We toured the heavily-armed and stealthy warship that may be the US Navy's next frigate

Business Insider ^ | JUN 13, 2018 | Daniel Brown

[sukhoi-30mki]

Fincantieri

The US Navy announced in February that five types of warships would compete for a bid to supply the branch with 20 next-generation guided-missile frigates.

And last week, we got to tour one of those five frigates: Fincantieri's FREMM Alpino, a ship outfitted with anti-submarine systems.

"The world has changed certainly in the last two years when you take look at what Russia is doing and what China is doing," retired Admiral Rick Hunt, who now works for Fincantieri, told Business Insider on the ship's bridge. "And frankly, I think that means we got to up the game of the high-low mix that we have traditionally held," Hunt said. "We got our Aegis fleet of destroyers and cruisers," Hunt said, but "we need to have kind of a smaller utility ship that covers down on the rest, that gives you forward presence, independent ops, escort capability ... and value added to the larger carrier strike groups."

And that is exactly what the heavily-armed Alpino can provide, Hunt said, adding that it's a frigate with "destroyer-like capabilities."

Check it out below:

The Alpino is about 472 feet long, about 65 feet wide, has about a 17 foot-draft, and a total displacement of 6,500 tons.

[Kickass Conservative]

>>>I can’t believe the people on Free Republic want foreiners to supply our warships! How fat down this place has gone<<<

Yeah, and screw using Spellcheck. We is Mercans. #;^)

[central_va]

Have ever been in the Navy? The Nevada weighs 31K tons which is small by BB standards. Length means nothing.

[Spktyr]

Marine Corps brat, never was in the Navy. The DDG1000 is HUGE for a destroyer and it’s not even that much larger than its immediate predecessors.

But if it’s displacement you want, the Zumwalt, a modern destroyer, displaces more than both the Deutschland-class pre-dreadnought battleships and the much-feared Deutschland-class “pocket battleships.” Both of which fought in WW2. My point is still intact.