Type K130 Braunschweig class corvettes - A smol Sachsen

de_Radio_Demon · September 20, 2023, 8:43am

Would you like to see the K130 Braunschweig class corvettes added to the game?

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Type K130 Braunschweig class corvettes - A smol Sachsen

Background & History

The Type K130 Braunschweig class corvettes is a class of 10 corvettes built so far for the Deutsche Marine in the early part of the 21st century. The class itself is currently the most modern ship of its type in German service and were designed to both succeed and replace the Gepard class fast attack craft which were an evolution of the Albatross class fast attack craft. The Braunschweig class itself originally was to consist of just 5 ships however by the 2010’s this would change as 5 more ships would be ordered as batch II ships rather than the original design which was batch I however the newer ships would incorporate minor improvements but for the most part were the same, the most obvious change was the switch the super rapid OTO Melara 76mm gun mount rather than the compact version used before.

To explain this classes development so far the class itself was a newer design compared to their predecessors which were the Gepard class fast attack craft which were a modified version of the Albatross which traded the rear gun turret for a SAM launchers as well as removal of torpedo tubes. Despite this the Braunschweig class was designed to replace all the previous fast attack craft classes however the new design would come out larger and visually looked like a smaller version of the Sachsen class frigate while incorporating a number of similar weapons to the Gepards such as the OTO Melara 76 gun and the RIM-116 RAM launchers. The class itself had 2 rolling airframe missile launcher system mounts rather than 1 and used a newer version which was to act as the vessels CIWS, additionally ships also replaced the MM38 Exocet which had been featured on all the previous fast attack craft classes with the newer RBS-13 Mark 3 anti ship missiles which could be installed on mountings placed amidship though as it would turn out the first 2 vessels at least entered service without these though received these a few years after entering service, additionally the ships also came with 2 Mauser BK-27 (27mm) auto cannons as was standard of many German vessels by this point, the ships also included the ability to perform minelaying operations but the biggest change compared to their predecessors were their design as the ships used a radically different hull design which incorporated stealth technologies, additionally the ships included a hanger and flight deck as they carried 2 UMS Skeldar V-200 UAV which are stored in the hanger though the hangers themselves were not large enough to store any of the normal helicopters found on larger German ships however the helipad was large enough to handle such a helicopter. As mentioned before batch 2 ships likewise share the same armament with the only difference being the 76mm gut turret being a rapid fire OTO Melara mount rather than the older compact version.

Despite the class being called corvettes they’re has been debate in terms of what they really should be classified as, while the official classification is corvettes, similar to the more modern German frigates which have been more comparable to guided missile destroyer the class itself however in capabilities is more comparable to modern light frigates intended for an anti surface role rather than corvettes due to their size, armament, protection, as well as role, the only difference between them and frigates is the lack of anti submarine warfare weapons, and for context the more modern German frigates have been more comparable to guided missile destroyers than frigates. In terms of construction the batch 1 ships were laid down between 2006 to 2007 with the first 2 vessels entering service in 2008 however the class was shown to have a number of problems delaying the completion of the other 3 ships which saw them enter service in 2013. The class would also see a sub class developed and built called the Sa’ar 6-class corvettes which were a class of 4 ships ordered and built for Israel, then in the 2010’s German decided to order and begin construction of an additional 5 ships which were given newer systems which are the batch II ships, these ships were ordered in so that the German navy could have supplement the preexisting ships at their disposal but at the same time more recently a third batch has been considered to be built which if approved will see the third batch replace the first 5 ships which would then be decommissioned in 2025 by estimations and then sold to a NATO ally in order to avoid the cost of modernization of the older ships. Currently as of 2023 all of the Batch II ships have been laid down and the first ship of Batch II being Köln now currently undergoing sea trails while the other ships are in different stages of construction which has had delays reported in 2022 due to increasing difficulties in integrating the command and control systems which saw an increase in the cost of the ships.