The ''Knud Rasmussen'' class is a

class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

offshore patrol vessels Offshore may refer to: Science and technology * Offshore (hydrocarbons) * Offshore construction, construction out at sea * Offshore drilling, discovery and development of oil and gas resources which lie underwater through drilling a well * Of ...

operating in the

Royal Danish Navy The Royal Danish Navy (, ) is the Naval warfare, sea-based branch of the Danish Armed Forces force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Denmark, Danish territorial waters (incl. Faroe Islands and ...

from 2008. Built to replace the s on a one-for-one basis, the ''Knud Rasmussen''-class vessels are significantly larger, enabling patrols further offshore. The ships' normal tasks include fisheries inspections, environment protection, search and rescue, sovereignty enforcement,

icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

assignments (

Finnish-Swedish ice class Finnish-Swedish ice class is an ice class assigned to a vessel operating in first-year ice in the Baltic Sea and calling at Finland, Finnish or Sweden, Swedish ports. Ships are divided into six ice classes based on requirements for hull structura ...

1A Super/ Polar Class 6), towage and salvage operations and general assistance to the Danish and Greenland governments (including police tasks). The class has a helicopter deck aft behind the superstructure but lacks an aircraft hangar. However, it can perform Rotors running refueling and can thus increase the endurance and the range of the helicopter. The estimated cost of the third ship as of 2013 was 513 mill Dkr (US$ ).

Armament

The standard armament consists of two heavy machine guns. This is supplemented by the two

Stanflex StanFlex (also known as STANFLEX or Standard Flex) is a modular mission Payload, payload system used by the Royal Danish Navy. Originally conceived during the 1980s as a way of replacing several ship class, classes of minor Warship, war vessel wit ...

modular mission payload slots (one on the foredeck, the other aft of the superstructure), which can be fitted with a multi-purpose gun,

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...

s, or ASW torpedoes, along with other non-weapon payloads. Another two container positions are "prepared for" but not installed on the starboard and port sides of the heli deck.

List of ships

References

External links

Official presentation (Danish)
{{Knud Rasmussen class patrol vessel Patrol ship classes