Name Knud Rasmussen class Preceded by Agdlek class Planned 3 | Operators Royal Danish Navy In commission 2008– | |
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Builders Karstensens Skibsværft
Hull is built at the Polish Stocznia Pólnocna (Northern Shipyard) in Gdansk | ||
The Knud Rasmussen class is a class of offshore patrol vessels operating in the Royal Danish Navy from 2008. Built to replace the Agdlek-class cutters on a one-by-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 assignments, 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. December 2013 a third ship of the class (HDMS Lauge Koch) was ordered by the Danish Parliament. Service entry of the third ship will be 2016, with an estimated cost of 513 mill Dkr (US$ 76.2 million).
Armament
The standard armament consists of two 12.7-millimetre (0.50 in) heavy machine guns. This is supplemented by the two Stanflex modulary 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 missiles, 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.