HSwMS Karlstad

HSwMS Karlstad (K35) is the fifth ship of the Visby-class corvette.^[1]

HSwMS Karlstad on 31 August 2014
History
Sweden
Name	Karlstad
Namesake	Karlstad
Ordered	1999
Builder	Kockums
Launched	24 August 2006
Commissioned	16 September 2015
Homeport	Karlskrona
Identification	MMSI number: 266006000 Pennant number: K35 Callsign: SMLO
Status	Active
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type	Visby-class corvette
Displacement	660 t (650 long tons)
Length	72.6 m (238 ft 2 in)
Beam	10.4 m (34 ft 1 in)
Draft	2.5 m (8 ft 2 in)
Propulsion	CODAG 2 ×KaMeWa Waterjets 4 × Honeywell TF 50 A gas turbines, total rating 16 MW 2 × MTU Friedrichshafen 16V 2000 N90 diesel engines, total rating 2.6 MW
Speed	35+ knots
Complement	27 officers 16 conscripts
Sensors and processing systems	Ericsson Sea Giraffe ABM 3D surveillance radar Ceros 200 Fire control radar system Condor CS-3701 Tactical Radar Surveillance System Hull-mounted sonar Towed array sonar system Variable depth sonar
Electronic warfare & decoys	Rheinmetall Waffe Munition MASS (Multi-Ammunition Softkill) decoy system
Armament	1 × Bofors 57 mm gun Mk 3 8 × RBS15 Mk2 AShM 4 × 40cm Torped 45 ASW grenade launchers Mines & depth charges
Aviation facilities	Helipad

Design and description

Main article: Visby-class corvette

HSwMS Karlstad is the fifth ship of the Visby-class corvettes.^[2] It was built by Kockums at the Karlskrona naval base, and was the first of four vessels of the class which are designed for coastal warfare.^[3]

The hull of the vessel is made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic, a stealth technology, in order to make the vessel difficult to detect by other forces. A minimum of external equipment is stored outside of the vessel, with equipment such as liferafts being stored inside the hull.^[4] This hull also reduces the weight of the vessel by around half. It was intended to be radar silent until it moves within 30 kilometres (19 mi) of an enemy vessel, resulting in designer John Nillson saying of it, "Naval officers fall in love with [this] ship. It's not classically beautiful. In fact it looks like a lunchbox. But it has better maneuverability and can achieve that level of stealth."^[3]

Construction and career

Karlstad was built at Kockums in Karlskrona and was launched on 24 August 2006 and commissioned on 16 September 2015.^[5][6]