The ''Osprey'' class are a series of coastal minehunters designed to find, classify, and destroy moored and bottom

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ...

s from vital

waterways A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary ...

. Their design is based on the second series of the Italian Lerici-class, built in La Spezia by Intermarine between 1990 and 1996. Eight vessels were built in the Intermarine shipyard located in Savannah, while the remaining four have been built by a second-source shipyard under a Technology Transfer and Licence Agreement. They use sonar and video systems, cable cutters and a mine detonating device that can be released and detonated by remote control. The ''Osprey'' class are the world's second largest minehunters (surpassed by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

's s) to be constructed entirely of

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

and designed to survive the shock of underwater explosions. Their primary mission is reconnaissance, classification, and neutralization of all types of moored and bottom mines in littoral areas, harbors and coastal waterways.

Construction

Twelve minehunter ships were built for the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems (formerly Litton Avondale Industries) of

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and Intermarine of Savannah. The ships were commissioned between 1993 and 1999. The ships of this class were named after various types of birds. The 12 ships are long, wide, and tall. When carrying a full load they displace . They have four decks, and have a complement of five officers, four chief petty officers, and 42 enlisted men. They are armed with two

.50 caliber machine gun The M2 machine gun or Browning .50 caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed towards the end of World War I by John Browning. Its design is similar to Browning's earlier M1919 Browning machine gun, w ...

s. All of the major equipment is suspended from the main deck in glass-reinforced plastic holders, so that in the event of an undersea explosion, it will not be damaged. They use an AN/SLQ-53 deep sweep mine countermeasures system. They also use an AN/SQQ-32 Variable Depth Sonar, which is tethered to the front of the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

, to detect and identify mines using multiple ping processing. Two AN/UYK-44 computers are also used to classify and detect mines. For surface radar purposes, an AN/SPS-64(V)9 is used. They also use the AN/SLQ-48 mine neutralization system, which is tethered to the ship by a long cable. They have two AN/UYQ-31 operator data terminals, which are identical. They are propelled by two

Isotta Fraschini Isotta Fraschini () was an Italian luxury car manufacturer, also producing trucks, as well as engines for marine and aviation use. Founded in Milan, Italy, in 1900 by Cesare Isotta and the brothers Vincenzo, Antonio, and Oreste Fraschini, in 19 ...

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diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

s which drive generators feeding two Voith Schneider cycloidal propellers generating . They use a single

bow thruster Manoeuvering thruster (bow thruster or stern thruster) is a transversal propulsion device built into, or mounted to, either the bow or stern, of a ship or boat to make it more manoeuvrable. Bow thrusters make docking easier, since they allow th ...

, which generates , in order to run silently. They have a max speed of , and a maximum operational range of .

Decommissioning

All of these ships were decommissioned in 2006–07. The Hellenic Navy received two of the ''Osprey'' class from the US Navy: , renamed ''Calypso'' and , renamed ''Euniki''. Two more were transferred to the Egyptian Navy: , renamed ''al Sedeeq'' (MHC-521) and , renamed ''al Farouk'' (MHC-524). The sale of and to the Republic of China was also authorized. The U.S. General Services Administration (GS) announced in April 2014 that hull numbers MHC-51, 54, 56, 57, 58, and 62 were up for auction to be sold as an entire lot for "dismantlement purposes only." This contradicted earlier information announcing the sale of some of these vessels to foreign operators. The minehunting role of this class is to be taken over by

Littoral Combat Ship The littoral combat ship (LCS) is either of two classes of relatively small surface vessels designed for operations near shore by the United States Navy. It was "envisioned to be a networked, agile, stealthy surface combatant capable of defeat ...

s equipped with the Mine Counter-Measures Module.

Ships

Notes

References

*
Federation of American Scientists: MHC 51 Osprey Coastal Mine Hunters
* 26 Mar 2014 MHC 51, 54, 56, 57 58, 62 are on GSA auction web site for "DISMANTLEMENT" out of Beaumont, TX. http://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/aucindx/

External links