Søløven-class Fast Patrol Boats - "Export Ex-sport"

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Would you like to see the Søløven-class fast patrol boats in game?
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  • No, I would not.
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🇩🇰 Søløven-class Fast Patrol Boats 🇩🇰

Søridderen (P511) at sea with both her Bofors guns mounted. This configuration seems to have been used less often due to Danish doctrine emphasizing the torpedo capability. The Brave-class design is evident and allowed these vessels to reach absurd speeds.

Introduction

      As a member state of NATO, Denmark has patrolled its waters since the end of World War II to keep the peace in and around the North Sea. The Søløven-class vessels were just one of many classes which performed their necessary duties on this front. They certainly left a lasting impression and put the ‘fast’ in fast patrol boat. While never having fired shots in anger, the Søløvens were always ready for trouble. Small but mighty, their alertness was reflective of the Royal Danish Navy’s commitment to their cause.


TL;DR

  • Cold War motor torpedo boats of the Danish navy
  • Extremely fast thanks to gas turbine engines
  • Two 40 mm L/70 Bofors guns to shred aircraft and small surface vessels
  • Two-four torpedoes for tougher targets
  • Ability to take up to ten naval mines
  • Minimal survivability due to wooden construction

Why it should be in the game: These boats are essentially just a more versatile version of the Pfeil as seen in the German coastal tree. While you will not have the latter’s 2 x Bofors and 4 x torpedo setup, the Søløvens can function as motor gunboats, motor torpedo boats and fast minelayers depending on the situation at hand. Just try to be careful with them - they are fast, but fragile, and playing too recklessly means your potential impact on a match is squandered. These hot rods of the sea would fit well in the British coastal tree as a top rank fast patrol boat.

Why Britain?

I am being a little selfish here, but I am mostly thinking pragmatically when I recommend the Søløven-class for the British tree. Because the vessel is a Vosper (British) design and Denmark has no home tech tree, it would logically go to the designer nation like most other export vehicles featured in game including the CV9035DK. While Sweden has been floated as a probable future home for Danish vehicles, in my opinion Swedish naval is unlikely to be added due to their bluewater designs (even including paper vessels) capping out at a relatively meager BR. This disparity will only get worse when bigger, badder battleships are added to the existing nations - the incentive to add a Swedish naval tree diminishes with every patch. I think these vessels deserve a home and pragmatically the only real place would be the British tree. I am willing to hear arguments against this but I think my position is reasonable.


History

Looks familiar… the bridge of the Søløvens is actually inherited from Ferocity, a descendant of the Brave-class. At the time of their creation the Brave-class were some of if not the fastest warships in the world owing to their three gas turbine engines.

      The history of the Søløven-class technically doesn’t start with Vosper (pedantically, it starts with the first boat ever but I’m not going to play with that idea.) Gas turbine propulsion was finding its way into anything that could carry a turbine engine in the closing years of World War II and after the war. This included boats - the Royal Navy had previously experimented with gas turbines in HMS Grey Goose and the Bold-class fast attack craft. The Bold-class was a step in the right direction but had its own issues so in 1954 the Admiralty turned to Vosper for a new gas turbine-powered fast attack craft. The result was the Brave-class, two boats which could reach a staggering 50 knots thanks to their triple gas turbine powerplant. While they were capable ships, the Royal Navy determined that the coastal fleet did not need to be very large and stopped ordering patrol boats in quantity. Recognizing that they still had a winner on their hands, Vosper would market the Brave-class to anyone who was interested and created a smaller, cheaper derivative named Ferocity. As it so happened, while the Royal Navy didn’t find much value in fast attack craft, the Royal Danish Navy did. Denmark needed to keep an eye on its waters as Warsaw Pact vessels often passed through. This was technically allowed but as a member of NATO Denmark was obligated to keep tabs on the Warsaw Pact’s ships. The RDN could even have been the first line of defense against a Warsaw Pact naval attack. The fast, small vessels of the Brave-class were perfect for lying in wait in coastal inlets, ready to pounce at a moment’s notice with their torpedoes.

Gribben (P508), a Falken-class torpedo boat sits on the left with the British-built Søløven-class vessel Søridderen (P511) on the right. The Falken-class were indigenous vessels and featured a splash guard running down the length of the vessel - something the Søløven crews would wish they had pretty soon.

      The Brave-class suited the Danes’ needs but they wanted a few changes for their service. Firstly, the frame of the vessel would be wooden rather than aluminum like the Brave’s, keeping it more in line with Ferocity. Speaking of Ferocity, the bridge of the new vessel would be more like hers. While the Brave-class and Ferocity had simple torpedo cradles, the new Danish variant would have full torpedo tubes. A new armament would be added in the form of up to ten mines so the boats could function as miniature minelayers. Finally, the new ships would be fit with Swedish Bofors L/70 mountings and Danish NWS-1 radar. The result was the Søløven-class (Sea Lion), which could reach speeds of 50 knots and was capable of various roles. The first two vessels were constructed in Vosper’s shipyards and delivered to Denmark while the other four were built in Copenhagen for a total of six vessels. With interiors just as sleek as their shells, the Søløvens were good vessels by almost every regard. The success of the Danish vessels led to Vosper continuing to market Brave-class derivatives for some time.

Fun fact: All six of the Søløven-class ships’ names start with “Sø” - Søløven, Søridderen, Søbjørnen, Søhesten, Søhunden, and Søulven. These names had previously been used for Danish vessels from various time periods.

      Denmark never had to fire a shot in anger with the Søløvens so their lives were peaceful. Still, they were always ready for action and always training. The way the vessels lifted under power meant that the rear gunner’s position was liable to being splashed by the icy waters of the North Sea. This necessitated an enclosed mounting for the aft Bofors gun which was applied to the fleet in the mid-1970’s. In the mid-80’s the aft Bofors mounting was supposedly done away with for a 20 mm Oerlikon cannon, though I have not seen any pictures of the vessels in this guise. In 1988 the vessels were put into reserve and just two years later they were decommissioned with the multirole Flyvefisken-class patrol vessels taking their place. One vessel, Søbjornen, survives to this day as a museum vessel and has her own brand of beer, used to raise funds for her preservation.

Søbjornen survives as a museum ship in the guise of a motor torpedo boat. I cannot claim to be at all proficient in naval tactics, but I think the idea of a torpedo boat delivering a first strike in the 60’s was somewhat optimistic on Denmark’s part. It would not be until the mid-late 70’s that they adopted anti-ship missiles.


Specifications

Søløven-class Fast Patrol Boats

Dimensions:

  • Length: 30.3 m (99 ft 6 in)
  • Beam: 7.9 m (25 ft 9 in)
  • Draught: 2.2 m (7 ft 1 in)

Displacement:

  • 100 tons standard
  • 120 tons deep

Propulsion:

  • Primary: 3 Bristol-Siddeley Proteus gas turbines powering 3 shafts (12,750 shaft horsepower)
  • Cruise/maneuvering: 2 General Motors 6V71 diesel engines (460 shaft horsepower)

Maximum speed: 92.6 km/h (50 kt)

Range: Unknown

Armament:

  • As gunboat:
    • 2 x 1 40 mm/70 Bofors cannon
    • 2 x 1 533 mm torpedo tube
  • As torpedo boat:
    • 1 x 1 40 mm/70 Bofors cannon
    • 4 x 1 533 mm torpedo tube
  • As minelayer:
    • 2 x 1 40 mm/70 Bofors cannon
    • 10 x 1 naval mines

Number built: 6

Materials:

  • Hull: wood with fiberglass coating
  • Superstructure: aluminum alloy

Crew: 27

Additional equipment:

  • NWS-1 surface search/navigational radar

Gallery


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