Roofdier class (1954)

Overview
Type	Light frigate or corvette
units	6 + 1
period of service	1954 to 1984
Technical specifications
displacement	808-850 t ; ; 950–975 t fully loaded
length	56.3 m (185 ')
width	10.3 m
Draft	2.9 m
crew	65
drive	2 GM -12-567A diesel engines with a total of 1,800 bhp , 2 shafts
speed	15 kn (max. Up to 18 kn)
Armament	76 mm naval gun; 2-3 40mm Bofors ; 2 20 mm Oerlikon ; From 1959 to 1962: 2 water bombs running racks Mk.9,; 2–4 depth charges Mk.6 ( K-gun ),; 1 Hedgehog Mk.15;
Sensors	QCU-2 sonar
annotation

The Roofdier class (Dutch for predator class ), also Wolf class , was a class of light frigates or corvettes of the Dutch Navy . The ships were used from the 1950s to the 1980s. It was a variant of the US Patrol Craft Escorts and Admirable minesweepers of World War II , which were manufactured in the United States in the post-war period as part of the Mutual Defense Assistance program and sold to numerous allies, in this case the Netherlands. The US Navy classified the ships as PCE-1604 class , but did not use them themselves.

The six ships of the class were named after predators, based on the destroyer class of the same name from the First World War:

F817 Wolf (PCE-1607)
F818 Fret (PCE-1604)
F819 Hermelijn (PCE-1605)
F820 Vos (PCE-1606)
F821 Panter (PCE-1608)
F822 Jaguar (PCE-1609)

The six ships were built from 1952 to 1954 in Boston ( General Shipbuilding and Engineering Works ) and New Orleans ( Avondale Marine Ways ). A seventh ship, the Lynx (F823) , was built as part of the similar Italian Albatros class (also a mutual defense assistance project) and added to the Roofdier squadron in 1956 . But since this ship proved to be inadequate, it was returned to Italy in 1961.

The ships were used for escort operations in the North Sea and the English Channel as well as for surveillance tasks near the coast; in later years primarily for fishery inspections. Depth charges for anti-submarine defense - the original purpose of the type of vessel - had the roofdier -Ships few years. The Balder patrol boats used at the same time represented a kind of smaller version of the class .

Although the ships were technically obsolete shortly after commissioning, they remained in service until 1984. After the decommissioning, the ships were used for explosives and material tests and then scrapped. The Roofdier class was followed in the early 1990s by the M class (Karel Doorman class) with significantly larger and heavier ships.

Web links

Remarks

↑ For the ship's dimensions and technical data, the literature sometimes gives strongly differing information, which is probably due to confusion with similar classes. NavSource , for example, gives a significantly lower displacement (402 t) and a length of 175 '; probably a mixture with the French Le Fougueux class .
Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1947–1982, Part 1: The Western Power , p. 83, gives 808 t as standard displacement and 975 t as maximum displacement, but gives an engine output of only 1600 bph, significantly more guns (6x 40mm , 8x 20mm) and a larger crew (96 men). The Navy of the Nuclear Age, 1947-2007 (Paul Silverstone), p. 135, adopts this information.

[1] For the ship's dimensions and technical data, the literature sometimes gives strongly differing information, which is probably due to confusion with similar classes. NavSource , for example, gives a significantly lower displacement (402 t) and a length of 175 '; probably a mixture with the French Le Fougueux class .
Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1947–1982, Part 1: The Western Power , p. 83, gives 808 t as standard displacement and 975 t as maximum displacement, but gives an engine output of only 1600 bph, significantly more guns (6x 40mm , 8x 20mm) and a larger crew (96 men). The Navy of the Nuclear Age, 1947-2007 (Paul Silverstone), p. 135, adopts this information.