During the Cold War, the U.S. Navy's ship layout reached its peak, with a series of capital ships such as Spruance-class destroyers, Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, Ticonderoga-class cruisers, and Perry-class frigates coming out one after another to undertake complex tasks, and Perry-class frigates were mainly responsible for fleet anti-submarine. However, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US Navy was faced with the dilemma of the development of ships and fell into a situation of lack of challenges.
Although at the beginning of the 21st century, the U.S. Navy had more than 20 Ticonderoga-class cruisers and more than 60 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, becoming the most powerful navy in the world at that time, with the comprehensive rise of the naval strength of emerging countries such as China and India, the U.S. Navy gradually lost its advantage. In contrast, the PLA Navy developed even more rapidly during the same period.
China has successively developed a series of capital ships, including the 054A, 052D, 056 and 055 series, and the number has begun to catch up rapidly. Taking the 052D series destroyers and 054 series frigates currently in service and under construction as examples, the number has reached more than 30 and 40 respectively. At the same time, it is clear that the original ship structure of the US Navy is not capable of coping with the new challenges.
In particular, more than 20 Ticonderoga-class cruisers have been retired one after another, so that the US Navy is facing the problem of insufficient number of ships, and more than 60 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are not up to all tasks. Therefore, in the context of the new era, the US Navy urgently needs to strengthen the research and development and construction of ships in order to maintain its leading position in the world's naval construction.
The US Navy has always had a lack of tasks in terms of anti-submarine and ship all-rounders, especially given the high cost of using Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. Therefore, in order to re-establish its absolute dominance, the United States launched the Constellation-class frigate project in 2020 and began construction in 2023.
According to the plan, the United States will build a total of 46 Constellation-class frigates, which can be called a smaller version of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and at the same time a formidable competitor in the future. The Constellation-class frigate uses a diesel-electric-fuel combined power propulsion system, equipped with gas turbines, propulsion motors, diesel generators, and auxiliary propulsion systems.
In terms of detection radar, it is equipped with 3 AN SPY-6 phased array radar systems, 1 NGSSR sea search radar and an AN SLQ-32(V)6 electronic warfare system. In addition, the ship has installed four groups of 8-cell MK41 vertical launch systems with a total of 32 cells, which can launch "Standard" SM-2 long-range anti-aircraft missiles, "Tomahawk" land-attack cruise missiles and VLA rocket-assisted torpedoes.
One MK-110 57mm single-barreled naval gun is installed in the front part of the ship, one 21-unit "Ram" short-range anti-aircraft missile system is installed in the rear, and four four-unit NSM anti-ship missile systems are installed in the center. Judging by the configuration, the Constellation-class frigate can be seen as the benchmark for the main frigate. Since the tonnage of the Constellation-class frigate exceeds 7,000 tons, it has a strong range and endurance.
According to the plan, the US Navy will continue to build Arleigh Burke Type 2A and Arleigh Burke Type 3 destroyers, with a total of more than 40 destroyers, gradually replacing the Ticonderoga-class cruisers and the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers of earlier models. With the addition of 46 Constellation-class frigates, the US Navy has basically established an absolute dominant position. However, the speed of construction is still an issue.
In the seventies and eighties of the last century, the US Navy was able to get three shipyards to start work at the same time, and a maximum of eight Perry-class frigates were completed per year. However, with the end of the Cold War, the scale of the US shipbuilding industry has decreased sharply, resulting in severe challenges in the construction of a series of new ships. Currently, the United States plans to build four Constellation-class frigates per year, but the actual pace is about two per year.
At the same time, in 2023, China launched two Type 054B frigates. Our Type 054B frigate is a new generation of corvettes, which is more powerful than the previous Type 054A frigates. Its tonnage has increased to more than 6,000 tons, which is on par with the main frigates of the navies of Europe and the United States. In terms of radar systems, the Type 054B frigate uses a new double-sided rotating S-band active phased array radar, located on the main mast.
The middle part of the ship adopts an integrated mast, which is equipped with an X-band small fast reverse phased array radar, which has been applied to China's Type 075 amphibious assault ships and Type 052DG destroyers. In addition, the electronics of the Type 054B frigates have reached the level of equivalence among the top European destroyers frigates.
In terms of **, the Type 054B frigate received a new 100mm naval gun instead of the same 57mm naval gun as the Constellation-class frigate. In addition, the ship retains 4 groups of 8 units with a total of 32 units of vertical hair system, which is the same as the 052D destroyer and Type 054A frigate. In general, the practical tasks of the Type 054B frigate are similar to those of the Constellation-class frigates, mainly including anti-submarine, taking into account medium-range air defense, and other complex tasks.
Therefore, in the future ocean game, these two main frigates will often encounter. It is worth mentioning that the Type 054B frigate of the People's Liberation Army can also carry J-15 carrier-based aircraft, which demonstrates the strength and rapid development of China's Navy.