Aboard was a crew of 202 personnel as well as 20 making up the air arm. Over the stern section of the warship was set a helipad and accompanying hangar. This area serviced (launching and retrieving) up to 2 x Sea Lynx Mk.88A variant navy helicopters. The helicopters were further equipped as submarine/ship hunters and could act as an eye-in-the-sky for the ship after launch and also rescue downed personnel in open water if needed. At-sea resupply was also accomplished from this helideck.
Installed systems included the EADS TRS-3D surface-search radar, the WM25 I/J-band surface-search radar, and the Thales Nederland STIR 180 Fire Control (FC) radar. A Kelvin Hughes "Nucleus 5000" unit served in the I-band navigation radar role. The hull-mounted sonar fit was the STN Atlas DSQS-23BZ series system. Electronic Warfare (EW) was handled by the ESM/ECM EADS FL1800S unit and 2 x SCLAR decoy launchers were present. The SLQ-25 "Nixie" fulfilled the torpedo decoy role.
A full-service hardened Citadel (complete with Nuclear-Biological-Chemical - NBC - protection), to serve as the ships command and control center in the event of open war, was a notable feature of the class.
Ahead of the bridge section was installed a 76mm OTO-Melara (Italian) turreted deck gun with unfettered views around the forecastle. Nearby, atop a stage, were the twin 4-cell "Sea Sparrow" medium-range surface-to-air missile systems (American) suitable for countering inbound aerial threats (16 reloads being carried). A pair of 4-cell "Harpoon" anti-ship missile launchers (American) were seated abaft of the bridge section (8 total missiles). A pair of Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) Mk 49 series launchers (American) were added towards the stern (21 reloads being carried). 2 x 27mm Mauser MLG27 series autocannons were installed for Close-In (CI) defense against aerial threats. Rounding out the armament were 2 x 324mm Mark 32 series twin torpedo tubes with 8 reloads available (DM4A1 or Mark 46 torpedo families supported).
FGS Bremen faithfully served until decommissioned on March 28th, 2014.
Content ©MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.