After internet searching no current, precise, detailed, list of Naval Group (NG) specifications (specs) for the Orkas have been located. Instead I've drawn together (and sometimes inferred) specs from a variety of internet sources (see some links in the Table below).
NG has limited the publication of the Orkas' projected specs as keeping the specs secret for as long as politically possible is standard in the submarine industry for National Security and Commercial-in-Confidence reasons. Detailed specs would reflect some of the Netherlands’s more secret needs. NG and the Netherlands will gradually release more spec details.
Now NG has won the Walrus replacement competition on the basis of the March 15, 2024 decision of the Dutch Council of Ministers. But the lower House of the Dutch Parliament, from debate beginning March 18, 2024, still needs to approve this decision. Best description of political situation is from the Netherland's Jaime Karremannthe founder of Marineschips.nl.
Now NG has won the Walrus replacement competition on the basis of the March 15, 2024 decision of the Dutch Council of Ministers. But the lower House of the Dutch Parliament, from debate beginning March 18, 2024, still needs to approve this decision. Best description of political situation is from the Netherland's Jaime Karremannthe founder of Marineschips.nl.
Specs for preceding Walrus-class and Barracuda-class variants help. Also see Wikipedia's Orka website.
ORKA SPECIFICATIONS TABLE
Figures as at March 16, 2024 | |
Class overview | |
Name: | Naval Group Orka-class for the Netherlands. "Variant chain" is Barracuda to Shortfin to Blacksword to Orka-class. |
Operator: | Envisaged only for the Royal Netherlands Navy so far. |
4 planned | Netherlands requires 2 commissioned (Orka and Zvaardvis) by 2034–2035. Then the 2 others (Barracuda and Tijgerhaai) before 2040. |
Preceded by: | Walrus class . |
Pressure hull steel | Likely to be 100 HLES high-yield pressure hull steel, see US HY-100 and HY-130 . Also see Submarine Matters article Table that uses a Japanese document. |
Officers and Crew | Between 35 and 52 standard + around 10 divers/special forces (depending on mission) |
Speed/range and Endurance | 14 knots (surfaced), 22 knots (submerged). Likely 12,000 nautical miles. All improvements over Walrus specs. Endurance at sea 65 days depending on fuel, food and crew exhaustion. Typical mission profiles may be: Transit + Ops Netherlands to Dutch Caribbean and return. Transit + Ops Netherlands to Arabian Sea and return. North Sea and Arctic Ocean against Russia. |
Displacement: | Approx 2,950 tonnes (surfaced) & 3,300 tonnes (submerged) |
Length | |
Diameter (Beam) | |
Height | ? meters (hull + fin/sail) |
Pumpjet, Propeller | Pumpjet unlikely. Likely usual skewback propeller |
Acoustic stealth | Rubber/elastic mountings for moving and reverberating parts inside. Noise cancelers. |
Capable of projecting | Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) Underwater decoys (against torpedoes and mobile mines) |
On hull behind fin/sail. | Dry dock shelter for divers, diver delivery vehicles and large displacement UUVs (XLUUVs) |
Weapons | 4 [?] × 533 mm (21.0 in) tubes. If like Walrus 20 heavyweight (HW) shots. Unknown. If Walrus's part US Combat System is transferred then Walrus weapons Mk 48 HWTs, Harpoon SSMs, even Tomahawk land attack SLCMs and Stonefish mines. If French Combat System and Weapons then F21 Artemis HWT, Exocet SM39 Mod2 ASMs, MdCN land-attack, FG29 multi-influence mines. SAMs? |
Sensors | Mainly French (NG-Thales) |
Combat System | US companies (if transferred from Walrus design) and/or French NG-Thales (combat system being the network of sensors, databases, consoles, optronic masts and weapons costing about one third of the upfront price of a submarine) |
Max Depth | 300+ meters |
Exterior stealth | |
Propulsion: | 4 x MTU 16V 396 SE or 4 x MTU 12V 4000 diesels. No AIP. Jeumont Electric Motors (Jeumont now subsidiary of NG-Framatome) Saft Lithium-ion batteries also see on the LIBs |
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