The Skjold, which means "shield" in Norwegian, is a class of six light,
superfast, stealth missile corvettes in service with the Royal Norwegian Navy.
The boats were formerly classed as MTBs (Motor Torpedo Boats) but, from 2009, the Royal Norwegian
Navy has described them as corvettes because their seaworthiness is seen as comparable to corvettes,
and because they do not carry torpedoes. They were built with a maximum speed of 110 km/h and
were classified as the fastest combat ships afloat at the time of their introduction.
The Skjold Class missile fast patrol boat is specifically identified by its speed,
reduced signatures, small size with heavy weapon load and its littoral combat capability. The
Skjold has an air-cushioned catamaran hull or known as surface effect which provides
high speed and maneuverability with its waterjet propulsion. The first-of-class
ship was the KNM Skjold (P960) which was commissioned in April 1999. Moreover,
the Norwegian Government approved the construction of five more Skjold Class vessels in June 2002.
Contract negotiations were concluded in July 2003. The other five hulls include the Storm (P961),
the Skudd (P962), the Steil (P963), the Glimt (P964) and the Gnist (P965). For
the information, the series of these ships were constructed at the Umoe Mandal shipyard.
Talking about its mission, the ship in this class shall perform surface operations as part of the
Navy's exercise of sea-control. It is specially designed as a surface vessel and these are the
vessels' primary roles. They contribute more than 50% of the surface capacity. They become
a powerful, mobile and flexible vessel as independent or integrated in larger forces
which can solve a variety of naval tasks. This ship is the Navy's most important contribution
in coastal waters and complements the frigates, which operates in open waters. In peace,
the vessels will claim sovereignty and provide support as necessary for the exercise
of authority and jurisdiction. The vessels have high mobility because of their speed and weapons,
which makes them able to quickly be in place to solve missions. The vessels are
able to provide support to the Coast Guard as needed to represent a real threat of power.
This ship also support special operations and protect the petroleum installations along the
coast and to sea. With its high mobility, speed, seaworthiness, possibilities to operate closely
up in the archipelago and to transport special forces and their weapons load, the vessels are
especially well suited to satisfying this goal. This ship also monitor and control large seas.
Vessels speed, seaworthy characteristics and sensors which is a very good radar to obtain
information or situational awareness and are suitable for covering large seas. The sensors
focus in particular on image building both offshore and intersection. Lastly,
it also provides long-range firepower against both sea and land targets.
Furthermore, in September 2002, Skjold conducted a 13-month deployment in the US,
allowing the US Navy to study the Skjold Class concept. The ship took part in a series of naval
drills and a number of tests with the US Navy research establishments NAVSEA and the Office
of Naval Research. This was the result of a bilateral agreement in which the US Navy
reviewed the Skjold capabilities and performance as part of their transformational efforts.
Skjold was temporarily decommissioned in September 2003 and returned to the Mandal shipyard for the
purpose of having its propulsion system upgraded. The vessel began sea trials in November 2006,
prior to recommissioning in mid-2008. Skjold has been redesignated as a trial platform. The second
ship in class, the Storm (P961), was delivered in September 2010, the Skudd (P962) was delivered in
October 2010. The Steil (P963) was delivered in June 2011 and the fifth ship in the class,
the Glimt (P964) was handed over to the Royal Norwegian Navy in March 2012. The last ship
in class, the Gnist (P965) was delivered to the Royal Norwegian Navy in November 2012.
An important capability of the Skjold is its covert operational capability in littoral warfare,
particularly in using Norway’s coastal topography with its islands and fjords,
to carry out surveillance and engage hostile forces from a close distance
while remaining undetected. The shallow draught of 0.9 meter to
2.3 meters allows the ship to access very shallow waters denied to other vessels.
Talking about the design of this ship, the Skjold design is a surface effect craft, constructed
of glass fibre or carbon composite materials. Buoyancy is augmented underway by a fan-blown
skirted compartment between the two rigid catamaran-type hulls. This provides an alternative
solution to the planning hull or the vee hull compromise the air cushion reduces wave slam
at high speeds while presenting a low-drag flat planning profile at the waterline. In addition,
the vessels are additionally protected by the Rheinmetall MASS sensor or decoy system. Moreover,
the vessels use four gas turbines combined by Renk COGAG gear units built in a lightweight
design. The smaller gas turbines rated 2,000 kW turbines are used for cruising speed.
Considering its weapons, the Skjold Class missile fast patrol boat is armed with
eight Kongsberg Norwegian Strike Missile (NSM) anti-ship missiles, which have been developed
for the Skjold Class ships and for the Fritjof Nansen frigates. The NSM missile is fitted with
GPS midcourse and a dual-band imaging infrared seeker guidance and has a range in excess of
150km. The ship’s short-range surface-to-air missile is the infrared-guided MBDA Mistral in
a portable configuration. A twin launcher will be deployed on the deck or on a land site. The
missile is armed with a three kilogram warhead and has a target range of four kilometres.
The ship’s gun, for deployment against aircraft and other vessels, is the Oto Melara 76mm Super
Rapid. The gun has a burst-firing rate of 120rpm, firing six kilograms shells to a range of 16km.
In 2020, the Norwegian Government decided to further upgrade the Skjold-class vessels,
partially to compensate for the loss of the frigate Helge Ingstad. The improvement would
take place between 2020 and 2024, permitting the Skjold-class to remain up-to-date through
to 2030 when replacement vessels were envisaged under terms of the Government's defence plan.