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By A. D. Baker III, Editor, Combat Fleets of the World
Delivered to the French Navy without armament on 28 February, the Rest of a planned six surveillance trigates built to commercial ship standards, the Floreal is seen here conducting initial sea trials. The 'cssel, which will displace 3,000 tons at full load, is to be completed in December by the Lorient Naval Dockyard after the installation of an armament suite comprising a 100- •urn. dual-purpose gun, four MM-40 Exocet antiship missiles, two _ SADRAL point-defense missile launchers for Mistral infrared- homing missiles, two 20-mm. cannon, and facilities for a Super Puma helicopter; there will be no antisubmarine equipment, and ships of the class—named for the first six months of the French Revolutionary calendar—are intended to operate in low-risk ocean areas for economic exclusion area patrol, fisheries protection, and maritime police duties. With long endurance (9,000 nautical miles at 15 knots), the 20-knot, diesel-powered Floreals will operate "ith crews of seven officers and 93 enlisted and will have room for a troop detachment of 25.
The Yemeni Arab Republic, created °n 22 May 1990, constitutes the former People’s Democratic Republic °f Yemen (PDRY) and the Yemen Arab Republic. A staunch, if nonbelligerent, supporter of Iraq during Desert Shield and Desert Storm, the newly united Yemen received three "arships from the Soviet Union during late 1990 and early 1991. One °f them was a Natya-class fleet mine- keeper, and the other two were Tarantul-I-class guided-missile patrol combatants, the first of which was under tow here to Yemen in mid- November. The missile boats supplement the half-dozen Osa-H-class guided-missile patrol boats that surged the 1986 coup in the PDRY and give Yemen a significant antiship capability at the constricted southern entrance to the Red Sea. The Yemeni Navy also operates around nine
Proceedings / Naval Review 1991
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