Well this was a welcome surprise for a Tuesday.
Davie released a video about the Steel Cutting Ceremony for the Polar Max today and showed off, for the first time, what Davies proposal for the Continental Defence Corvette might look like.
The video itself doesn't give to much to work off of. There are no numbers, no high-quality looks at the vessel from various angles. However we do know that, similar to the Vard Vigilance and Kongsberg Vanguard, this is a modular family of vessels. How that translates into reality is yet to be seen
For now I will be referring to these two as the Davie 105 and 120 Corvette respectively. We only get one angle of them, and we can't see much of the 120 in this video. However there are a few things that we can get out of them at least.
The 105 features a Bofors 57mm MK3 while the 120 features a very blurry OTO 76mm. Both also have some sort of Mission Bay and Flight Deck. The flight deck looks large enough on both to land a manned helicopter, contrary to CDC only really caring for unmanned aircraft, but without knowing the size of the vessels its a bit hard to judge.
The 105 has a 16-cell VLS installed. No idea for the 120 obviously. It also looks like it has some sort of AsHM canister in the graphic? Hard to tell. The open-top design to the Mission Bay isnt uncommon these days for this kind of design. It provides more flexibility and options for modules by removing the height and space limits that certain things, like AsHM modules require to be out of the way.
120 is harder to get an idea for. We can barely see it and its overall blurry. It appears to have some sort of stern space for modules, or perhaps for deploying unmanned systems. This is a fairly common layout for using the space under the flight Deck for mission payloads. What also looks like space for ROV/AUV beside the mission bay is also visible.
Also something vaguely Millenium-shaped? I dont know. To hard to tell there. It looks like a Millenium.
Thus is all we have to go with at this time. We have no idea if these are just vague concepts or accurate to whats being proposed. Davie also advertises both as Arctic Corvettes, so they're likely to have a PC 6 rating at minimum.
Its interesting how Davie is tackling this (assuming again it is) compared to Vard. For the longest time they were the only real option we had on the table. That isnt a surprise. Thr Navy only just got to the Options Analysis ohase of the project and are still hammering out ehat they fully want.
Both are unique and not at all similar to each other. That'd a nice touch for me. Sadly there isnt much I can say about them. I have zero actual info on hand, so it isnt fully fair to compare the two yet.
However its clear Davie took a more traditional approach to this compared to Vard. That isnt to say that they are unique themselves, quite the contrary. However their design is built around the need to be ‘Arctic-Capable’.
You can see some similarities honestly in the 105 to the Finnish Pohjanmaa-class and in turn some similarities in the both the 105 and 120 to OSKs various designs like the Arctic Frigate proposal. Although this doesnt go nesrly as out there as OSK did.
Not detailed similarities but similar in concept mind you. That isnt necessarily a bad thing. I wont go to much into this concept without some proper looks and information. However its safe to say that this is likely to be Davie offering to CDC.
Seaspan is also working on their own concept. We dont know much on it. This is the second concept after the Vigilance that we have seen, however im told Kongsberg has engaged with Vanguard on the project as well.
CDC is still a ways away. Its still early, bar some major effort to speed it up through the pipeline, one currently occupied by other interests like CPSP. It is nice to finally have a design to show off that isnt Vigilance. That's all we've had for years. This makes the conversation a lot more fun.
Now that its being shown I suspect we will see Davie slowly release info soon. That is unless they play the game of teasing us with references and images.
Please dont do that to me Davie management. I am a boy who lives off info. I am not build for patience and teasing.
120 hull has more of an icebreaking bow than the 105 hull.
Given what they wrote in the subtitles there regarding an amphib that is what the 120 might be.
Now that’s a warship, and tbh it’d seem like this might be in the bag for them even tho we are so early into the project.