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The Second Hand Warship Blues
December 11, 2007: French warship builder DCNS has
spent months negotiating a deal to sell four stealthy Gowind 200 frigates to
Bulgaria. It seemed to be a sweet deal for Bulgaria, with most of the work
being done in Bulgaria, and hundreds of Bulgarians technicians getting
specialized training in France. But this was expensive. Each of the 2,000 ton
ships would cost about $300 million. Bulgaria is short of cash. To close the
deal, DCNS offered to cut the price 13 percent. Then Holland came along with a
better deal, two Wielingen class frigates (25 year old, 2,300 ton ships, but in
great shape) for about $30 million each. The Dutch also threw in a modern
minesweeper, for a three ship package costing $72 million. One advantage of
this was that Bulgaria had bought a Wielingen class frigate from Belgium two
years ago, and was satisfied with it. Only four Wielingen class ships were
built, and one was scrapped in the 1990s. Thus the Dutch deal would give the
Bulgarians two good-enough frigates, and three from the same class. Maintenance
and training would be simplified. Those three ships would be adequate for the Black Sea, where the biggest
concern is smugglers, not a major war.
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