The Al Madinah class are a series of four frigates built in France for the Royal Saudi Navy. The ships are named after Saudi cities. The first, Al Madinah was commissioned in 1985, and the fourth, Taif was commissioned in 1986. All four Al Madinah-class frigates are based in the Red Sea.
Description The frigates were ordered in October 1980 as part of the "Sawari" programme. The Al Madinah class was built in France at the Arsenal de Marine, Lorient (French Government Dockyard and CNIM, La Seyne in the mid-1980s. Their full load displacement is 2,610 tons and they are armed with eight Otomat surface-to-surface missiles, one 8-cell Crotale surface-to-air missile launcher, with 26 missiles total. The vessels are also armed with one 100 mm/55 dual purpose gun, two 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, four torpedo tubes. The frigates have an aft helicopter deck and hangar for use by one Dauphin helicopter.
Ships in class
Ship Builder Laid down Launched Completed 702 Al Madinah Arsenal de Lorient 15 October 198123 April 1983 4 January 1985 704 Hofouf CNIM, La Seyne 14 June 1982 24 June 1983 31 October 1985 706 Abha CNIM, La Seyne 17 December 1982 23 December 1983 4 April 1986 708 Taif CNIM, La Seyne 1 March 1983 25 May 1984 29 August 1986
Service history In August 2013, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the French ODAS agency signed a contract to upgrade and modernize the Al Madinah-class frigates.
On 30 January 2017, Al Madinah was attacked by Yemeni Houthi militia along the western coast of Yemen in the Red Sea. Two Saudi sailors were killed and three injured in the attack. Houthi forces claimed to have targeted the ship with a missile, but Saudi forces claim that the ship was hit by 3 "suicide boats".
Citations
Further reading Also published as