Use of composites in the Visby Class Stealth Corvette

The full composite Visby Class Stealth Corvette was delivered from Kockums AB to the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) in early June 2002. Many years of intense research and development work carried out by engineers and officers lay behind the creation of the worlds biggest and most stealth adopted CFRP-ship this far. Initially it was proposed building the ship in GRP-sandwich but it was soon realised that GRP-sandwich would not meet the requirements of low weight, low signatures and electro magnetic shielding. This paper deals with the use of carbon composites in the Visby Class Corvette and some of the experiences gained and difficulties that have been faced in the design and construction phase of the project.