Saint John Shipbuilding Concepts

[Miklania]

While working on an unrelated project I acquired a copy of Jane's Naval Construction and Retrofit Markets, which contains a section on concept ship designs. The first section was Canada, and contained images and descriptions of some concepts from Saint John Shipbuilding, the prime contractor for the Halifax class frigates. These concepts date from the mid 1990s, as the Halifax program was winding down. I don't have much information on them, but I would speculate that they were private ventures intended for export, though they might have been offered to the Canadian government.



"Offshore Missile Corvette"
Displacement: 1,250 tons
Length O/A: 81.7m
Beam: 10.2m
Draught: 3.2m
Propulsion: 4x 5,920 kW diesels, 2x shafts w/ 5-blade controllable pitch propellers
Speed: 32 kts
Range: 4,000 nmi @ 16 kts
Crew: 63
Sensors: Unknown search radar, possibly TRS-3D; unknown hull sonars, 2x Ceros 200 FCR
Armament: 1x 76mm Super Rapid; "silos with 12 surface to air missiles" probably 6x bulkhead mounted Mk 48, 6x each side, with NATO Sea Sparrow; 4x Harpoons; 1x Phalanx, oddly placed; 2x Mk 32 SVTTs; 4x 12.7mm machine guns
Aviation: Helo deck and hangar for 1x Lynx or Seahawk sized helicopter



"Multi-purpose Fast Frigate"
Displacement: 2,800 tons
Length O/A: 105.8m
Beam: 13.9m
Draught: 4m
Propulsion: 2x 21,000 kW gas turbines, 2x 2,240 kW diesels, 2x shafts w/ 4-blade controllable pitch propellers
Speed: 33 kts "(plus)"
Range: 7,000 nmi @ 18 kts
Crew: 106
Sensors: Smart-S Mk 1; LW-08; hull sonar (appears to be SQS-510), 2x STIR-180 FCR
Armament: 1x 76mm Super Rapid; "combination of 16 VLS SM2s or Sea Sparrow SAMs" probably 16x Mk 41 VLS; 8x Harpoons; 1x Goalkeeper; 2x Breda 30mm single mounts w/local fire control; 4x fixed lightweight torpedo tubes; 4x 12.7mm machine guns
Aviation: Helo deck and hangar for 1x Lynx or Seahawk sized helicopter

This one is interesting for how much equipment and performance it would allegedly have. It has the same combat systems and most of the same armament of a Dutch M-Frigate, but with 16x Mk 41 instead of 16x Mk 48, two additional 30mm mounts (and heavy ones at that), 33 knots, and a smaller crew (by about 50) - all on a hull some 500 tons lighter.

[GarethDavies1]

Nice work

[eswube]

Very interesting, and nicely done.

[Rainmaker]

Very interesting. I recall that Forecast International had published a factsheet on the Halifax - class some years ago (possibly the early 2000s), which included some information on the various derivatives of that class that had been explored by Saint John Shipbuilding in that time period, primarily for the export market. There was one derivative in particular that was being developed for the Saudis if I recall correctly, however, I don't recall much more about it than that, save to say that it never went any further than the concept stage.

Unfortunately, the old Forecast International archives have been taken offline for some time. If anyone still has access to that factsheet, it could provide some useful additional information.

[Miklania]

Very interesting. I recall that Forecast International had published a factsheet on the Halifax - class some years ago (possibly the early 2000s), which included some information on the various derivatives of that class that had been explored by Saint John Shipbuilding in that time period, primarily for the export market. There was one derivative in particular that was being developed for the Saudis if I recall correctly, however, I don't recall much more about it than that, save to say that it never went any further than the concept stage.

Unfortunately, the old Forecast International archives have been taken offline for some time. If anyone still has access to that factsheet, it could provide some useful additional information.

That might be the one in the Jane's book labeled "Scimitar Class," which appears to be a Halifax with VLS of some sort added to the hangar area, CIWS moved to where the Mk 48 launchers had been, and a 76mm gun, topped off by a SMART-S Mk 1 on the mainmast, in addition to the SPS-49. The picture also has what looks like a Merlin on the helipad.

[Rainmaker]

That's very interesting - I don't recall ever seeing any images of these concepts before, just the text descriptions in the Forecast International article. I'd love to get my hands on a copy of that Janes book that you mentioned, or at least scans of the relevant pages.

It's kind of amusing to me that none of these designs seem to be particularly workable. They all seem to be stuffing far too many systems in too small of a footprint to make sense. The CIWS placement on the Offshore Missile Vessel is particularly egregious as you mentioned, and with that 76mm location, I'd expect that vessel to have quite a wet bow in anything less than the calmest seas.

On the Multi-purpose Fast Frigate, I have significant doubts about the aft section of the ship (two 30mm mounts, STIR-180, LW-08, a VLS for Sea Sparrow, and a helicopter hangar all crammed into such a narrow profile - where is the load-bearing structure for the STIR-180 and LW-08 - are they mounted off-centre?) The amidships placement of the fixed torpedo tubes is also a head-scratcher - surely you'd want them to be located closer to the hangar so that the embarked helicopter could share the same magazine? And why both SMART-S and LW-08 for a ship only equipped with Sea Sparrow for self-defence? Wouldn't one or the other be sufficient for a presumably "low-cost" frigate? Same question for the proposed Scimitar - class, why both SMART-S and SPS-49?

It's as though Saint John Shipbuilding saw the Halifax - class project winding down and quickly slapped together some semi-workable designs to see if they could get some sort of follow-on contract - seeing as how no one took them up on their designs, it's certainly a plausible theory.