The rhk111 Military and Arms Page: Jose Rizal class Frigate Drawing comparisons to Foreign and other PN Ships

Shipbucket¹ is a website that archives ship and aircraft drawings in a uniform scale and style. They allow anybody to contribute drawings as long as they register on the website and submit drawings that conform to the standards they set.

Recently they came up with a drawing of the Philippine Navy’s (PN) newest Frigate, the BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150), and thus I saw some opportunity to compare it with some interesting ships so we can see its size and shape relative to those vessels.

Along the way I will also introduce a little bit of trivia and information about the vessels. This will be the first of a two-part blog, in this one I will be comparing the Jose Rizal ships to other ships of the PN and to the Kamorta class Corvette.

’Shipbucket Crediting Rules’
First, just some explanations and references to comply with the Shipbucket website’s crediting rules.² All the drawings I used below were originally archived on Shipbucket, and among the changes I made to the original drawings are:
- Moved texts closer to the ship drawings;
- Combined drawings;
- Enlarged and cropped the resulting drawings;
- Removed the Phalanx Close In Weapons System (CIWS) and RIM-162 Evolved Seas Sparrow Missile (ESSM) from the BRP Jose Rizal drawings;

In cases where only a waterline drawing is available of the ship that I am comparing to, I removed the underwater hull on the Jose Rizal ships for fairer comparison.

You can access the original drawings here:
* Jose Rizal class Frigate
* Kamorta class Corvette
* Del Pilar class Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV)
* Tarlac class Landing Dock (LD)
* Jacinto class Patrol Vessel
* Pohang class Corvette
* Kalantiaw class Patrol Vessel

’Jose Rizal Shipbucket Image’³
Below is nice image of the BRP Jose Rizal courtesy of the Shipbucket website, you can see the really clean lines of the ship.

The two Jose Rizal class ships are based on the HDF-2500 design and are made by the South Korean company Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI). They are 107.5 m long and both are scheduled for delivery in 2020.⁴

The ships are armed with one 76 mm Super Rapid (SR) main gun, one SMASH 30 mm secondary gun, four SSM-700K C-Star Anti-Ship Missiles (AShM) and four Mistral short ranged Surface to Air Missiles (SAM). Fitted For But Not With (FFBNW) or for possible future installation are a CIWS and an 8-cell Vertical Launch System (VLS).

’Kamorta vs. Jose Rizal’
The images below shows the comparison in size between the Kamorta class Corvette⁵ of the Indian Navy (IN) and Jose Rizal class Frigate of the PN. As we can see the Kamorta ships at 109 m in length are a bit longer than the Jose Rizal vessels.

The Kamorta design actually won the bidding for the new Frigates of the PN but was later disqualified due to its Indian manufacturer Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) not being able to meet the Net Financial Contracting Capacity (NFCC) requirement during the Post Qualification (PQ). Hence the project ended up with HHI's HDF-2500 design instead.

The Kamortas started service with the IN in 2014, and so far three of it has been commissioned into service. The ships are armed with a 76 mm SR as its main gun and has two AK630M CIWS at the Stern. So far these ships have not yet been armed with Guided Missiles in the IN service.

’Del Pilar vs. Jose Rizal’
The next images below shows the comparison in size between the Gregorio del Pilar class Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV)⁶ and Jose Rizal class Frigates of the PN. At 115 m long, the Del Pilars are longer than the Jose Rizal ships.

We can also see the external design priorities of a 1960s made ship (the Del Pilar) and a recently designed vessel like the Jose Rizal class. The Rizals have cleaner lines which helps reduce their radar signature.

The three Del Pilar ships are former Hamilton class Cutters of the United States Coast Guard (USCG), and since their first arrival in 2011 and until the arrival of the Jose Rizal ships in 2020, they are our largest and most modern Naval Surface Combatants.

And even after the arrival of the Jose Rizal Frigates, the Del Pilars will remain the largest Naval Surface Combatants of the PN unless a bigger ship comes along. The Del Pilars are armed with one 76 mm Compact main gun and two Mk 38 25 mm secondary guns (on only two ships so far).

Tarlac vs. Rizal’
The images below shows the comparison in size between the Tarlac class Landing Docks (LD)⁷ and Jose Rizal class Frigates of the PN. The two Tarlac class ships are currently the biggest ships of the PN at 123 m long. Both the Tarlac and Jose Rizal class vessels are of recent design, hence their relatively clean lines.

The Tarlac ships are made by the Indonesian company PT Pal and first entered service in 2016. As a Transport ship it can carry up to 500 Troops, two Landing Crafts, four Tanks, four Trucks and two light Armored Vehicles.

’Jacinto vs. Jose Rizal’
The images below shows the comparison in size between the Jacinto class Patrol Vessels⁸ and Jose Rizal class Frigates of the PN. As we can see the Jacintos are quite small, at 63 m just over half the length of the Jose Rizal ships.

The Jacintos were the former Peacock class ships of the Royal Navy (RN) stationed in Hong Kong, and for a time from their transfer in 1997 up to the arrival of the Del Pilar class ships in 2011, they were the most modern and arguably most capable ships of the PN.

The Jacintos are armed with a 76 mm Compact main gun and a secondary M242 Bushmaster 25 mm cannon at the Stern on a Seahawk mount.

’Pohang vs. Jose Rizal’
The waterline images below shows the comparison in size between the Pohang class Corvette⁹ of the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) and Jose Rizal class Frigates of the PN. As we can see, the Pohangs are smaller than our Jose Rizal ships at only 88 m in length.

The Pohang ships were first commissioned in 1984 and a total of 24 ships were built for the ROKN. South Korea has donated so far one vessel to the Philippines, and it is scheduled for arrival as of this writing in August 2019.¹⁰ The Pohangs are heavily armed with guns with two 76 mm Compact guns and two Twin Fast 40 equipped with twin 40 mm/L70 caliber guns.

However, Admiral Empedrad in his speech during the PN’s 121st Anniversary last June 2019 mentioned that the ships will be armed with twin 30 mm guns,¹¹ so it is possible that the Twin Fast Forty has been replaced with Emerlec 30 which consists of twin 30 mm guns that equipped the earlier versions of the Pohang ships.

Either that or the Admiral just mistook the caliber of the guns. Some earlier Western sources reported that the Chungju was armed with RGM-84 Harpoon AShMs, but other sources say it wasn’t. At any rate, the news reports only mention the guns as the ones that will be included with the ships during the transfer. It may still be equipped with similar missiles as long as we fund it, though.

The Pohangs’ many modern guns give it good protection at close range, but it doesn’t have facilities for a Helicopter and it doesn’t have options for a VLS for SAMs like our Jose Rizal Frigates. But still, I think it is a very welcome addition to our Navy, I hope we can get more, and hopefully we can install AShM capability on it in the future.

’Kalantiaw vs. Jose Rizal’
The images below shows the comparison in size between the Kalantiaw class Patrol Vessels¹² ¹³ and Jose Rizal class Frigates of the PN. The Kalantiaw ships at 93 m long are smaller than our Jose Rizal Frigates.

The Kalantiaw class ships were first commissioned into service in 1943 during World War Two as the Cannon class Destroyer Escorts by the United States Navy (USN). The first of the Kalantiaw ships was transferred to the PN in 1967, and for more than four decades, these ships served as the PN’s flagships until the arrival of the first of the Del Pilar class ships in 2011.

The last of the Kalantiaws, the BRP Rajah Humabon (PS-11) was finally retired in 2018, and by that time they had served in various navies for around 75 years.

On paper the Kalantiaws look very heavily armed, bristling with guns with three Mk 22 3”/50 caliber guns, another three Mk 1 40 mm/L60 caliber guns and eight Mk 10 20 mm caliber guns. But the big guns were only manually loaded, and all were either only manually aimed or equipped with antiquated Fire Control Systems.

Nevertheless these ships served us very well for so long, good to see that they were all finally given the rest that they so well deserve.

'Parting Shot'
Over the decades we have come a long way from the late 1960s with the Kalantiaw class ships, then to the late 1990s with the Jacinto class vessels and then the early 2010s with the arrival of the Del Pilar class ships.

It took a very long time, but as we enter a new decade, our navy is about to finally have its first modern, missile armed large vessels in the Jose Rizal class Frigates.

Notice also that among the ships above, the Jose Rizal vessels are the first ones we acquired brand new. The other major naval vessels we had were at least second hand when we got them.

Revision History:
(0) July 21, 2019: Originally posted.
(1) June 7, 2020: Noted conflicting reports of the arming of the Chungju with AShMs; Changed HHI’s designation of the Jose Rizal class Frigates to the HDF-2500.

SOURCES: