The Khareef class are three

corvettes A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

operated by the

Royal Navy of Oman The Royal Navy of Oman (), abbreviated RNO, is the maritime component of the Royal Armed Forces of the Sultanate of Oman. Given its long coastline and strategic location along the Indian Ocean, as well as being close to the Strait of Hormuz, ...

. The ships were built by

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

at their shipyard in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, as part of a £400m deal it also included training by

VT Group VTG (formerly VT Group) is a privately held United States defense and services company, with its origins in a former British shipbuilding group, previously known as Vosper Thornycroft. The British part of VTG was integrated into Babcock Interna ...

Role

The three vessels are capable of: * Protection of maritime areas of interest including EEZ * Extended surveillance patrols * Deterrent operations during times of tension * Fully interoperable with joint and coalition operations * Special operations * Search and rescue * Maritime disaster relief operations

Ships in class

Incidents

In March 2012 three BAE engineers were injured after a gun misfired during testing off the Dorset coast.

References

External links

BVT News Release regarding Al Shamikh launch

Naval Technology

Khareef class Ocean Patrol Vessel (OPV) - Royal Navy of Oman
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916141641/http://www.navyrecognition.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1342 , date=16 September 2016 at navyrecognition.com Corvettes of the Royal Navy of Oman Ships built in Southampton Corvette classes