HDMS Esbern Snare (L17)

For other ships of the same name, see HDMS Esbern Snare.
HDMS Esbern Snare in Gdynia Harbour
Career (Denmark)
Name: Esbern Snare
Ordered: November 2001
Builder: Odense Staalskibsværft
Laid down: June 2004
Launched: 18 April 2005
Commissioned: 2007
Homeport: Frederikshavn
Status: in active service, as of 2015
General characteristics
Class and type:Absalon-class support ship
Displacement:6,300 tonnes
Length:137.6 m (451 ft 5 in)
Beam:19.5 m (64 ft 0 in)
Draft:6.3 m (20 ft 8 in)
Propulsion:2 × MTU 8000 M70 diesel engines;
two shafts
22,300 bhp (16.4 MW)
Speed:>24 kn (44 km/h)
Range:9,000 nmi (17,000 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h)
Boats and landing
craft carried:		2 × SB90E LCP
2 × RHIBs
Complement:169
Sensors and
processing systems:		Thales SMART-S Mk2 3D volume search radar
Terma Scanter 2100 surface search radar
Atlas ASO 94 sonar
4 Saab CEROS 200 fire control radars
ES-3701 Tactical Radar Electronic Support Measures (ESM)
Electronic warfare
and decoys:		4 × 12-barrelled Terma DL-12T 130 mm decoy launchers
2 × 6-barrelled Terma DL-6T 130 mm decoy launchers
Seagnat Mark 36 SRBOC
Armament:1 × 5 inch (127 mm)/54 Mark 45 mod 4 gun

7 × 12.7 mm Heavy machine gun
VLS with up to 36 cells RIM-162 ESSM/RIM-7 Sea Sparrow (Mk 56/Mk 48 VLS)
8 × Harpoon Block II SSM Later: 2 × Oerlikon Millennium 35 mm Naval Revolver Gun Systems CIWS
MU90 Impact ASW torpedoes

4 × Stinger Point-defence SAM
Aircraft carried:2 × EH-101
Aviation facilities:Aft helicopter deck and hangars

HDMS Esbern Snare (L17) is an Absalon-class support ship[1][2] and is, along with her sister ship, the HDMS Absalon, the largest combat vessel currently commissioned in the Royal Danish Navy.

Esbern Snare is part of the first stage of a strategic realignment within the Royal Danish Navy, which is transitioning to focus on international operations, in which Absalon-class vessels will form the backbone. The ship is designed for command and support roles, with a large ro-ro deck, and is to be complemented by the Iver Huitfeldt-class frigates, a derivative of the Absalon-class designed specifically for combat operations.

HDMS Esbern Snare in Copenhagen, 21 September 2006

Esbern Snare was involved in the Beluga Nomination Incident, when she and a Seychelles Coast Guard patrol boat engaged in a failed rescue operation which left four or five Somali pirates and civilians dead.[3] Later she captured a mother ship on 12 February 2011, capturing sixteen pirates and their weapons, as well as freeing two hostages held by the pirates.[4] While patrolling on 12 May 2011 she encountered the pirated dhow NN Iran and attacked her, killing four pirates and wounding ten. Sixteen Iranian hostages were rescued and 24 pirates captured, but the dhow was in a sinking condition and had to be abandoned.[5]

In December 2013 HDMS Esbern Snare and the Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen-class frigate HNoMS Helge Ingstad were sent to the Syrian port of Latakia to escort the Norwegian-registered RoRo cargo ship MV Taiko and the Danish cargo ship Ark Futura, which will transport Syrian chemical weapons to Italy where they will be handed over to a United States Navy ship for destruction in international waters.[6][7]

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ "Entführtes deutsches Schiff: Tödliches Feuergefecht um gekaperte "Beluga Nomination"". Spiegel.de. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  4. ↑ "Nato seizes 'pirate mother ship' off Somalia". BBC News Online. 13 February 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ "«Helge Ingstad» i posisjon utenfor Syria". Bergens Tidende. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  7. ↑ "Syria: Denmark and Norway offer to transport chemical weapons". Regjeringen.no. Retrieved 18 November 2014.

External links