Minelayers of modern fleets
More recently, such a class of ship as a minelayer, or minzag, was quite common. Moreover, “recently” is recently in the most direct sense: the same Denmark had such ships in service in the late nineties. Today, after less than twenty years, such ships have almost disappeared. Nevertheless, there are countries that do not give up ships of this class and continue not only to use them, but also to design new ones.
To the west of our country belongs to Finland.
For a long time, the flagship of the Finnish Navy was Pohjanmaa minzag (Pohjanmaa). This ship with a displacement of 1450 tons near the end of its life was upgraded to conduct patrol operations and even managed to chase Somali pirates, and successfully. 6 April 2011 of the Year “Pohjanmaa” caught a pair of high-speed pirate boats and a pirate ship-base.
In 2016, the old ship was already sold to a private firm and converted into a research vessel. But after that, the main class of warships in the Finnish Navy remains minzag.
Today it is the class ships "Hameenmaa" (Hameenmaa). There are two such ships of the Finnish Navy - "Uusimaa" (Uusimaa), accepted into the Navy 2 in December 1992 of the year, and actually "Hameenmaa", in line with 15 in April 1992 of the year. The latter since 2013 of the year, after the withdrawal from service of the Navy, the Minzag Pohjanmaa is the flagship of the Finnish Navy.
Video (English) from the board:
The ships are able to carry up to 150 mines of various classes, mainly Finnish-made. Finland has huge stockpiles of mines, which it considers to be the most important means of ensuring national security.
In general, no other way arms, neither in terms of parameters, the ships are not impressive - 1 cannon "Bofors" with a caliber of 57-mm, an RBU-1000 bomb launcher, a pair of automatic grenade launchers Heckler & Koch GMG with a caliber of 40-mm, two NSV machine guns with a caliber of 12,7-mm, an 8 anti-aircraft missiles produced by the South African company Denel. There is a set of passive jamming. In addition, there are rails for dropping depth charges overboard (pair) and four rail guides for dropping mines overboard. All this, like the old ship "Pohyanmaa", is "packed" in a displacement of 1450 tons. The maximum speed is 20 knots. The crew is 60 people.
The above composition of weapons ships received during the modernization of 2006-2008's. Then, apparently, they were installed reconnaissance equipment.
Today, their main task in peacetime is to monitor the Baltic fleet Russian Navy in the framework of joint EU military programs. It is impossible to say exactly to whom else Finland provides intelligence information. In the case of military operations, the main task of these ships will, of course, be mining.
But the following (in descending order) in the class of ships of the Finnish Navy are also minelayers. We are talking about the Pansio class ships. There are three ships in the class, the Pansio, the Pyhäranta, and the Porkkala. The first was adopted by the Navy in the 1991 year, the rest in 1992.
These ships are substantially smaller than the Hameenmaa and carry fewer weapons. Their displacement is 680 tons and they do not have anti-aircraft missile systems. In fact, they are not armed, except for one 7,62 mm PKM machine gun and one Heckler & Koch GMG automatic grenade launcher of 40 mm caliber. The ship is capable of carrying 50 min.
I must say that the “Pansio” is rather a universal Minzag-transport than a warship. He is fully capable of laying mines, but other than that, he can also carry various cargoes. This is the "workhorse" of the coastal fleet, capable in addition to setting mine barriers, to perform a wide range of auxiliary tasks - but not combat ones. So, they are quite good at carrying out military shipments and can be involved in the course of landing operations. "Horse", in general, very good, successful. Finns are planning to keep these ships in service at least until 2030 year.
In the future, Finland plans to move away from specialized minzags. Not completely, of course. In the future, when the ships of the Hamienmaa class will be decommissioned according to age, their place will be taken by a universal corvette, in its ideology very reminiscent of our 20380 - even the layout is similar. This corvette is created by the Finns as part of the 2020 squadron program and will become the basis of their naval power. He has already been given a name - in honor of the former flagship, "Pohjanmaa." That is how the new class of warships will be called. However, and this is very Finnish, unlike all analogs, including our 20380, the Finns on board the corvette will have places for mines to be stored, and rails for putting them up.
Also of interest is its reinforced hull, for the passage of thin ice.
In theory, surface minzagi are designed for, to put it in Western terminology, “defensive” mining - setting mines in the narrows and the coastal zone, to prevent foreign naval forces from accessing there. For Finland, this means mining the adjacent water areas and land-dangerous areas of the coast.
However, the specifics of the Baltic Sea, its coastline and size, and most importantly - the outline of the state border of Russia, and the location of its harbors give the Finns the opportunity to carry out the so-called "offensive" mining, similar to the one they carried out in 1941-th year together with the Germans.
It must be admitted that the Minzagi fit perfectly into almost every possible Baltic war scenario for Finland.
Naturally, not only Finland pays attention to the issue of mines. In the Baltics, this is generally a common “theme,” with not the Finns, but the paranoid Swedes taking the lead. They openly mine their territorial waters in peacetime, and the Finns are very far from them. Poland does not stand aside either - any of its landing ship of the “Lublin” class, even according to its classification, is a landing ship-barrier, and is more likely intended for mining than for landing a landing. But neither the Swedes nor the Poles have special Minzags in service, although the Swedes had them very recently. Finland is an exception in this case, and it is not going to stop them in the foreseeable future.
However, the five small Finnish minelayers are nothing compared to the development of this class of ships in Asia.
In 1998, the Navy of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) received a new minelayer “Wonsan”. It was an amazing fact - the opinion prevailing at that time in the expert community clearly stated that minzagi, as a class, were outdated. But South Korea has refuted such opinions, having designed and built the newest mine layer. The ship received the classification MLS-1 (Mine laying ship-1, translated as “ship - producer of mines - 1”). Koreans planned to build three such ships, but limited the class to one for reasons of economy.
"Wonsan" has 3300 tons of displacement, more than double the Finnish minzagi. Its length is 104 meters, and the crew is 160 people. On the ship, there is a landing pad large enough to receive MH-53 helicopters, which, however, so far the South Koreans do not have. The maximum speed of the ship is the 22 node.
The artillery gun is Oto Melara's 76-mm gun, with a rate of fire of up to 85 rounds per minute. The air defense system provides with it two NOBONG gun mounts with paired 40-mm automatic guns each. One tower is located behind 76 graph paper on the bow, the second, closer to the stern, on the superstructure, in front of the landing pad. Cannons are Korean copies of the Italian automata Oto Breda.
The most interesting feature of the Korean Minzagov is that they have all anti-submarine capabilities.
So, “Wonsan” has an American hydro-acoustic complex AN / SQS-56 and two three-tube torpedo tubes Mk.32 mod.5, produced in South Korea under license. The latter are designed for launching 324-mm anti-submarine torpedoes LIG Nex1 K745 Blue Shark, Korean development and production, which carries this ship.
The ship is also equipped with sophisticated Korean-made Dagaie Mk.2 jamming complexes, capable of operating in fully automatic mode.
But the main "caliber" of the ship is its ability to lay mines.
The mine setting system with which the ship is equipped was developed and manufactured by the Korean company Keumha Naval Technology Co Ltd. Mechanically, the system is organized as six guides along which mines are discharged through a pair of fodder lazportov (three streams per lazport). In total, the ship is able to set up 500 mines in one battle trip, and on three mine decks mines of different types can be stored together and put in one stream, bottom mines, mine torpedoes, and anchor ones.
After the South Koreans abandoned the continuation of the series “Wonsans”, it seemed that this would all end, however, 28 May 2015, at the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard, laid an even more powerful polisher, designed on the basis of Wonsan - Nampo .
The ship received a class MLS-2 (Mine laying ship-2, translated as "ship - producer of mines - 2"). Nampo is an enlarged and improved Wonsan. Its length is 114 meters, and the displacement is 4000 tons. As you can see, it is longer than “Wonsan” and longer. He, in contrast to the "Wonsan" is not only a helicopter deck, but also a hangar. The gun has only a swinging part from 76-mm Oto Melara, everything else is designed in South Korea. The crew is less than the "Wonsan" due to greater automation. The mine setting system has been upgraded, and instead of six guides for dumping mines, there are eight, and four stern lazport, with a pair of guides each. At the same time, the system allows automatic discharge of mines overboard according to exact coordinates, with setting individual intervals between dumping the previous and next mine and the dump itself in automatic mode.
On the model are clearly visible differences from the "Wonsan"
The ship is equipped with a much more powerful radar complex than the "Wonsan". If Wonsan has the main Marconi radar (Marconi S-1810 2D radar detection of air and surface targets, besides it has a Thales DA-05 2D radar search radar KDT SPS-95K radar and Marconi RS ST radar radar RS 1802), the “Nampo” as the “main” radar carries a multi-radar LIG Nex1 SPS-550K 3D radar, which has significantly greater capabilities.
Air defense weapons are much more efficient than Wonsan’s - instead of a pair of 40 mm machine guns, Nampo has an air defense system with K-SAAM missiles, the vertical launcher of which is installed in a general superstructure with a helicopter hangar. In UVP placed 16 missiles (4 in a cell).
But the most important thing - in the same UVP can be installed up to 4-x PLURS of the Red Shark, with the already mentioned Blue Shark torpedo as the head part. This very seriously raises his anti-submarine capabilities.
Comparative photos of "Wonsan" and "Nampo"
Among other things, Nampo has, as stated in the press, "anti-mine systems," as well as advanced capabilities for finding submarines. Taking into account the possibility of basing on the ship of an anti-submarine helicopter, it turns out to be in demand not only as a minelayer. Apparently, therefore, recently, both “Wonsan” and “Nampo” in English-language sources began to be called “Anti-submarine minelayer”.
Apparently, therefore, in addition to anti-submarine weapons, the ship also received means of hydro-acoustic countering Korean production - devices (instruments) LIG Nex1 SLQ-261K in the amount of two units.
9 June 2017 of the year, two years after the launch, the Nampo entered service, and the flag of the Republic of Korea Navy was raised. Thus, South Korea today is a country that has two large and modern mine layers of special construction. At the same time, the Koreans never stated that they would be limited to the minzagas already built, so it is quite possible that other ships of the same class will follow the Nampo.
However, apparently, this is not the last example. “Apparently,” since the next ship is Japanese, and with the Japanese everything is not easy.
As mentioned earlier, in the article about the future Japanese aircraft carriersJapan masters the entire humanity with its military programs. The Japanese underestimate the performance characteristics of their weapons, assign them “wrong” names (for example, an aircraft carrier on the 27-28 LA they have a “helicopter-carrying destroyer”, and even take pictures of their ships so that their real size is not obvious. In addition, the Japanese are just such a “fog” they launched around their two ships - the so-called “mine-ship base”, the class “Uraga” (Uraga). There are two ships in the class, “Uraga” and “Bungo” (Bungo).
These ships were taken into service by the Japanese Navy's Self-Defense Forces in the 90s, the Urag in the 1997 and the Bungo in the 1998. These are big ships, the displacement of the Uragi 5640 tons, the Bungo has 5700. Diesel GEM in 19500 HP gives ships the ability to go at maximum speed in a 22 node.
"Bungo" is armed with 76-mm gun Oto Melara, "Uraga" does not carry weapons.
Both ships are classified as “tenders”, that is, “mother ships”, and specifically for minesweepers. And although technical information on these ships is not found either in Russian or in English, press releases about their participation in mine action exercises in conjunction with the United States or Australia appear regularly. Ships do what is evident from their declared purpose - they transfer fuel and supplies to the minesweepers. Even touching photos of floating bases with Australian minesweepers are - well, not to give, not to take the mother with the children.
Refueling minesweepers in the entrance of the exercises. This is "Bungo".
And the ship's constructive design corresponds to the stated purpose - there is a hangar for a large helicopter capable of towing a trawl, and a compartment under the trawl itself in the stern.
However, there are nuances.
We look at the view from the stern.
Four lazporta on the right and left clearly hinted to us that "Uraga" and its sistership not only destroy the mines, but also put them. Explicitly, these ships have 4 mine decks, and to save space, lanceports for dumping mines from these decks are made on each of them - specifically not to drag the mine to the rails common to different decks. Opened the lid and everything. And judging by the size of the ship and these covers, the mines there are about the same as those of the Wonsan or Nampo.
And this means that those who call the ships of the Urag class the largest mine-barriers in the world are right.
Both Japanese and Koreans are able to carry out mining operations of truly strategic proportions with the help of these ships. Korean minzags are capable of setting at least a thousand mines in a matter of hours. During the week, covered with minimal forces aviation, this pair of ships is able to set as many mines as will prove to be a planetary scale factor. With the maximum degree of probability, both Korean and Japanese ships are intended for emergency organization of anti-air defense or blockade of narrownesses.
However, in the case of an offensive operation of Japan in the Kuriles, Uraga and Bungo will be very useful in the subsequent organization of the defense of the captured islands, the blockade of navigation in the Laperuz Strait and, in the event of an escalation of the conflict, the mining of the Kuril Straits, or Tsugaru (Sangarsky). Thus, the Japanese ships indirectly increase not only the defensive, but also the offensive potential of Japan.
Summarize.
In spite of the fact that almost all the fleets in the world refused from specialized mine-barriers, this class of ships exists quite to itself, moreover, oddly enough, it is developing. At the same time, the “trends” is the increase in the displacement of the barriers (even new Finnish corvettes will have about 3300 tons of displacement - mainly due to the mine-fencing function, and the Nampo has already 4000 tons), combining the functionality of other warships in the minzag , giving the ship anti-submarine capabilities, like the Koreans, or a combination of a minzag and a corvette, as Finns will have). It is worth expecting that at a certain level of exacerbation of the military-political situation in the world, which will again make relevant "strategic" "defensive" mining (for example, the blockade by the mines of the Faro-Icelandic barrier or the Danish straits), the new minzagi can quickly return. unprecedented technical level.
To the west of our country belongs to Finland.
For a long time, the flagship of the Finnish Navy was Pohjanmaa minzag (Pohjanmaa). This ship with a displacement of 1450 tons near the end of its life was upgraded to conduct patrol operations and even managed to chase Somali pirates, and successfully. 6 April 2011 of the Year “Pohjanmaa” caught a pair of high-speed pirate boats and a pirate ship-base.
"Pohjanmaa" at the exercises of BALTOPS 2013. In the background - Absalon, KVMS Denmark.
In 2016, the old ship was already sold to a private firm and converted into a research vessel. But after that, the main class of warships in the Finnish Navy remains minzag.
Today it is the class ships "Hameenmaa" (Hameenmaa). There are two such ships of the Finnish Navy - "Uusimaa" (Uusimaa), accepted into the Navy 2 in December 1992 of the year, and actually "Hameenmaa", in line with 15 in April 1992 of the year. The latter since 2013 of the year, after the withdrawal from service of the Navy, the Minzag Pohjanmaa is the flagship of the Finnish Navy.
Video (English) from the board:
The ships are able to carry up to 150 mines of various classes, mainly Finnish-made. Finland has huge stockpiles of mines, which it considers to be the most important means of ensuring national security.
"Hameenmaa"
In general, no other way arms, neither in terms of parameters, the ships are not impressive - 1 cannon "Bofors" with a caliber of 57-mm, an RBU-1000 bomb launcher, a pair of automatic grenade launchers Heckler & Koch GMG with a caliber of 40-mm, two NSV machine guns with a caliber of 12,7-mm, an 8 anti-aircraft missiles produced by the South African company Denel. There is a set of passive jamming. In addition, there are rails for dropping depth charges overboard (pair) and four rail guides for dropping mines overboard. All this, like the old ship "Pohyanmaa", is "packed" in a displacement of 1450 tons. The maximum speed is 20 knots. The crew is 60 people.
Start Zour with minzaga class "Hameenmaa"
The above composition of weapons ships received during the modernization of 2006-2008's. Then, apparently, they were installed reconnaissance equipment.
Today, their main task in peacetime is to monitor the Baltic fleet Russian Navy in the framework of joint EU military programs. It is impossible to say exactly to whom else Finland provides intelligence information. In the case of military operations, the main task of these ships will, of course, be mining.
But the following (in descending order) in the class of ships of the Finnish Navy are also minelayers. We are talking about the Pansio class ships. There are three ships in the class, the Pansio, the Pyhäranta, and the Porkkala. The first was adopted by the Navy in the 1991 year, the rest in 1992.
Minzag / Pansio class multipurpose ship
These ships are substantially smaller than the Hameenmaa and carry fewer weapons. Their displacement is 680 tons and they do not have anti-aircraft missile systems. In fact, they are not armed, except for one 7,62 mm PKM machine gun and one Heckler & Koch GMG automatic grenade launcher of 40 mm caliber. The ship is capable of carrying 50 min.
I must say that the “Pansio” is rather a universal Minzag-transport than a warship. He is fully capable of laying mines, but other than that, he can also carry various cargoes. This is the "workhorse" of the coastal fleet, capable in addition to setting mine barriers, to perform a wide range of auxiliary tasks - but not combat ones. So, they are quite good at carrying out military shipments and can be involved in the course of landing operations. "Horse", in general, very good, successful. Finns are planning to keep these ships in service at least until 2030 year.
In the future, Finland plans to move away from specialized minzags. Not completely, of course. In the future, when the ships of the Hamienmaa class will be decommissioned according to age, their place will be taken by a universal corvette, in its ideology very reminiscent of our 20380 - even the layout is similar. This corvette is created by the Finns as part of the 2020 squadron program and will become the basis of their naval power. He has already been given a name - in honor of the former flagship, "Pohjanmaa." That is how the new class of warships will be called. However, and this is very Finnish, unlike all analogs, including our 20380, the Finns on board the corvette will have places for mines to be stored, and rails for putting them up.
Also of interest is its reinforced hull, for the passage of thin ice.
The new corvette with the function of mine layer, also "Pohjanmaa"
In theory, surface minzagi are designed for, to put it in Western terminology, “defensive” mining - setting mines in the narrows and the coastal zone, to prevent foreign naval forces from accessing there. For Finland, this means mining the adjacent water areas and land-dangerous areas of the coast.
However, the specifics of the Baltic Sea, its coastline and size, and most importantly - the outline of the state border of Russia, and the location of its harbors give the Finns the opportunity to carry out the so-called "offensive" mining, similar to the one they carried out in 1941-th year together with the Germans.
It must be admitted that the Minzagi fit perfectly into almost every possible Baltic war scenario for Finland.
Naturally, not only Finland pays attention to the issue of mines. In the Baltics, this is generally a common “theme,” with not the Finns, but the paranoid Swedes taking the lead. They openly mine their territorial waters in peacetime, and the Finns are very far from them. Poland does not stand aside either - any of its landing ship of the “Lublin” class, even according to its classification, is a landing ship-barrier, and is more likely intended for mining than for landing a landing. But neither the Swedes nor the Poles have special Minzags in service, although the Swedes had them very recently. Finland is an exception in this case, and it is not going to stop them in the foreseeable future.
However, the five small Finnish minelayers are nothing compared to the development of this class of ships in Asia.
In 1998, the Navy of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) received a new minelayer “Wonsan”. It was an amazing fact - the opinion prevailing at that time in the expert community clearly stated that minzagi, as a class, were outdated. But South Korea has refuted such opinions, having designed and built the newest mine layer. The ship received the classification MLS-1 (Mine laying ship-1, translated as “ship - producer of mines - 1”). Koreans planned to build three such ships, but limited the class to one for reasons of economy.
Minzag class "Wonsan"
Ship systems in the photo.
"Wonsan" has 3300 tons of displacement, more than double the Finnish minzagi. Its length is 104 meters, and the crew is 160 people. On the ship, there is a landing pad large enough to receive MH-53 helicopters, which, however, so far the South Koreans do not have. The maximum speed of the ship is the 22 node.
MH-53 on the landing deck.
The artillery gun is Oto Melara's 76-mm gun, with a rate of fire of up to 85 rounds per minute. The air defense system provides with it two NOBONG gun mounts with paired 40-mm automatic guns each. One tower is located behind 76 graph paper on the bow, the second, closer to the stern, on the superstructure, in front of the landing pad. Cannons are Korean copies of the Italian automata Oto Breda.
The LCVP boat aboard the Wonsan is also used to mine mines. The ship has two such boats.
The most interesting feature of the Korean Minzagov is that they have all anti-submarine capabilities.
So, “Wonsan” has an American hydro-acoustic complex AN / SQS-56 and two three-tube torpedo tubes Mk.32 mod.5, produced in South Korea under license. The latter are designed for launching 324-mm anti-submarine torpedoes LIG Nex1 K745 Blue Shark, Korean development and production, which carries this ship.
View of the aft anti-aircraft gun and torpedo unit of the left side.
The ship is also equipped with sophisticated Korean-made Dagaie Mk.2 jamming complexes, capable of operating in fully automatic mode.
But the main "caliber" of the ship is its ability to lay mines.
The mine setting system with which the ship is equipped was developed and manufactured by the Korean company Keumha Naval Technology Co Ltd. Mechanically, the system is organized as six guides along which mines are discharged through a pair of fodder lazportov (three streams per lazport). In total, the ship is able to set up 500 mines in one battle trip, and on three mine decks mines of different types can be stored together and put in one stream, bottom mines, mine torpedoes, and anchor ones.
Feed lazportov and setting min - one minute can be seen on the bottom photo.
After the South Koreans abandoned the continuation of the series “Wonsans”, it seemed that this would all end, however, 28 May 2015, at the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard, laid an even more powerful polisher, designed on the basis of Wonsan - Nampo .
Anti-submarine minelayer class "Nampo".
Ship systems "Nampo"
The ship received a class MLS-2 (Mine laying ship-2, translated as "ship - producer of mines - 2"). Nampo is an enlarged and improved Wonsan. Its length is 114 meters, and the displacement is 4000 tons. As you can see, it is longer than “Wonsan” and longer. He, in contrast to the "Wonsan" is not only a helicopter deck, but also a hangar. The gun has only a swinging part from 76-mm Oto Melara, everything else is designed in South Korea. The crew is less than the "Wonsan" due to greater automation. The mine setting system has been upgraded, and instead of six guides for dumping mines, there are eight, and four stern lazport, with a pair of guides each. At the same time, the system allows automatic discharge of mines overboard according to exact coordinates, with setting individual intervals between dumping the previous and next mine and the dump itself in automatic mode.
On the model are clearly visible differences from the "Wonsan"
The ship is equipped with a much more powerful radar complex than the "Wonsan". If Wonsan has the main Marconi radar (Marconi S-1810 2D radar detection of air and surface targets, besides it has a Thales DA-05 2D radar search radar KDT SPS-95K radar and Marconi RS ST radar radar RS 1802), the “Nampo” as the “main” radar carries a multi-radar LIG Nex1 SPS-550K 3D radar, which has significantly greater capabilities.
Air defense weapons are much more efficient than Wonsan’s - instead of a pair of 40 mm machine guns, Nampo has an air defense system with K-SAAM missiles, the vertical launcher of which is installed in a general superstructure with a helicopter hangar. In UVP placed 16 missiles (4 in a cell).
But the most important thing - in the same UVP can be installed up to 4-x PLURS of the Red Shark, with the already mentioned Blue Shark torpedo as the head part. This very seriously raises his anti-submarine capabilities.
Comparative photos of "Wonsan" and "Nampo"
Among other things, Nampo has, as stated in the press, "anti-mine systems," as well as advanced capabilities for finding submarines. Taking into account the possibility of basing on the ship of an anti-submarine helicopter, it turns out to be in demand not only as a minelayer. Apparently, therefore, recently, both “Wonsan” and “Nampo” in English-language sources began to be called “Anti-submarine minelayer”.
Apparently, therefore, in addition to anti-submarine weapons, the ship also received means of hydro-acoustic countering Korean production - devices (instruments) LIG Nex1 SLQ-261K in the amount of two units.
During the flag raising ceremony.
9 June 2017 of the year, two years after the launch, the Nampo entered service, and the flag of the Republic of Korea Navy was raised. Thus, South Korea today is a country that has two large and modern mine layers of special construction. At the same time, the Koreans never stated that they would be limited to the minzagas already built, so it is quite possible that other ships of the same class will follow the Nampo.
However, apparently, this is not the last example. “Apparently,” since the next ship is Japanese, and with the Japanese everything is not easy.
As mentioned earlier, in the article about the future Japanese aircraft carriersJapan masters the entire humanity with its military programs. The Japanese underestimate the performance characteristics of their weapons, assign them “wrong” names (for example, an aircraft carrier on the 27-28 LA they have a “helicopter-carrying destroyer”, and even take pictures of their ships so that their real size is not obvious. In addition, the Japanese are just such a “fog” they launched around their two ships - the so-called “mine-ship base”, the class “Uraga” (Uraga). There are two ships in the class, “Uraga” and “Bungo” (Bungo).
"Uraga", view from the stern.
These ships were taken into service by the Japanese Navy's Self-Defense Forces in the 90s, the Urag in the 1997 and the Bungo in the 1998. These are big ships, the displacement of the Uragi 5640 tons, the Bungo has 5700. Diesel GEM in 19500 HP gives ships the ability to go at maximum speed in a 22 node.
"Bungo" is armed with 76-mm gun Oto Melara, "Uraga" does not carry weapons.
The gun is the characteristic difference between the "Bungo" and the "Uragi"
Both ships are classified as “tenders”, that is, “mother ships”, and specifically for minesweepers. And although technical information on these ships is not found either in Russian or in English, press releases about their participation in mine action exercises in conjunction with the United States or Australia appear regularly. Ships do what is evident from their declared purpose - they transfer fuel and supplies to the minesweepers. Even touching photos of floating bases with Australian minesweepers are - well, not to give, not to take the mother with the children.
Refueling minesweepers in the entrance of the exercises. This is "Bungo".
And the ship's constructive design corresponds to the stated purpose - there is a hangar for a large helicopter capable of towing a trawl, and a compartment under the trawl itself in the stern.
However, there are nuances.
We look at the view from the stern.
Four lazporta on the right and left clearly hinted to us that "Uraga" and its sistership not only destroy the mines, but also put them. Explicitly, these ships have 4 mine decks, and to save space, lanceports for dumping mines from these decks are made on each of them - specifically not to drag the mine to the rails common to different decks. Opened the lid and everything. And judging by the size of the ship and these covers, the mines there are about the same as those of the Wonsan or Nampo.
And this means that those who call the ships of the Urag class the largest mine-barriers in the world are right.
Both Japanese and Koreans are able to carry out mining operations of truly strategic proportions with the help of these ships. Korean minzags are capable of setting at least a thousand mines in a matter of hours. During the week, covered with minimal forces aviation, this pair of ships is able to set as many mines as will prove to be a planetary scale factor. With the maximum degree of probability, both Korean and Japanese ships are intended for emergency organization of anti-air defense or blockade of narrownesses.
Korean mino-torpedo К701, analogue of the American CAPTOR.
However, in the case of an offensive operation of Japan in the Kuriles, Uraga and Bungo will be very useful in the subsequent organization of the defense of the captured islands, the blockade of navigation in the Laperuz Strait and, in the event of an escalation of the conflict, the mining of the Kuril Straits, or Tsugaru (Sangarsky). Thus, the Japanese ships indirectly increase not only the defensive, but also the offensive potential of Japan.
Summarize.
In spite of the fact that almost all the fleets in the world refused from specialized mine-barriers, this class of ships exists quite to itself, moreover, oddly enough, it is developing. At the same time, the “trends” is the increase in the displacement of the barriers (even new Finnish corvettes will have about 3300 tons of displacement - mainly due to the mine-fencing function, and the Nampo has already 4000 tons), combining the functionality of other warships in the minzag , giving the ship anti-submarine capabilities, like the Koreans, or a combination of a minzag and a corvette, as Finns will have). It is worth expecting that at a certain level of exacerbation of the military-political situation in the world, which will again make relevant "strategic" "defensive" mining (for example, the blockade by the mines of the Faro-Icelandic barrier or the Danish straits), the new minzagi can quickly return. unprecedented technical level.
Information