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Subject: Denmark about to sell 3 Standard Flex class to Lithuania
Thomas    8/19/2006 3:12:33 PM
The price will be around 5 mio USD - as close to a gift as you come. The point most pundits have missed is: The Lithuanian water must be defended in all circumstaces, notably to keep Kaleningrad/Königsberg isolated (which is doable), so it is better economy for Denmark to let the Lithuanians man the ships and do the chore, than letting the Danish Navy do it. Simple as that.
 
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Schackleford       9/2/2006 7:38:10 AM
Seems reasonable. I always wondered why we would sell the Standard Flex ships.
The whole point of their revolutionary design was to build a ship that would not be rendered obsolete or useless with a sudden change in requirements or tactics.
 
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Thomas    Laid up ships   9/3/2006 9:04:34 AM

In my view it is the only sensible thing to do.

Laid up ships do decay with time - and Standard Flexes are quite easy to build - so the shipyards can probably build them in time at hand before a major threat develops.

Let's see what the Estonian Navy gets when the new patrol ships enter service!

 
 
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Thomas    Baltic Sea   9/3/2006 9:08:49 AM

The strategic point is that the Baltic Sea is getting under control under Danish supervision with the three Baltic nations actively participating. Germany will probably put in an apperance - as they have generally done everywhere since the cold war; but they seem more interested in the high sea. Where Poland is to fit in is unknown to me.

 
 
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TAC II       9/3/2006 8:37:20 PM
 
You're both somewhat off. They're not sold as warfighting vessels as they will be stripped of turbines and advanced combat systems. They should retain a 76mm gun and EO firecontrol, but the advanced electronics will be stripped. We are talking barebone coast guard ships...
 
Flexibility hmmm. The reason given for their decommisioning is that the doctrine doesn't warrant them. Basically their seakeeping is not up for intl ops.
 
But you're right that DK will earn goodwill in the Baltic. More notable in such matters are that a Lithuanian Bde is now formally a part of Danske Division.
 
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Thomas    TAC   9/4/2006 7:41:56 PM
I saw the Lithuanian BDE thing too. Know anything about Latvia  and Estonia in this connection ?
 
A bare bones - true, I would imagine some of the modules would be useful on the new ships.
 
But they got to learn to operate firsts, then lets fix the modules. A mine laying module and a ditto sweeping is not so difficult to mount.
 
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