Countries by number of frigates

When it comes to the core of many fleets, frigates are the most often met medium and large size ships in the modern fleets. Of course we should remember that we cannot confuse vessels with a type of sails. Frigates are present in the history of a mankind from XVI century. Back then, these were quite simple and wind-powered vessels. However, with time their purpose as well as constructions changed. When it comes to chronological order of frigates, we can name regular sail ships of mixed size, armoured frigates, frigates in the form of escort ships, and the most modern type of frigate, which is rocket frigate.

To put it simply, in modern navies, frigates are used to protect other warships and merchant-marine ships. Nearly all modern frigates are equipped with some form of offensive or defensive missiles, and as such are rated as guided-missile frigates. Multi-role frigates are designed for navies needing warships deployed in a variety of situations that a general frigate class would not be able to fulfill and not requiring the need for deploying destroyers. Some frigates are specialised for anti-submarine warfare. New classes of ships similar to corvettes are optimized for high-speed deployment and combat with small craft rather than combat between equal opponents.

However, we should focus on less emphasized characteristics of frigates to understand its importance in modern fleet. But before we do that, let us take a look at the history of frigates. Since we are not interested in early style of frigates, where everything was powered with winds and sails, let us start from the times of the Second World War, where frigates became one of the most important escort ships. They focused on protecting convoys and other naval vessels that couldn’t defend themselves from submarine attacks and from airplanes. After the war; however, a lot of things changed with the introduction of rocket frigates.

These types of frigates use missile launchers as well as anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles. They are also heavier than escort ships we saw during World War II. Still, from the moment they appeared, namely from the 1960s, they managed to become the most basic element of the fleet. It is all thanks to theirs universality.

This is also why we strongly believe learning the exact number of frigates every country possesses can be important. Of course besides numeric values, we decided to implement charts that show you how many frigates the world powers have. Thanks to these percentages, we can see how huge naval dominance some countries would have if the world conflict had occurred. Every statistics and every data you can see down below comes from a legitimate source. As a result, you can compare various countries without worrying about any misleading.