Future fast flexible frigates

摘要

Naval capability requirements for future frontline surface warships are driving towards greater flexibility in the role of the vessel, greater capability in their range of duties and faster speed of deployment. The ability to swing between roles reflects the uncertainty of future offensives; the need for speed reflects the uncertainty about where these conflicts might occur. Coincidentally, commercial shipping has seen a trend in recent years towards faster vessels and the use of novel hull forms, often multi-hulled, to service this need. High-speed craft now operate in a variety of commercial roles including passenger ferries, fast container ships and RO-PAX vessels. It is therefore timely to leverage this commercial innovation into the naval arena and investigate the potential for high-speed commercial vessel designs to satisfy increasing and different demands for future warships. BMT has brought together the experience of two of its operating companies: Nigel Gee and Associates and BMT Defence Services to explore this potential. This paper presents the results of an in-house study looking at the benefits and challenges of using a pentamaran hull form to satisfy future warship capability requirements. The study explores the implications for all aspects of the whole warship design: structure, sea keeping, weight, space, propulsion systems, survivability, marine system design, combat system design and topside arrangements. The design presented contains novel features in respect of propulsion arrangement, role-change, operational flexibility and general arrangement. An assessment is made of the benefits that exist for military exploitation of this commercial technology and the need for further development to realise the full potential for future warships.