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Background
— Sealifter Comparisons — Rotterdam Class LPD |
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The Rotterdam (LPD II) class LPD is a product of Royal Schelde Co., Vlissingen, the Netherlands. Two ships,
the Hr Ms Rotterdam and Johan de Witt, are being built for the Dutch navy. [1] Two similar LPDs,
the Galicia and Castilia, were built in Spain. Smaller than the US
Navy’s San Antonio class, the Rotterdam places
much greater emphasis on the flightdeck and hangar than on interior lanes.
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Like the US LPDs, the Rotterdam has enclosed vehicle decks in its hull but other vehicles and cargo can also
be accomodated on the enlarged flightdeck. A well deck allowing loading of landing craft from the interior vehicle
lanes. A flightdeck crane can be used for dockside unloading. The landing craft are of conventional type.[2]
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| Dimensions: |
162.2m long x 25m beam x 5.9m draught |
| Displacement: |
14,000 t (full load) |
| Crew / Troops: |
124/613 + 170 APCs/32 MBTs (1030t fuel) |
| Carrying capacity: |
902m2 lanes, 400m2 dry, 300m2 magazine |
| Docking well: |
4 x LCU landing craft (or 6 x smaller LCVP) |
| Aircraft: |
6 x medium / 4 x large helicopters |
| Armament: |
2 x 30mm Goalkeeper CIWS, 4 x 20mm |
| Countermeasures: |
AN/SLQ-25A Nixie/4 x Sippican SRBOC |
| Sustained speed: |
18+ knots (33.5 km/h) |
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The Spanish and Dutch ships are essentially similar aside from armament and powerplant. [3] Interest in
the latter is increased by Royal Schelde’s Enforcer export series: based on the Rotterdam but
cheaper (due to greater modularity) and built to commercial standards. The key difference is moving the engine rooms
aft (on either side of the well deck). The four Enforcer variants range in length from 126m (9,180t 500
troops) to 162.2m (14,000t/600 troops). Another benefit of this approach is that powerplant, armament, systems, etc
could be tailored to the CF.
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[1] The Hr Ms Rotterdam (L800) was commissioned in 1997. The hull of the Hr Ms Johan de Witt (L801) is
complete. The Dutch expect the L801 to enter Koninklijke Marine service in 2007. These LPDs are a joint
Dutch-Spanish project – the Armada Española took delivery of two Buques de Asalto Anfibio,
Galicia (L-51) in 1998 and Castilla (L-52) in 2001. These ships were built by Bazán (now Izar)
at La Coruña.
[2] Conventional as compared with the hovercraft LCACs on the San Antonio class. The
Rotterdam carries either six LCVP Mk3 (Landing Craft, Vehicles and Personnel), or four of the LCU Mk9
(Landing Craft, Utility) or LCM 8 (Landing Craft, Mechanized) type landing craft. LCMs (which
carry 1 x MBT) have ramps fore-and-aft, LCUs have bow ramp only (Mk9s are due to be replaced by double-ended
Mk10s).
[3] Both types have diesel-electric drives, they differ in make. The Rotterdams have Stork Wartsila diesels,
the Galicia have Bazán-MAN.
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The well deck arrangement varies between the Rotterdam and the Johan de Witt. This is partly to
accomodate new British Mk10 landing craft but it also reflects the Johan de Witt’s secondary role as a
Combined Joint Task Force headquarters ship (the Castilla
plays a similar role in the Armada Española). It is in that CJTF role the similarity to
the DND concept for