This is a sequel to an article on 21st century Romanian frigates. The first part is HERE.
Hello again
Since I have delved deeply into history, I will remind you of something briefly. Great Britain reduced the size of its fleet. Frigates of the first series of Type 22 also fell under reduction. Two of them were used as targets (shot and sunk), one was scrapped, and the rest began to be offered to Third World countries from South America. The Romanians, who were eager to join the North Atlantic Alliance and were in a hurry to acquire Western types of equipment and weapons, so that they would meet NATO standards, also took a bite.
The flagship of the Romanian Navy frigate "Regele Ferdinand" (F221)
Operation Naked King
On January 14, 2003, Romania signed a contract with Great Britain for the purchase of the frigates HMS Coventry (F98) and HMS London (F95) that escaped decommissioning. On the same day, the frigate HMS Coventry (F98) was renamed Regele Ferdinand, inheriting the name of the decommissioned destroyer leader who was part of the Royal Romanian Navy's destroyer flotilla before and during World War II.
Reference.
Regele Ferdinand (King of Romania Ferdinand I). Full name: Ferdinand Victor Maynard Albert. Dynasty: Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. He is also known as “Loyal Ferdinand” and “Unifier of Romania”. Betrayed the interests of the House of Hohenzollern and entered the First World War on the side of the Entente. After WWI, it expanded the borders of the Romanian state: it included Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia. He developed and carried out an agrarian reform, provided all citizens of the country, regardless of gender, race, nationality and origin, universal suffrage.
Before the ships were handed over to Romania, both ships underwent modernization in Portsmouth. The pre-sale preparation looked like this: a major overhaul of power plants and other mechanisms was carried out, the sets of electronic equipment were replaced with new ones, but more simplified, and their weapons were (I'm not afraid of this word) castration. From both frigates, missiles (ASM "Exocet", SAM "Sea Wolf") and artillery * were completely dismantled. In order to cover up the eyes of the Romanians, instead of the dismantled anti-ship missiles and air defense systems, one 76, 2-mm ship universal gun mount “OTO Melara” was installed in the bow of the frigates.
The table shows data on the armament of ships before and after their sale to Romania. As the saying goes, “Feel the Difference”.
* Some sources write that the British left torpedo tubes to the Romanians and sold Stingray torpedoes for them, but I believe that they were re-installed a few years later.
Underdeck part of the gun mount OTO Melara on the frigate "Regele Ferdinand"
Of the equipment for fire control, one Radamec 2500 optoelectronic artillery fire control system and a NAUTIS 3 mine action control system were installed on each ship. Judging by the photographs I obtained, the helicopter hangars of the frigates also underwent some alterations.
Pay attention to the roleta of the helicopter hangars. Above the frigate London, below - Ferdinand and Maria
On August 19, the reincarnated "Ferdinand" underwent sea trials, and on September 9, 2004, the "king" was commissioned into the Romanian Navy (Marina Militară Română) and was assigned the side number F 221. Soon a frigate flotilla was created, in which included the former flagship frigate Marasesti (see previous articles), King Ferdinand and Queen Maria. Since then, King Ferdinand (F-221) has been the flagship of the Romanian Navy.
And then articles appeared in the Romanian press in which they wrote that “Ferdinand” is good, but his appearance is not very warlike, and the general meaning of the articles was reduced to a quote from a boy from the fairy tale of the writer Hans Christian Andersen: “And the king is naked!” An international scandal arose, which, of course, was hushed up, since BAE Systems plc, the largest defense company in the UK, was involved.
I will tell you briefly about the second ship. The frigate HMS London (F95) also underwent a “modernization” in Portsmouth, and on August 1, 2004, HMS was renamed “Regina Maria” (after Ferdinand's wife), also inheriting the name of a Romanian destroyer from World War II. Queen Maria was introduced to the Romanian Navy and was assigned the tail number F-222. We managed to collect enough information and photos about this ship, as if “Maria” is always in the shadow of her crowned husband. Therefore, I compensate for this gap with a few photographs and historical information regarding the queen herself.
Reference.
Regina Maria (Mary of Edinburgh). Full name: Maria Alexandra Victoria. Dynasty: Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Princess of Great Britain, wife of King Ferdinand I and Queen Consort of Romania.
During WWI, Maria was a nurse, and to provide financial assistance to the Red Cross, she wrote the book “My Country”. She also took an active part in the politics and plans of the war. In 1919, Queen Maria represented Romania at the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty, which returned territories captured during the war to Romania. After the victory at Marasesti, the royal couple went to the front and they personally awarded the soldiers who distinguished themselves in the battle. Despite the fact that the marriage of Maria and Ferdinand cannot be called successful (both made money on the side of the children), they left only good memories in the memory of Romanian citizens.
In honor of this crowned couple, ships were already named. After World War I, Romania ordered two destroyer leaders from the Italian shipyard Pattison in Naples. The British leaders of the Shakespeare-class destroyers served as the prototype for their creation. The ships were named after their monarchs: “Regele Ferdinand” (ace of hearts of the Romanian Royal Navy), and “Regina Maria” (respectively, ace of spades). By the way, these ships were captured on August 29, 1944 in Constanta by Soviet troops along with other Romanian ships, including the destroyers Marasti and Mareshesti, whose fate I have already described on the pages of VO.
King Ferdinand and Queen Mary in 1922
Modernization
The Romanians started talking about the modernization of the former British frigates already in the early 2000s, even at the stage of signing the contract. Within 2-3 years, they planned to develop and approve a modernization project, and in 2008-2009 they already purchased and installed modern weapons, equipment and radar systems. Military analysts have argued that the modernization of the former British frigates will cost Romania 100 million euros. The third ship of the flotilla, the frigate Marasesti, which was built in Romania under N. Ceausescu, was also to be re-equipped. But the project was not detailed on time, and money was not allocated from the budget.
The modernization was postponed several times, and in the press and on the forums they discussed possible kits of "upgrades", their advantages and disadvantages.
Half measures
While the modernization was postponed, attempts were made to bring the frigates at least to the level of the Offshore Patrol Vessel (patrol boat). For this purpose, machine-gun armament was installed on them.
Harsh Romanian sailors
Does it look like Stallone in Rambo 4?
DUM from the Romanian company Digital Bit with DShKM on board the frigate "Regele Ferdinand"
The same module, but with optics and even shoots … Most likely, an experimental module. Did not find confirmation that he was adopted
Once again, they started talking about the modernization of ships in 2013, when a series of meetings between representatives of 15 British and 30 Romanian defense companies took place in Romania on the territory of the British Embassy. The well-known BAE Systems, which has already earned at least twice on their sale, swung into the contract for the modernization of Type 22 frigates. MAN Diesel & Turbo UK, BCB International, Aish Technologies and others also had their interests in Romania.
How the negotiations ended in other areas does not apply to this topic, and the results of negotiations on equipping frigates are obvious: Romania spent 16.5 million euros on the purchase of 18 restored Sting Ray torpedoes for its frigates and deck helicopters. These torpedoes were decommissioned, “upgraded” and sold to those in need. That is, the second-hand was sold to the Romanians again! When the torpedo tubes appeared on the frigate, it was not possible to find out, but they were installed. At least on ‘Ferdinand’.
TA on the frigate "Regele Ferdinand". Most likely also used
In general, the naked king rattles his weapons menacingly.
Deck aviation
Like the frigate Marasesti, the air group of each of the frigates “Regele Ferdinand” and “Regina Maria” purchased from the UK consists of one IAR 330 Puma Naval deck helicopter. They are produced by the Romanian aircraft company Industria Aeronautică Română (IAR) under license from the now defunct Aerospatiale-France.
Helicopter Puma Naval on the deck of the Romanian frigate
The path of Puma Naval deck helicopters is quite long and thorny, so it deserves a detailed description. I have collected enough materials on this topic, and they were enough for a separate article. An article about Puma Naval helicopters is being prepared for publication.
The author would like to thank Bongo for the advice.
