimize the fire vulnerability, and the bridge will also see some changes.

[edit] Vessels

*Skjold* class — significant dates
#	Name	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Notes
P960	Skjold	August 4, 1997	September 22, 1998	April 17, 1999	Being refitted with new turbines
P961	Storm		November 1, 2006	Due to enter service February 20, 2008	70% complete as of 2006
P962	Skudd				Approaching 50% complete as of 2006
P963	Steil
P964	Glimt
P965	Gnist