Dutch frigate could replace 20-year-old Otago

Press, 16 August 1980, Page 7

Dutch frigate could replace 20-year-old Otago

By

GEOFF MEIN.

defence reporter

The incoming Minister of Defence (Mr Thomson) will have as one of his first tasks the selection of a .ship to replace the Royal New Zealand Navy’s ageing frigate Otago.

The Defence Council, which is chaired by the Minister, is expected to meet before the end of the month to consider, the second report of the Navy’s frigate-replacement team. Otago reaches the end of her useful economic life in 1985, and the Government has approved, in principle, a replacement. . The 20-year-old Otago is. one of three frigates which make up the Navy’s core combat force. The Government maintains that three combat ships is “the absolute minimum needed for viability and credibility.” This view is echoed by Labour’s shadow Minister of Defence, Mr A. J. Faulkner who sees three combat ships as “an irreductible minimum.”

“We really need at least two more frigates, but it is unrealistic because we cannot afford it. There is

no use having a wonderfully protected country, when people are facing internal dispair because of the economy,” he said. Delays in the submission of the report to the Defence Council have kept commentators guessing as to the Otago’s likely successor. Defence sources are careful not to give too much away, but it seems the most favoured contender remains the $2OO million Dutch Kortenaerclass frigate. Described as a modern ocean-going general purpose frigate, the Kortenaer

was designed for anti-sub-marine warfare in the eastern Atlantic. Kortenaers 'used by the Netherlands Navy are equipped with harpoon surface-to-surface missiles, 76mm main guns, anti-submarine torpedoes, and Lynx helicopters.. The 3500-tonne, 130 m Kortenaer is larger than the Otago, but carries less crew. Accommodation is provided for a complement of 200, 40 fewer than the Otago. Two Rolls-Royce gas turbine engines give the Kortenaer a top speed of

30 knots (the same as the Otago), with a cruising range of 6500 km. It seems likely that the class of ship chosen to replace the Otago would have a head start in the battle for the eventual replacement of the Navy’s other combat frigates, the Canterbury and the Waikato.

A sale to New Zealand would be eagerly sought by overseas shipbuilders, as it could be seen as a “Commonwealth stamp of acceptability,” which might prompt further sales, the source said.