For the weapon of the fortnight, I chose to
talk about naval warfare. As I support the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), I
chose to blog about the Sa'ar 5-class corvette, I got the information and
photos from Wikipedia.
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Three Sa'ar 5 class
missile corvettes of the Israeli Navy cruise off the shore of Israel during a training
exercise.
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Class
overview
Name: Sa'ar 5
Builders: Northrop Grumman by Ingalls
Shipbuilding
Operators: Israeli Navy
Preceded by: Sa'ar
4.5 class missile boat
Completed: 3
Active: INS Eilat, INS Lahav, INS
Hanit
General
characteristics
Class & type: Corvette
Displacement:
• 1,227
tonnes (full load)
• 1,075
tonnes (standard)
Length: 85.64 m (280.97 ft)
Beam: 11.88 m (38.98 ft)
Draft: 3.17 m (10.4 ft)
Propulsion: Combined
Diesel or Gas
• 2 MTU
V12 1163 TB82 diesel engines
• General
Electric LM2500 gas turbine
Speed:
• 20
knots (37 km/h) (diesel engines)
• 33
knots (61 km/h) (gas turbine)
Range: 3,500 nautical miles (6,500
km)
Complement:
• 64
officers and crewmen
• 10
aircrew
Sensors and
processing systems:
• Elta
EL/M-2218S air search radar
• Elta
EL/M-2221 fire-control radar
• EDO
Type 796 sonar
• Rafael
towed sonar array
Electronic warfare & decoys:
• Argon
ST AN/SLQ-25 Nixie decoy
• Elbit
chaff rocket launchers
• Rafael
RF corner reflector
• Elisra NS-9003A/9005 RWR
Armament:
• 8
RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles
• 64
Barak 1 surface-to-air missiles
• Phalanx
CIWS
• 6 Mark
32 torpedo tubes (Mark 46 torpedoes)
Armor: Steel and aluminum
Aircraft carried:
Eurocopter Panther, unmanned helicopter
Aviation facilities: Helipad and helicopter hangar
Sa'ar 5 (Hebrew: tempest סער ) is a class of Israeli Navy
corvette, designed based on lessons learned from the Sa'ar 4.5 class ships.
Three Sa'ar 5 ships were built by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems (formerly
Litton-Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation of Pascagoula, Mississippi) for the
Israeli Navy, based on Israeli designs.
Three such ships have been built, all of which are in service with the
Israeli Navy. They are the largest warships in Israel's naval fleet. Although
they are "corvettes" due to their small size and crew of only 71,
their weaponry and speed are almost comparable to that of a frigate. They are
equipped with sonar, torpedoes, missile launchers, electronic warfare
capabilities and decoys, a gun mount, and a helipad and helicopter hangar.
The first of class, INS Eilat, was launched in February 1993, followed by INS Lahav in August 1993 and INS Hanit in March 1994.
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A Eurocopter AS565
Panther ("Atalef") helicopter flying above a "Saar 5" Navy
corvette, which bears a banner saying "Good Luck Gabi".
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Combat history:
During the 2006 Lebanon War, the INS Hanit
was attacked by Hezbollah as it was enforcing a naval blockade off Beirut.
Hezbollah used an Iranian version of the Chinese C-802 missile. The resulting explosion
caused the landing pad to cave in and be engulfed in flames that threatened the
aviation fuel storage below, and the flames were not fully extinguished until
several hours later. The ship suffered some damage, but stayed afloat, got
itself out of the line of fire, and made the rest of the journey back to Ashdod
for repairs on its own. The ship was repaired and resumed its combat role three
weeks later. Four IDF sailors were killed.
An investigation into the incident by the
Israeli Navy concluded that the missile was indeed a C-802 which hit a crane in
the rear of the ship. The ship's radar system was not fully functional at the
time, and both the ECM and the Barak anti-missile systems were in a two-minute
stand-by mode. An officer ordered that the anti-missile defenses be switched
off about an hour prior to the attack without notifying the captain. The
decision was made due to intelligence assessments that Hezbollah did not have
the capability to hit Israeli warships. The malfunction in ship's radar was
also discovered, but the staff chose not to inform the captain.
In August 2009, the INS Eilat and INS Hanit
passed through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea, along with a Dolphin class
submarine. The move was seen as a possible warning to Iran.
On 31 May 2010, the INS Lahav and the INS
Hanit participated in the Gaza flotilla raid, meant to stop a convoy of
ships from breaching the blockade of the Gaza Strip, along with the missile
boat INS Nitzachon.
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Naval Sail by on Tel Aviv Beach.
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Three
ships of the Sa'ar 5-class have been built:
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