Al Dammam (816) is an of the Royal Saudi Navy.
Development and design
The frigate Al Dammam, is an expanded anti-air version of the French , displacing about and extended to in length.
The ships' combat system, produced by Armaris (a Direction des Constructions Navales/Thales Group joint venture), is armed with Aster 15 Surface to Air Missiles (SAM) launched from SYLVER vertical launchers (SYLVER - SYstème de Lancement VERtical). As with the La Fayette class, the primary offensive weapon is the anti-surface Exocet missile. The ships' main gun is the OTO Melara 76 mm super-rapid firing gun replacing the modèle 100 TR automatic gun of the La Fayette. There are also four aft-mounted torpedo tubes, firing DTCN F17 heavyweight anti-submarine torpedoes. Al Riyadh is capable of a maximum speed of ~ with a maximum range of .
Construction and career
Al Dammam was launched on 7 September 2002 at the DCNS shipyard in Lorient and commissioned on 23 October 2004.
Al Riyadh-class frigates
Three Al Riyadh-class frigates have been built: Al Riyadh (812) the lead ship commissioned in 2002 Makkah (814) commissioned in 2004 Al Dammam (816) commissioned in 2004
