Countries by number of corvettes

If you are looking for a comparison that will show you the number of the smallest, the fastest warships in the arsenal of people, then you should definitely take a closer look at corvettes. These are the smallest and the most agile naval ships. Obviously, they are still considered to be warships as a result of their attributes. It is a modern class of ships that, in some cases, can be of moderate size. Obviously, as it happens in almost every type of naval vessel, corvettes can distinguish in terms of their use. The two most basic ways of using corvettes is to use them as anti-submarine vessels or vessels intended to fight surface ships with the use of guided missiles.

A corvette is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper warship. In modern terms, a corvette is typically between 500 tons and 2000 tons although recent designs may approach 3000 tons. They are usually armed with medium- and small-caliber guns, surface-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles, and antisubmarine weapons. Many can accommodate a small or medium antisubmarine warfare helicopter.

Although the first corvettes appeared in the XIX century, their biggest popularity falls on the Times of the Second World War. Back then their primary use was to escort convoys that transported goods. Of course the best way to eliminate such convoys and transport ships was to use submarines. This is why a lot of corvettes from these times were equipped with arsenal that could deal with submarines. Such corvettes weighed from 500 up to 2000 tons.

In modern times not every country makes use of corvettes, especially if such vessel in modern navy can weigh up to 3,000 tons. In such cases, a lot of nations typically use the term “small frigate”, since such warships can be considered as such. Due to its typically small size, corvettes are most often used by countries that border with small seas, such as for example the Baltic Sea or the Persian Gulf. This is also why the record of the largest amount of corvettes owned by country belongs to Russia.

Noteworthy is also the fact in many cases corvettes are a great budget-friendly solutions for smaller and poorer nations. Of course because of that, many modern nations design, develop, and build their own corvettes that can be as universal as frigates. As a result, for many nations these are the most basic and the most common class of warship that is nowadays used.