The Nakhoda Ragam class is a class of corvette

Corvette

A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...

 offshore patrol vessels originally built for the Royal Brunei Navy

Royal Brunei Navy

The Royal Brunei Navy is the naval defence force of Brunei Darussalam. It is a small but relatively well-equipped force whose main responsibility is to conduct search and rescue missions and to deter and defend the Brunei waters against attack mounted by sea-borne forces.The Royal Brunei Navy was...

 and named after the lead ship of the class, in turn named after a legendary Malay seafarer. Three vessels were built by BAE Systems Marine

BAE Systems Marine

BAE Systems Marine Ltd. was the shipbuilding subsidiary of BAE Systems, formed in 1999, which manufactured the full range of naval ships; nuclear submarines, frigates, destroyers, amphibious ships....

 (now BAE Systems Surface Ships):

• KDB Nakhoda Ragam
• KDB Bendhara Sakam
• KDB Jerambak

The contract was awarded to GEC-Marconi in 1995 and the ships, a variant of the F2000 design, were launched in January 2001, June 2001 and June 2002 at the then BAE Systems Marine

BAE Systems Marine

BAE Systems Marine Ltd. was the shipbuilding subsidiary of BAE Systems, formed in 1999, which manufactured the full range of naval ships; nuclear submarines, frigates, destroyers, amphibious ships....

 yard at Scotstoun

Scotstoun

Scotstoun is a historic district of Glasgow, Scotland, west of Glasgow City Centre. It is bounded by Yoker and Knightswood to the west, Victoria Park, Broomhill and Whiteinch to the east, Jordanhill to the north and the River Clyde to the south...

, Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

. The customer refused to accept the vessels and the contract dispute became the subject of arbitration

Arbitration

Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, where the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound...

. When the dispute was settled, the vessels were handed over to Royal Brunei Technical Services in June 2007. In 2007, Brunei contracted the German Lürssen

Lürssen

Lürssen is a German shipbuilding company based in Bremen-Vegesack.Lürssen designs and constructs yachts, naval ships and special vessels...

 ship yard to find a new customer for the three ships. As of 13/3/2011 the vessels remain unsold and are laid up at Barrow-in-Furness

Barrow-in-Furness

Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England. It lies north of Liverpool, northwest of Manchester and southwest from the county town of Carlisle...

, despite previous rumours that they were to be sold to Algeria

Algerian National Navy

The Algerian National Navy is the naval branch of the Military of Algeria. The navy operates from 3 bases at Algiers, Annaba and Mers-el-Kébir on the Mediterranean coast....

.

The ships are armed with MBDA Exocet

Exocet

The Exocet is a French-built anti-ship missile whose various versions can be launched from surface vessels, submarines, helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. Hundreds were fired in combat during the 1980s.-Etymology:...

 Block II anti-ship missiles and MBDA Seawolf

Sea Wolf missile

Sea Wolf is a naval guided missile system designed and built by BAC, later to become British Aerospace Dynamics . It is an automated point-defence weapon system designed as a final line of defence against both sea-skimming and high angle anti-ship missiles and aircraft...

air defence missiles. The main gun is an Oto Melara 76mm; the ship also carries two torpedo tubes, two 30mm remote weapon stations and has a landing spot for a helicopter.

External links

• Clydebuilt ships Picture