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NAVY TECH
The Alvaro de Bazan
Gunny
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Pennsylvania, United States
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Posted: Friday, October 12, 2007 - 11:43 PM UTC
Ahoy Mates!

This weeks "Navy Technology" focuses on the Spanish Navy and The Alvaro de Bazan, multipurpose frigate.

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!
~Gunny
wildspear
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Posted: Saturday, October 13, 2007 - 01:28 AM UTC
Gunny,
Great peice. One thing that surprized me was the speed. I would have thought a ship like this might have had a few more rabbits under the deck. It may be my lack of any sea experiance but I would have thought something like a Frigate.
goldenpony
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Zimbabwe
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Posted: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - 04:03 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Gunny,
Great peice. One thing that surprized me was the speed. I would have thought a ship like this might have had a few more rabbits under the deck. It may be my lack of any sea experiance but I would have thought something like a Frigate.



I do agree nice piece!

I suspect that 18 knots is normal running speed with its top speed around 30+ knots. Most of the US ships are listed at 30+ knots top speed. We normally would run about 15 knots during noraml operations. When needed would would kick it in the rear and motor. I can say we did outrun a ship whose top speed was listed at 37 knots.

jimbrae
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Provincia de Lugo, Spain / Espaņa
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Posted: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - 04:36 AM UTC
Coincidentally, I did a short photo-feature on this ship taken in its home-port of Ferrol...

https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/440

Several of the same class of ship are currently being built for the Australian Navy...
gator
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GATOR'S PAINT MASKS
#027
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Posted: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - 04:58 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

Gunny,
Great peice. One thing that surprized me was the speed. I would have thought a ship like this might have had a few more rabbits under the deck. It may be my lack of any sea experiance but I would have thought something like a Frigate.



I do agree nice piece!

I suspect that 18 knots is normal running speed with its top speed around 30+ knots. Most of the US ships are listed at 30+ knots top speed. We normally would run about 15 knots during noraml operations. When needed would would kick it in the rear and motor. I can say we did outrun a ship whose top speed was listed at 37 knots.


I'm sure she can kick it into high gear when she needs it. The lower speed may be because she doesn't have to run with a Nimitz class flattop.

Gator
goldenpony
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Zimbabwe
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Posted: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - 06:37 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text


Quoted Text

Gunny,
Great peice. One thing that surprized me was the speed. I would have thought a ship like this might have had a few more rabbits under the deck. It may be my lack of any sea experiance but I would have thought something like a Frigate.



I do agree nice piece!

I suspect that 18 knots is normal running speed with its top speed around 30+ knots. Most of the US ships are listed at 30+ knots top speed. We normally would run about 15 knots during noraml operations. When needed would would kick it in the rear and motor. I can say we did outrun a ship whose top speed was listed at 37 knots.


I'm sure she can kick it into high gear when she needs it. The lower speed may be because she doesn't have to run with a Nimitz class flattop.

Gator



Very true, but at 18 knots its hard to waterski.

jimbrae
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Provincia de Lugo, Spain / Espaņa
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Posted: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - 07:47 PM UTC

Quoted Text

The lower speed may be because she doesn't have to run with a Nimitz class flattop.


Curious She and other ships of that class have done exactly that. They've taken part in quite a few exercises with U.S. Carrier Groups in the last few years. As Mark pointed out the AEGIS system on board allows them full combatibility with U.S. Aegis-equipped ships.

Some the 'side-bars' to all this is that a few years ago (after a lot of ill-informed mouthing-off from the unions) the Spanish Defence contractor, Santa Barbara, was taken over by Lockheed Martin. Instead of an asset-stripping exercise, as many feared, the company is flourishing . The F100 Class are so succcesful that the shipyard has it's order books full for the next decade or so.

Another curiosity, (very unusual nowadays) is that the shipyard is actually based in the Spanish Naval base of Ferrol. The latter has just been submitted as a future candidate for a UNESCO World Heritage site as it's the only Naval Dockyard in the world which is architecturally more or less unchanged since the 18th century. It's as high-tech as they come but they've been able to maintain the original character of 90% of the buildings. It's also only 60 miles or so from where I live...
goldenpony
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Zimbabwe
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Posted: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - 11:39 PM UTC
Everything I checked on The Alvaro de Bazan says she has a top speed of 29+ knots. 18 knots is her normal cursing speed. So by her weight and propulsion I bet she will do 35 knots no problem, in smooth seas. It is nice to see other nations using the Aegis system. That way all ships can data link to one another and do all sorts of interesting things with their combat systems.

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