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Adelaide class frigate

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Adelaide class Guided Missile Frigate
HMAS Darwin, the fourth ship in the Adelaide class
Class overview
Type:	Guided Missile Frigate
Name:	Adelaide class
Preceded by:	Daring class destroyer
Succeeded by:	Hobart class destroyer
General characteristics
Displacement:	4,100 tons full load
Length:	408 ft waterline, 455 ft (139 m)
Beam:	45 ft (13.7 m)
Draught:	22 ft (6.7 m)
Propulsion and power:	2 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbines; 1 shaft; 41,000 shaft horsepower (31 MW)
Speed:	29+ knots (54 km/h)
Range:	4500 nm at 20 knots
Complement:	176 - 221
Armament:	1 × single-arm Mk 13 Missile Launcher, 2 × triple Mark 32 ASW torpedo tubes, 1 × OTO Melara 76 mm naval gun, 1 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPS-49 radar, Mk 92 fire control system, AN/SQS-56 sonar
Aircraft:	2 × S-70 Seahawk helicopters
Ships:
HMAS Adelaide (FFG 01) - scheduled to be decommissioned HMAS Canberra (FFG 02) - decommissioned HMAS Sydney (FFG 03) HMAS Darwin (FFG 04) HMAS Melbourne (FFG 05) HMAS Newcastle (FFG 06)

The Adelaide class is the name given to the Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates in service in the Royal Australian Navy. The first four units were built as the seventeenth, eighteenth, thirty-fifth and forty-fourth in the US Navy production run, with the final two units built in Australia. The ships are classed as guided missile frigates, with a weapons fit optimised for general warfare. Since the withdrawal of the Perth class destroyers, these ships are the RAN's primary air defence vessels, armed with the SM-1 missile. They also have significant surface capability thanks to a 76 mm Mk 75 gun and the Harpoon ASM, and a pair of triple torpedo tubes for ASW. In addition, a pair of S-70B Seahawk ^[1] helicopters are carried.

1 Upgrades
- 1.1 Lengthening
- 1.2 FFG Upgrade
2 Problems
3 See also
4 External links
5 References

Upgrades

There have been two major upgrades distinguishing the Adelaide class from the American Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates.

Lengthening

The first three units, as initially constructed, had a length identical at both the main deck and the keel, similar to that of the early Oliver Hazard Perry class ships. From Darwin onwards, the ship's overall length was increased by angling the transom (the section between the fantail and the keel) - this enlarged the flight deck, allowing the larger Seahawk helicopter to be accommodated. This was retrofitted into Adelaide, Canberra and Sydney at their periodic refits.

FFG Upgrade

HMAS Sydney's Mk 41 VLS in 2007

As part of a major programme of improvements, a AU$1 billion upgrade project for the Adelaide class is in progress, which will see enhancements to both weapons and equipment. The costs of the project will be partly offset by the decommissioning of the two oldest units, with Canberra paying off in 2005, Adelaide is due to be paid off early in 2008. The first upgraded vessel, Sydney, returned to the fleet in 2005. Some of the new features include the ability to fire the SM-2 missile, the addition of an 8 cell Mk 41 VLS for Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile^[2] and enhanced air search radar and long range sonar. When these upgrades are complete, the Adelaide class frigates will be the only FFG-7 class ships in the world capable of employing ESSM and SM-2. Each unit to be upgraded will do so at Garden Island in Sydney, with the modifications taking between 18 months and two years. The ships will be replaced starting in 2013 by three new air defence destroyers equipped with the Aegis combat system.

Problems

On January 2 2008, news of design problems, delays to upgrades and readiness issues were reported in the media. New defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon was reported to have serious concerns about the 1970's era frigates and was quoted as saying "In the case of the Adelaide class, they [the previous government] were trying to make a 21st century warship out of vessels built in the early 1970s, which were only ever designed to operate between 20 and 25 years."^[3] The upgrade, costing AU$1.4 billion^[4], of these older vessels carried significant risk^[5]. Issues such as the inability to integrate anti-missile and anti-torpedo systems and failure of computer systems have reportedly lead to sailors leaving the service because the vessels are unable to be deployed^[6].