Roussen-class fast attack craft


The Roussen class is a seven-strong class of British-design fast attack missile boats improved and customized for the Hellenic Navy, also known as Super Vita. The class is named after its lead ship, which in turn is named after Lt Nikolaos Roussen, a World War II submarines officer who was killed in the suppression of the Navy mutiny in April 1944.

History

The modernization program of the Hellenic Navy in the late 1990s included the construction of three modern missile boats and was signed in January 2000. The construction took place at the Elefsis Shipyards, while Vosper Thornycroft provided the necessary design, logistical support and equipment for the ships.
On August, 2003 and September, 2008 options that provided the acquisition of four more vessels were activated with the last ship to be commissioned in 2015.
On September 25, 2008, a 299 million Euro contract was signed between the Greek State and the Elefsis Shipyards for the construction of the two remaining vessels of the class, P-78 and P-79. According to the contract, the delivery times of the two FACs were 46 months from the start of the contract for the first ship and 52 months for the second. Due to serious financial problems of the shipyards and the Greek state, there has been a 10 year delay in the construction of the two ships. In 2016 the Greek government decided that the Hellenic Navy should undertake the completion of the construction of the two vessels. The plan was that the two vessels should have been launched not later then 18 months after the signing of the contract and that they should have been delivered in the navy not later then 2019. In 2017, in a statement of Deputy Defense Minister D. Vitsas there were hopes that the construction would have finished in mid 2018. Finally, on June 1, 2018, the launch of the 6th Super Vita P-78 took place at the Elefsina Shipyards. There was no information about the progress of construction of P-79. According to some reports the acceptance of the two ships in the navy was not programmed to happen before 2020. In April 2020, there were articles in Greek defence news sites mentioning that in May 2020, it was expected that the 6th vessel would conduct the final tests at sea and would be delivered for acceptance into the Hellenic Navy. Finally with a ceremony held 28th July 2020, the 6th vessel was officially commissioned into the Hellenic Navy. There were no announcements about the date of possible acceptance of the 7th vessel but it is probably not going to happen before 2021.

Design

The plans of the Roussen Class missile boats are based on smaller Vita class boats serving in the navies of Qatar, as well as similar size vessels built for Oman and other countries.
The hull is made of steel and the superstructure is made of Aluminum, while the company Vosper Thornycroft provides the electricity transmission system, the management board, electrical equipment and systems countermeasures.

Weapons and electronics

The main armament of the ships are eight Exocet MM40 Block II/III anti-ship missiles with a range of up to 70/180 km respectively. They are complemented by an Otobreda 76 mm naval gun in the bow and two smaller 30mm cannons as secondary weapons located on the ships' superstructure. The vessel's primary anti-air and anti-missile weapon is the RIM-116 RAM missile system which comprises an on board Mk-31 launcher with 21 projectiles, as well as the DR3000 and AR900 electronic support measures systems and the Mk36 SRBOC decoy launcher.
The sensor suite responsible for the timely identification and homing of surface and air targets includes the MW08 3D G-band surveillance radar, the Mirador electro-optical target tracker and the Scout MkII low probability of intercept radar which is being controlled by the TACTICOS combat management system.

Ships

The ships of these class are named after junior officers of the Hellenic Navy who have been killed in action. They are:
Pennant
number		Greek
name		Transliterated
name		NamesakeBuilderLaunchedCommissionedStatus
P 67Υποπλοίαρχος ΡουσσένYpoploiarchos RoussenLieutenant Nikolaos Roussen, killed during the suppression of the naval mutiny of 1944.Elefsis Shipyards12 November 200220 December 2005In service
P 68Υποπλοίαρχος ΔανιόλοςYpoploiarchos DaniolosLieutenant Antonios Daniolos, executive officer of the submarine, killed when the ship was sunk by the Germans on 16 November 1942Elefsis Shipyards8 July 200322 February 2006In service
P 69Υποπλοίαρχος ΚρυσταλλίδηςYpoploiarchos KrystallidisLieutenant Vyron Kristallidis, crew member of the auxiliary ship Pleias, killed when the ship was sunk by the Germans on 22 April 1941Elefsis Shipyards6 April 20048 May 2006In service
P 70Υποπλοίαρχος ΓρηγορόπουλοςYpoploiarchos GrigoropoulosLieutenant Michail Grigoropoulos, executive officer of the destroyer, killed when the ship was sunk by the Germans on 26 September 1943Elefsis Shipyards20 December 20051 October 2010In service
P 71Υποπλοίαρχος ΡίτσοςYpoploiarchos RitsosLieutenant Nikolaos Ritsos, killed on 16 November 1912 as commander of a naval infantry company during the capture of Chios from the OttomansElefsis Shipyards6 October 200610 January 2015In service
P 78Υποπλοίαρχος ΚαραθανάσηςYpoploiarchos KarathanasisLieutenant Christodoulos Karathanasis, killed on 31 January 1996, during the Imia crisis, when the AB 212 helicopter PN 21 crashed into the seaElefsis Shipyards1 June 201828 July 2020In service
P 79Υποπλοίαρχος ΒλαχάκοςYpoploiarchos VlachakosLieutenant Panagiotis Vlachakos, killed on 31 January 1996, during the Imia crisis, when the AB 212 helicopter PN 21 crashed into the seaElefsis Shipyards2020 Under construction

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