Sachsen class frigate

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The F124 Sachsen class is Germany's latest class of frigates. Their main task is air defence. The design of the Sachsen class frigate is based on that of the F123 Brandenburg class but with enhanced stealth features intended to deceive any opponent's radar and acoustic sensors and incorporate also the advanced multifunction radar APAR as well as the SMART-L long-range radar which is even capable of detecting stealth aircraft and stealth missiles.

With 2.1 billion Euros for three ships, this was one of the most expensive ship building programs of the German Navy. They are similar to the Dutch De Zeven Provinciën class frigates. Both the Sachsen class and the De Zeven Provinciën class frigates are based on the use of a common primary anti-air warfare system using the Standard SM-2 and Evolved Sea Sparrow medium range SAMs.

In June 1996 the German government contracted for three ships with an option on a fourth that was provisionally to have been named as the Thüringen, but the option for this fourth ship was not taken up.

The F124 class frigates are designated frigate even though they are much larger and more capable in all aspects than the Lütjens class destroyers, which they replaced. This had political reasons. The German government simply thought 'frigate' would sound less aggressive.^{[citation needed]} Thus, in international comparison the Sachsen class is actually equal to other classes of destroyers.

[edit] Specifications

• Length: 143.0 m
• Beam: 17.44 m
• Draft: 5.0 m
• Tonnage: 5,690 tons
• Propulsion: combined diesel and gas system
  • 2 propeller shafts, controllable pitch propellers
  • 2 MTU V20 diesel engines, 7.4MW each
  • 1 General Electric LM2500 gas turbine,
  • 2 Renk ASM 195 F gearboxes (for the diesel engines)
  • 1 Renk AS 2/290 gearbox (gas turbine and cross connection)
  • 4 1000kW Deutz 16/628 diesel-generators
  • Range: 4000+ nautical miles at 18kts, 21 days endurance
  • Maximum Speed: 29kts (18kts on diesels alone)
• Sensors:
  • 2 STN Atlas 9600-M multi-function I/J band ARPA radars
  • 1 Thales Nederland SMART-L long-range air and surface surveillance radar
  • 1 Thales Nederlands APAR air and surface search, tracking and guidance radar (I band)
  • 1 Thales Sirius IRST long-range infrared surveillance and tracking system
  • 1 STN Atlas MSP 500 electro-optical fire control system
  • 1 STN Atlas DSQS-24B bow sonar
• Countermeasures:
  • 1 FL 1800 S II ECM suite
  • 6 Sippican Hycor SRBOC launcher
• Communication: Link 16 and Link 11
• Armament:
  • 1 vertical launch system with 32 cells for 32 ESSM (4 per cell) and 24 SM-2 IIA surface-to-air missiles
  • 2 RAM launchers with 21 surface-to-air/CIWS-missiles each
  • 2 quadruple Harpoon anti-ship missile launcher
  • 1 OTO-Melara 76 mm dual-purpose gun
  • 2 Mauser MLG 27 27 mm autocannons (replacing Rheinmetall Rh-202 cannons)
  • 2 triple torpedo launchers with EuroTorp MU90 Impact torpedo
• Hangar for 2 Sea Lynx Mk.88 or 2 NH90 helicopters
• Endurance: 3 weeks
• Complement: 230+13

[edit] List of ships

Pennant number	Name	Call sign	Shipyard	Laid down	Launched	Delivered	Com- missioned
F219	Sachsen	DRAA	Blohm + Voss	February 1, 1999	January 20, 2001	November 29, 2002	December 31, 2003
F220	Hamburg	DRAB	HDW	September 1, 2000	August 16, 2002	September 2004	December 13, 2004
F221	Hessen	DRAC	Nordseewerke	September 14, 2001	July 26, 2003	December 7, 2005	April 21, 2006
(F222)	Thüringen	option not taken-up

All three vessels form part of the 2. Fregattengeschwader (2nd frigate squadron) based in Wilhelmshaven.

[edit] External links

• Fregatte SACHSEN-Klasse (in German) - @ Marine (official homepage of the German Navy)
• SACHSEN CLASS @ naval-technology.com
• Fregatte "Sachsen" (F124) (in German) @ hansa-online.de

Ship classes of the Deutsche Marine
Destroyers	101A Hamburg | 103B Lütjens
Frigates and Corvettes	122 Bremen | 123 Brandenburg | 124 Sachsen | F125 | 130 Braunschweig
Fast Attack Craft	143 Albatros | 143A Gepard | 148 Tiger
Mine warfare	332 Frankenthal | 333 Kulmbach | 352 Ensdorf | 742A Mühlhausen
Submarines	205B | 206A | 212A
Auxiliary ships	404 Elbe | 423 Oste | 441 Gorch Fock | 520 Barbe | 702 Berlin | 703 Walchensee | 704 Rhön | 720 Helgoland | 721 Eisvogel | 722 Wangerooge | 760 Westerwald