After a six-month delay, the French navy armed itself with a new anti-aircraft frigate. Yesterday, April 20, at the French Navy base in Toulon, the ceremony of handing over the new multi-purpose frigate Alsace to the fleet command took place.
The Alsace frigate is the seventh of eight FREMM-class ships planned for construction. At the same time, the new frigate is the first in the anti-aircraft modification of AAW (anti-air warfare). The first six ships are built in the anti-submarine modification ASW (anti-submarine warfare).
Alsace frigate at sea
Image source: shephardmedia.com
Steel cutting for the Alsace frigate began in 2016, and the keel was laid in March 2018. In April 2019, the ship was launched. Sea trials began in the fall of 2020, six months behind schedule, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The FREMM project (Fregata multi-missione, multi-purpose frigate) is an Italian-French development. In France, the production of these ships is carried out by the company DCNS, in Italy-the company Orizzonte Sistemi Navali, created by the corporations Fincantieri and Finmeccanica. In total, it is planned to build 20 FREMM-type frigates: 8 for France, 10 for Italy, as well as one ship each for Morocco and Egypt.
FREMM frigates have a relatively large displacement (6,700 tons), which, according to the developers, provides them with high combat efficiency, relative ease of maintenance and opportunities for further modernization. The maximum speed of the ship is 27 knots (50 km/h). For anti-submarine operations, a low-noise mode of movement is provided with the help of electric motors (maximum speed-15 knots). The length of each of the frigates is 144 m, width-19.7 m, the crew consists of 200 people. The main difference between the anti-submarine modification of the ship and the anti-aircraft one is the presence of a towed sonar and an additional launcher with anti-ship missiles.
