Vietnam Can Turn an American Patrol Ship Hamilton into a Frigate

16 April 2020

CSB 8020 ex-USCGC Morgenthau (WHEC-722) (photo : Soha)

When transferred to the Vietnamese Navy, the Hamilton-class patrol ship was completely disassembled the armed equipment on board by US. However, we can completely refit these warships.

In theory, when delivered to foreign countries, all weapons on the Hamilton patrol ship will be removed. The only thing that "luck" was not eliminated was the 76 mm gun on the ship.

Pozitiv ME air surveillance radar (photo : rosoboronexport)

However, this does not cause the Hamilton ship to lose its power, but on the contrary, it is an opportunity for those receiving the Hamilton ship to enter service (such as Vietnam) to re-equip the ship's weapons system.

In the past, particularly during the Cold War, the United States used to equip an enormous amount of weapons on Hamilton-class patrol ships.

This means that the ship itself can serve as a surface warship. In terms of its payload, Hamilton was fully armed and capable of acting as a frigate.

Garpun-Bal fire control radar (photo : rosoboronexport)

Specifically, at the time of being armed with "to the root", the American Hamilton ships even added the Mk 141 launcher so that it could launch Harpoon anti-ship cruise missiles.

These launcher are located just behind the main faction, in front of the ship's command tower. In service of this anti-ship cruise missile system, the Hamilton ship is even equipped with surface reconnaissance radar as well as hydrodynamic positioning devices.

At that time, Hamilton was even equipped with 6 torpedo tubes. Unfortunately, these are only 324mm torpedo tubes - not the standard 533mm torpedo tubes.

KT-184 launcher and KH-35 missiles (photo : VoV)

In addition, the Hamilton ships are also provided with a high-speed artillery system (CIWS)  which allows it to defend itself close to anti-ship missiles, cruise missiles of the enemy.

With Vietnam, we can completely renovate the Hamilton patrol boat in the direction of the frigate, equip it with KT-184 launchers of KH-35 missiles; provide additional Pozitiv-ME radar for air reconnaissance, put Garpun-Bal fire control radar to the top of the tower.

Meanwhile, with its 3,000-ton water extension, Hamilton's "frigate" in the Vietnamese Navy will have extremely formidable power.

(KienThuc)