Given Canada is planning to procure 15 River Class Destroyers, I thought I would compare such against current NATO naval forces using the criterion of currently commissioned NATO warships in active service, counting frigates and destroyers only (excluding cruisers, corvettes, patrol vessels, reserve ships, and ships still under construction), the NATO members with 15 or more frigates and destroyers (where I may have some of this wrong as it is difficult to have exact numbers ):
United States — 77 destroyers
- Arleigh Burke-class destroyer – 74
- Zumwalt-class destroyer – 3
Total: 77
Note: The three Zumwalt-class ships are commissioned destroyers, although they are undergoing modernization to receive the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic missile system and have limited operational availability during this transition.
Turkey — 17 frigates
- Gabya-class frigate – 8
- Barbaros-class frigate – 4
- Yavuz-class frigate – 4
- İstanbul (İstif)-class frigate – 1
Total: 17
I believe turkey currently fields (together with France and Italy) the second-largest fleet of
frigates in NATO.
France — 17 frigates
France officially classifies all of its principal surface combatants as frigates.
- Aquitaine (FREMM)-class frigate – 8
- Alsace (FREMM-DA)-class frigate – 2
- Horizon-class air-defence frigate – 2
- La Fayette-class frigate – 5
Total: 17
Italy — 17 major surface combatants (including PPA)
Officially, the Italian Navy classifies the
Thaon di Revel (PPA) class as
Multipurpose Offshore Patrol Ships (Pattugliatori Polivalenti d'Altura) rather than frigates. However, the
Light+ and
Full variants are approximately
6,000–7,000 tonnes, equipped with modern sensors, vertical launch systems, and anti-submarine and anti-air warfare capabilities comparable to contemporary light frigates. Because of their size and capability, I included them.
- Carlo Bergamini (FREMM)-class frigate – 10
- Andrea Doria-class destroyer – 2
- Durand de la Penne-class destroyer – 2
- Thaon di Revel (PPA)-class – 3 commissioned
Total: 17 (including the commissioned PPA ships as light frigate-equivalent combatants).
Using this capability-based list, I note four NATO members currently field 15 or more frigates and destroyers (or frigate-equivalent major surface combatants):
- United States — 77
- Turkey — 17
- France — 17
- Italy — 17 (including three Thaon di Revel-class PPAs as frigate-equivalent ships)
The next largest NATO fleets fall below or are very close to the threshold:
- United Kingdom — approximately 14 (6 Type 45 destroyers and 8 active Type 23 frigates, with the total fluctuating as ships retire and Type 26/31 vessels enter service). I believe the UK navy is in the process of modifying its approach for new warships, considering more and more the possibility of large unmanned warships.
- Canada — 12 Halifax-class frigates (currently)
- Germany — 11 frigates
- Spain — 11 frigates
- Greece — approximately 12–14 frigates, depending on the retirement status of individual Elli-class ships
Under this comparison, Canada's planned fleet of 15 River-class destroyers, if such proceeds (and if NATO fleet numbers remain static) would place it, in NATO, among the largest fleets of high-end surface combatants, comparable in size to those of France, Turkey, and Italy. However, given Canada borders 3 oceans, I speculate possibly only about one-half of that number of quantity 15 (maybe 8 or 9 ? ) would be stationed in the Atlantic (Halifax)
Still, this leads me to a view that, in order to take full advantage of such a fleet, it is very important for the RCN to proceed with the Joint Support Ship (JSS) program and other support capabilities, in order to provide Canada with the flexibility to deploy and sustain naval task groups in support of its alliances and its national foreign policy objectives.
