There is this “contemporary“ take on modern designations by @Nilgiri and here is his post if you haven’t seen it yetWhen you look at the specifications of the Pakistani MILGEM ”corvettes” , you can’t help wonder why they are still called “corvettes”.
The width of the ships have increased by 0.4m.
The length of it is 108.2 metres instead of 99 metres.
Hence the weight has become 2985 tons instead of 2300 tons.
They are more like a frigate than a corvette.
One can not help wonder if these 3 new frigates of the ISTIF class can be stretched like the Pakistani ships, to make them closer to the tf4500 , some of us seem to aspire to?
@Anmdt ?
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More than tonnage, it is endurance that navies tend to prefer to use when delineating between corvette--->frigate---->destroyer.
Ref: https://defencehub.live/threads/out...e-50-ship-fleet-vision.1942/page-2#post-15925
This is why you can get some overlap as you have ships that pack tonnage with more weapons/sensors/armour rather than fuel capacity.
So a 3000 ton ship with lot of the former over the later can still be a corvette to that navy (as this is what determines its operational reach say at peak wartime when all fuel ships have to be stretched and prioritised).
Whereas another 3000 ton ship can be a frigate as it forgoes the former for more fuel to stay out at sea longer and endure in its mission longer (without support or return to base etc).
A similar thing happens between frigates and destroyers. Some very heavy frigates are out there these days (heavier than many destroyers in other navies), but they are frigates to that navy given the role/endurance profile they occupy in the force structure.
My understanding is that modern navies are more keen to designate warships around two components.
Punch power (Sensors, weapons load) vs endurance (operational range with necessary hit power)
So, in PN case, the addition of VLS might explain the weight and size increase of the ship thus opting for punch over endurance.
it’s more like purpose rather than tonnage and size in definition, I think.
I like to think these little big hitters as “pocket” frigates (yeah, I totally invented the term myself )