Gemstone class destroyer

Gemstone-class destroyer
Outboard profile of D-9050 Alexandrite
Class overview
Name	Gemstone-class destroyer
Builders	Federal Shipbuilding, Lynch & Murphy
Operators	Tol Galen Royal Galenic Navy
Cost	± $1,100,000 (2018)
Planned	34
Built	34
Active	34 (Tol Galen)
General Characteristics
Type	Guided missile destroyer
Displacement	7,100 tonnes (7,000 long tons; 7,800 short tons) (full load)
Length	155 metres (509 ft) (overall)
Beam	20 metres (66 ft)
Draught	5.3 metres (17 ft) (mean)
Propulsion	CODLOG
Power	70,000 shaft horsepower (52 MW)
Speed	>30 knots (56 km/h)
Range	5,850 nautical miles (10,830 km) at 20 knots
Endurance	60 days
Capacity	250 permanent berths
Complement	25 Officers, 150 ratings (core crew)
Sensors	•SAMPSON MFR (Batches 1-3) • CEAFAR 2 MFR (Batch 4) • SMART-L VSR (Batches 1 + 1A) • Sharpeye navigation radar • CEAMOUNT FCR (Batches 1-3) • ARTEMIS IRST
Sonar	• UMS-4110 (Batches 1, 1A, 3 and 4) • SQQ-90 (Batch2) • CAPTAS-4 towed-array (Batch 2)
ECM	• NOLQ-2-derived ECM/ESM system • AAR-54-derived MAWS • CIRCM-derived optical-countermeasures • 2x Chemring Centurion dispensers
Armament	Guns: • 1x Mk45 127mm/62 gun • 1-2x SAMOS CIWS • 4x Seahawk LW 20mm RWS Missiles: 1x 64-cell Mk41 vertical launch system •SM2-MR •SM-2ER •SM-3 •SM-6 •HyStrike •Sea Lance 1x 16-cell Mk41 vertical launch system •ESSM •Nulka 2x Seastreak LML sextuple launchers Torpedoes: 4x 400mm tubes lined to 324mm
Aviation & Flight Deck
Helicopters	1x Strikehawk (Batches 1A and 1B) 2x Wildcat (Batches 2, 3 and 4)

The Gemstone-class destroyer is a type of guided missile destroyer designed and manufactured in Tol Galen to replace a variety of ageing classes. Whilst the class is orientated towards the role of anti-aircraft warfare and missile defence, there are distinct variations within the class such as, the Batch 2 boats which are dedicated anti-submarine warfare platforms or the Batch 3 and 4 boats that are operated as flotilla leaders.
The Gemstones were built to replace the a variety of ageing classes of destroyers and frigates, initially it was intended for there to be forty vessels constructed, this was however reduced to thirty on the basis of quality over quantity. There have been four follow-on vessels constructed which form Batch 4, these vessels differ from earlier vessels with the substitution of SAMPSON for CEAFAR as well as minor structural improvements.

Origins

The initial origins of what would become the Gemstone family started at a time of heightened tensions with the FSR. Tol Galen had sought to procure a new class of destroyers in collaboration with several other GA nations under the GFR-90 project; however, the varying requirements of the different countries led to the project being abandoned in the early 1990s. Tol Galen then joined New Tyran, France and Italy in the development of the Horizon-class frigate; however, the souring of relations between the Global Alliance and Able Vigil Accords as well as differing requirements to those of New Tyran, led to the both Tol Galen and New Tyran withdrawing on 26 April 1999 and starting their own own projects. Initially Tol Galen had partnered with New Tyran to procure what would end up as the Type 45, disagreements over work-share and technology transfer led to the partnership dissolving in mid-2001. Several companies tendered designs between 2002 and 2004 with Lynch & Murphy offering a modified version of an existing design that they had been offering to various nations since the late 1990s. It would be this design that the Galenic Government chose for what would come to be known as the Gemstone-class.

Characteristics

The Gemstones are 155m in length, with a beam of 20m, a draught of 5.3m and a displacement of approximately 7,100tonnes. This makes them significantly larger in all dimensions than any of their predecessors. The design of the Gemstone-class brought with it higher levels of radar and infra-red signature reduction to the Royal Galenic Navy. Deck equipment and life rafts were concealed behind the ship's superstructure panels and panelled railings where possible leading to a very "clean" look when compared to previous vessels.

The Gemstones are noteworthy for being as far as feasibly possible gender-neutral with living spaces tailored to accommodate both male and female crew members. Communal sanitary facilities have given way to individual cubicles, cabins for junior ratings are now far more flexible enabling the accommodation of a mixture of male and female sailors.

Capabilities

Anti-Air warfare

PAAMS

The Batch 1 and 1A Gemstones are equipped with a variant of the PAAMS system (SAMPSON and S-1850M), unlike the existing PAAMS system the system used by the Royal Galenic Navy utilises CEAMOUNT phased-array directors to provide guidance for Sea Sparrow and Standard missiles.

LAMS

The Batch 2 and 3 Gemstones are equipped with a scaled back air-defence system more suited for the local and self-defence role. Like the Batch 1 and 1A vessels they utilise SAMPSON and CEAMOUNT but unlike the Batch 1 and 1A vessels they lack the volume-search radar.

GAAWS

The Batch 4 Gemstones are equipped with an octagonal mast structure bristling with arrays for the CEAFAR family of radars, they feature arrays in X, S and L-band as well as a VHF/UHF communications system, ESM and surveillance systems. The Batch 4 vessels are seen as being mid-way in capability between the Batch 1 and Batch 3 vessels with greater anti-aircraft warfare capabilities than those vessels lacking the large volume-search radar but still somewhat behind those equipped with it.

Batches Compared

• Batch 1 and 1A: SAMPSON Multi-Function Radar (MFR) and S-1850M Volume Search Radar (VSR).
• Batch 2 and 3: SAMPSON Multi-Function Radar (MFR).
• Batches 1 through 3: Sharpeye S navigation, surface-search and helicopter-control radar.
• Batch 4: CEAFAR2-X, CEAFAR2-S, CEAFAR2-L Multi-Function Radars (MFR)

Guns

Different Guns For Different Roles

The Tranche 1 and 1A Gemstones being orientated towards anti-aircraft and anti-missile warfare are equipped with a fast-firing Oto Melara 76mm gun (recently upgraded to fire DART and VULCANO guided munitions). The Tranche 2 and 3 Gemstones are equipped with a larger and more general purpose Oto Melara 127mm gun more suited to the naval gunfire support role. (again recently upgraded to fire VULCANO)

Tranches Compared

• Tranches 1 and 1A: 1x Oto Melara 76mm/62 Strales [HE-PD, HE-PFF (FREMEN Fuze), Vulcano and DART]
• Tranches 2 and 3: 1x Oto Melera 127mm/64 LW [HE-PD, HE-PFF (FREMEN Fuze)and Vulcano]
• All tranches: 2x Rheinmetall Millennium 35mm CIWS, 2x MSI Seahawk Lightweight RWS (27mm)and 2x Kongsberg Sea Protector RWS(12.7mm)

Aviation

On-board Facilities

Both the tranche 1 and 1a vessels have hangar and maintenance spaces suited to the operation of a single helicopter plus a flexible number of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) whilst the more general-purpose Tranche 2 and 3 vessels feature a revised hangar layout capable of accommodating a pair of small to medium helicopters plus UAS. The flight-deck is equipped with an Aircraft Ship Integrated Secure and Traverse (ASIST) system for safer recoveries with tramlines to the hangar bay. All vessels feature a workshop to carry out basic level maintenance on their embarked aircraft.

Helicopters

The Gemstones usually can be found operating with one of two types of helicopter. The AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin or the AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat. The Tranche 1 and 1A vessels can embark one of either type whilst the Tranche 2 and 3 vessels can embark either one Merlin or two Wildcats. Other types are qualified to operate from the Gemstones with some degree of integration, those most often employed are the helicopters of the Royal Galenic Marines which comprise of suitably equipped AW101s and AW159s.

UAVs

Unmanned systems are still on the rise both worldwide and in Tol Galen. The Gemstones were always envisaged to be capable of operating some form of unmanned systems although at the time of their construction no such system had been procured. Currently there are a few systems able to be employed from the Gemstone class (all tranches), these are:

• Boeing Insitu ScanEagle long-endurance surveillance UAS
• Schiebel Camcopter S-100 rotary-wing surveillance UAS
• Northrop Grumman MQ-8C Fire Scout (Development ongoing on a local system using the same architecture based on a Bell 407T - Twin Engine Helicopter)

Sensors

All of the Gemstone-class are equipped with a myriad of sensors, both optical and infrared.

Optical

• 4x Thales Gatekeeper EO Surveillance systems
• 2x Thales Mirador EO Fire-Control Systems
• 2x FLIR Systems SeaFLIR 380-HLD Fire-Control Systems, (laser-designation of Griffon etc).
• 1x FLIR Systems SEAFLIR 230 for helicopter operations

Anti-Ship - Anti-Submarine and Land-Attack

All Gemstone-class are always to be found with at-least eight Tsetse Fly missiles which form the staple anti-shipping and land-attack capability. Between the various tranches there are a variety of different systems in use to fulfil the requirements of Anti-Ship - Anti-Submarine and Land-Attack warfare.

Usual Missile Complements

Tranche 1:

• 8x Tsetse Fly
• 32x GL-SDB or Sea-SPEAR Bombardment Rockets / Glide Bombs

Tranche 1A:

• 8x Tsetse Fly

Tranche 2:

• 8x Tsetse Fly
• 64x GL-SDB or Sea-SPEAR Bombardment Rockets / Glide Bombs
• 16x Fire Shadow Loitering Munitions
• 32x Griffin C-ER Short-Range Surface-to-Surface Missiles
• 8x Sea Lance Standoff Anti-Submarine Weapons

Tranche 3:

• 24x Long-Range Conventional Standoff Weapons
• 24x Tsetse Fly / Gadfly / Sandfly
• 16x Fire Shadow Loitering Munitions

Countermeasures

Countermeasure Dispensers

All the Gemstones are equipped with a pair of Chemring Centurion revolving countermeasure dispensers capable of deploying a variety of both countermeasures and weapons. They are usually equipped with three to four types of decoy / countermeasures which are:

• CHIMERA Mk.4 (Dual-Mode IR/RF Decoy)
• Seagnat 214 (RF Seduction Decoy)
• TALOS (Infrared and EO/Laser Decoy)
• PIRATE (Infrared Seduction Decoys)

The Centurion as mentioned is also capable of deploying offensive systems, those currently in use include Griffin, and CRV7-PG.

Electronic Countermeasures

All of the gemstones are also equipped with a pair of twin-face SLY-2 type EW/ECM systems capable of both ELINT as well as defensive jamming.

Communications and Other Systems

The Gemstones are all fitted with a Selex Fully Integrated Communications System (FICS) with:

• Tactical Data Links: TCDL, Link 11, Link 22 and Link 16
• Satellite Communications: 2x Fixed EHF SATCOM antennae, 2x Inmarsat SATCOM antennae, 2x L-Band (Galileo), 2x S-Band (METOC + COMMS) and 2x X-Band (Skynet)
• Whips + Verticals: 4x AS-5085/SR HF whips and 2x OE-538 multi-band masts, 4x generic UHF whips and 2x generic VHF whips

Additional Capabilities

Flagship Capabilities

The Tranche 3 vessels are outfitted with extra command facilities to operate as flotilla or task group leaders. Usually this means that they are paired off with CVGNs or LPHs.

Embarked Military Force

All Gemstones are capable of embarking a platoon (30-40) of Royal Galenic Marines for VBSS and coastal-assault operations.

Intelligence Gathering

The Tranche 1 and 1A vessels are equipped with Thales's Vigile system (400) a six-faced arrangement for ELINT/SIGINT, the Tranche 2 and 3 vessels add to this with an 18-40GhZ antenna atop the hangar structure. Additionally the SLY-2 EW systems have an ELINT/SIGINT capability which is factored into the system.

Variants

Batch 1

Batch 2

Batch 3

Batch 4

Ships in Class

Pennant Number	Name	Builder	Commissioned	Status
Batch 1
D-9050	Alexandrite	Lynch & Murphy	1st July 2006	Active
D-9051	Amazonite	Federal Shipbuilding	29th September 2006	Active
D-9052	Amethyst	Lynch & Murphy	28th December 2006	Active
D-9053	Aquamarine	Federal Shipbuilding	28th March 2007	Active
D-9054	Azurite	Lynch & Murphy	26th June 2007	Active
D-9055	Bloodstone	Federal Shipbuilding	24th September 2007	Active
D-9056	Cinnabar	Lynch & Murphy	23th December 2007	Active
D-9057	Citrine	Federal Shipbuilding	22th March 2008	Active
Batch 1A
D-9058	Corundum	Lynch & Murphy	29th August 2008	Active
D-9059	Crystal	Lynch & Murphy	27th November 2008	Active
D-9060	Diamond	Lynch & Murphy	25th February 2009	Active
D-9061	Emerald	Federal Shipbuilding	26th May 2009	Active
D-9062	Heliodor	Lynch & Murphy	23rd August 2009	Active
D-9063	Haematite	Federal Shipbuilding	22nd November 2009	Active
D-9064	Lodestone	Lynch & Murphy	20th February 2010	Active
D-9065	Malachite	Federal Shipbuilding	21st May 2010	Active
Batch 2
D-9066	Moonstone	Lynch & Murphy	18th October 2010	Active
D-9067	Morganite	Federal Shipbuilding	16th January 2011	Active
D-9068	Nephrite	Lynch & Murphy	16th April 2011	Active
D-9069	Neptunite	Federal Shipbuilding	15th July 2011	Active
D-9070	Onyx	Federal Shipbuilding	13th October 2011	Active
D-9071	Peridot	Lynch & Murphy	11th January 2012	Active
D-9072	Rhodolite	Lynch & Murphy	10th April 2012	Active
D-9073	Ruby	Federal Shipbuilding	9th July 2012	Active
Batch 3
D-9074	Sapphire	Federal Shipbuilding	7th October 2012	Active
D-9075	Sardonyx	Lynch & Murphy	5th January 2013	Active
D-9076	Sérandite	Federal Shipbuilding	5th April 2013	Active
D-9077	Sunstone	Federal Shipbuilding	4th July 2013	Active
Batch 4
D-9078	Tantalite	Lynch & Murphy	5th October 2014	Active
D-9079	Thulite	Federal Shipbuilding	31st December 2014	Active
D-9080	Tigereye	Federal Shipbuilding	26th March 2015	Active
D-9081	Titanite	Lynch & Murphy	24th June 2015	Active
D-9082	Tourmaline	Federal Shipbuilding	22nd September 2015	Active
D-9083	Turquoise	Lynch & Murphy	21st December 2015	Active

Operators

• Tol Galen
  • Royal Galenic Navy

See Also

List of active Royal Galenic Navy ships