By Tom Lewis*
The Navy of Singapore is the most advanced force in South-East Asia. Tiny by comparison with its near neighbours, it nevertheless is the most capable in terms of efficiency. When a Republic of Singapore Navy launches a missile, it launches and goes bang when it should.
RSN vessels are clean, and don’t consistently leak – most SE Asian naval ships are the reverse. The Singaporeans routinely deploy long distances, and stay there when they reach their destination, sometimes enduing for months. No other SE Asian navy does that. What makes this naval force the local best?
Dating from 1967, the RSN began as a patrol boat unit, just a little while after Singapore emerged as an emerging nation on 9 August 1965. To understand the situation needs, one only looks at a map to understand the new country’s threats.
The situation then was not much different from now: the tiny island state faced possible threats from the new Malaysia and Indonesia, both having emerged from the wreckage of WWII. The old colonial empires were largely gone, although the Vietnam War was still raging. Further north the looming might of China might one day also be of consequence.
Singapore at first looked at itself as needing friends, and needing only a patrol force for its waters. Over time it saw the need to stand alone, and began developing a strategy which would see it not just fighting over and near its own territory but punching out far beyond. To that end the deterrent of submarines and anti-ship missiles – coupled with long range air force aircraft – would be needed.
Today the RSN has all of that and more.
Main force
The Formidable class frigates are the primary surface combatants of the RSN. They are a 3,200 tonne warship with a crew of 72 and 19 air detachment personnel. Together with two classes of submarine they give the Navy an expeditionary quality, and a ship which can sink any local opponent in a missile fight.
The six Formidable class frigates entered service from 2007. They are derivatives of the French Navy’s La Fayette-class frigate. Their surface-to-air missile configuration combines the Thales Herakles radar with the Sylver A50 launcher and a mix of MBDA Aster 15 and 30 missiles.
Anti-ship armament includes Boeing Harpoon missiles and an OTO Melara 76 mm gun for surface defence and/or shore bombardment. The Blue Spear sea-and-land attack cruise missile is presently being added to the platforms in a mid-life upgrade program.
The Formidable class operate Sikorsky S-70B naval helicopters, an international derivative of the Sikorsky SH-60B Seahawk. The helicopters feature anti-surface and anti-submarine combat systems. Unusually, the helicopters are part of the 123 squadron of the Royal Singapore Air Force and piloted by their officers.
Second Flotilla – Surface Combatants
The Second Flotilla of the RSN is eight Independence-class littoral mission vessels. These ships have high levels of automation and remote monitoring systems.
The Independence-class are more lightly armed than the Formidables, with an Oto Melara 76mm Super Rapid gun; a 25mm Mk38 Mod2 Typhoon Weapon Station Stabilised gun, and 12 × MICA Vertical Launch System missiles. The MICA is a French anti-air multi-target, all weather, fire-and-forget short to medium-range missile system. The Independence-class also has a helicopter deck for one medium-lift machine.
Amphibious force
The Endurance-class tank landing ships are the largest class of ships in the Navy. Designed and built locally – also by ST Marine – they are fitted with a well dock that can accommodate four landing craft and a flight deck for two medium lift helicopters.
RSS Endurance became the first RSN ship to circumnavigate the globe when it participated in the 2000 International Naval Review in New York City. These four ships have also been much involved in humanitarian and disaster relief operations, for example in East Timor, the Persian Gulf, and in the tsunami-hit Indonesian province of Aceh. The RSN has often been to the fore in such operations along with Australia’s Navy, reflecting badly on other regional navies.
Submarine Service
The submarine service of the RSN is steadily moving on from unassuming beginnings. It was birthed with Royal Swedish Navy boats, the Challenger and Archer class, the first being a Sjöormen-class submarine acquired in 1995 from the Swedish Navy and rechristened the Challenger class.
Two of the Archers remain, but these are being slowly supplanted by the 28-man 70m Invincible-class, being built by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems of Germany. All diesel-electric hunter killer subs of 2000 tons, they also feature an air independent propulsion system for enhanced underwater endurance. The RSN is coy about capabilities, but they have never lost a boat, and routinely these platforms deploy for long submerged passages.
Weapons fit on the submarines is based around eight 21-inch and two 26-inch torpedo tubes, with heavyweight torpedoes, anti-ship missiles and naval mines being capable of being fired. A dedicated horizontal air-lock, to disembark naval special forces teams, is a useful addition. A high level of automation is thought to be fitted.
The RSN also operate their own submarine rescue ship Swift Rescue. Notably, it was deployed in a search for Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 in 2015, and a submarine search mission after the Indonesian Navy’s KRI Nanggala was lost off Bali in 2021. Its ROV took imagery of both aircraft and submarine each time – a remarkable achievement for a small navy.
Corvette love affair
The RSN has had a long-standing force of corvettes, and can almost be said to have a love affair with these small but admittedly attractive ships. The six Victory-class corvettes date from the 1980s, and have been refitted several times since. They were the first step out of being “merely a patrol boat navy”, being fast at over 30 knots, and heavily armed with missiles such as the Barak.
The Victory-class were also the first ships in the RSN to have an anti-submarine capability. This was back in the final flickerings of the Cold War fires, and word has it that Soviet submarines passing through the Malacca Straits – entirely submerged – were a catalyst to going down the corvette road.
The corvettes are scheduled for replacement by multi-role combat vessels – basically frigates – from 2028. Based on the Iver Huitfeldt and the Absalon-class ships, a contracted has been signed with Saab Kockums Sweden and Odense Maritime Technology Denmark, although the build will be local with ST Marine. The introduction of these ships will herald a major upgrade in combatant numbers and size for the Navy.
4 x Bedok-class mine countermeasures vessels
Singapore is well aware it could be vulnerable to mine warfare, and in fact even nearby mine deployment through the Malacca Straits would cripple it financially. The have a small but balanced mine warfare flotilla
The first ship, RSS Bedok, was built by Karlskronavarvet in Sweden based on the Landsort-class design. The remaining three ships were prefabricated in Sweden and transferred to Singapore for final assembly by ST Marine. The ships are constructed of glass reinforced plastic for low magnetic and acoustic signatures.
The RSN also operates the Protector unmanned surface vehicles. They were deployed – together with the Endurance-class landing ships – to the North Persian Gulf for peacekeeping operations in 2005, where they performed surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as force protection duties for more than eight hours at a go.
Anti-piracy patrol group
Primarily in response to piracy operations appearing around the local sea area, the RSN operates a small flotilla of patrol vessels around the Malacca Straits. They are based around four Sentinel-class “maritime security and response vessels.”
These small ships have strengthened bows and fenders for ramming and graunching where necessary, and deploy laser and acoustic weapons as well as a more lethal and usual suite.
Another four more vessels are currently being added to form the Maritime Security and Response Flotilla.
Conclusion
Anyone lucky enough to visit an RSN ship will be impressed. Like Japanese warships, their vessels are spotless, and the Navy place a great emphasis on preventative maintenance. Frequent damage control exercises are carried out with a determined attitude of being trained to the maximum extent possible so a ship can be saved if the need arises. They bring the same attitude to warfare exercising.
In summary, it can be seen that the RSN rely on quality rather than quantity – a marked contrast to other regional navies where possessing a large number of hulls afloat is seen as a sign of prestige and strength. They have also managed to achieve a remarkably good balance between offensive power; ships that can be called upon for disaster relief; and keeping up with modern technology.
The Royal Singapore Navy is one of the most impressive small naval forces in the world.
Dr Tom Lewis OAM is a retired naval officer and a military historian. His latest work is The Secret Submarine, an analysis of the RAAF bomber action that sunk the Japanese I-178 off the coast off NSW in 1943.
