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 ( ar, البحرية السلطانية العمانية), 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 Oc ...

. The ships were built by BAE Systems at their shipyard in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

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

VT Group 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 VT Group was integrated into Babcock International in ...

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

{{portal, Oman
BVT News Release regarding Al Shamikh launch

Naval Technology

Khareef class Ocean Patrol Vessel (OPV) - Royal Navy of Oman
at navyrecognition.com Corvettes of the Royal Navy of Oman Ships built in Southampton Corvette classes