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In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero. He is the chief character in Homer's Iliad. His father was Peleus, ruler of Phthia in Thessaly, his mother the sea-goddess Thetis. When only six years of age he was able to overcome lions and bears. His guardian, Cheiron the Centaur, having declared that Troy could not be taken without his aid, his mother, fearing for his safety, disguised him as a girl, and introduced him among the daughters of Lycomedes of Scyros. Her desire for his safety made her also try to make him invulnerable when a child by anointing him with ambrosia, and again by dipping him in the river Styx, from which he came out proof against wounds, all but the heel, by which she held him.
His place of concealment was discovered by Odysseus (Ulysses), and he promised his assistance to the Greeks against Troy. Accompanied by his close friend, Patroclus, he joined the expedition with a body of followers (Myrmidons) in fifty ships, and occupied nine years in raids upon the towns neighbouring to Troy, after which the siege proper commenced. On being deprived of his prize, the maiden Briseis, by Agamemnon, he refused to take any further part in the war, and
disaster attended the Greeks.
Patroclus now persuaded Achilles to allow him to lead the Myrmidons to battle dressed in his armour, and he having been slain by Hector, Achilles vowed revenge on the Trojans, and forgot his anger against the Greeks. He attacked the Trojans and drove them back to their walls, slaying them in great numbers, chased Hector, who fled before him three times round the walls of Troy, slew him, and dragged his body at his chariot-wheels, but afterwards gave it up to Priam, who came in person to beg for it. He then performed the funeral rites of Patroclus, with which the Iliad closes. He was killed in a battle at the Scasan Gate of Troy by an arrow from the bow of Paris which struck his vulnerable heel. In discussions on the origin of the Homeric poems the term Achilleid is often applied to those books (i. viii. and xi.-xxii.) of the Iliad in which Achilles is prominent, and which some suppose to have formed the original nucleus of the poem.
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In Greek mythology, Thetis was one of the Nereids, the sea-nymphs,. She was the wife of Peleus and the mother of Achilles.
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The Thetis is a German Thetis Class corvette of 575 tons displacement. She is powered by two MAN V84V diesels rated at 6800 shp giving a top speed of 19.5 knots and a range of 4500 km at 15 knots. She carries a crew of 60 ratings and four officers. Armaments consist of two Breda 40 mm/70 (in two twin arrangements) guns; four 324 mm single torpedo tubes and four Honeywell Mk 46 Mod 1 torpedoes; one Bofors 375 mm 4-barrelled trainable anti-ship mortar and twenty rockets; two depth charge rails.
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The Hermes is a German Thetis Class corvette of 575 tons displacement. She is powered by two MAN V84V diesels rated at 6800 shp giving a top speed of 19.5 knots and a range of 4500 km at 15 knots. She carries a crew of 60 ratings and four officers. Armaments consist of two Breda 40 mm/70 (in two twin arrangements) guns; four 324 mm single torpedo tubes and four Honeywell Mk 46 Mod 1 torpedoes; one Bofors 375 mm 4-barrelled trainable anti-ship mortar and twenty rockets; two depth charge rails.
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The Hvidbjornen is a Danish Thetis class multi-role frigate used for fishery protection, surveillance, air-sea rescue, anti-pollution and ice reconnaissance. The armament consists of one Otobreda 76 mm Super Rapid main gun, one or two 20 mm guns from Oerlikon, and depth charge throwers. The Super Rapid gun has a rate of fire of 120 rounds per minute and a range of 16 km. The fire control system is the CelsiusTech 9LV 200 Mk 3. A FLIR Systems Inc AN/AAQ-22 SAFIRE thermal imaging system is used for surveillance. All weapon and equipment systems are connected through the frigates' command, control and communications system. The frigate has a landing deck with a landing spot for a single helicopter. Helicopter support arrangements include a glide path indicator (GPI) and a flight refuelling system.
The hangar is equipped for helicopter maintenance and has capacity to hold a Lynx helicopter without having to fold the helicopter tail. The hangar is fitted with a full width door. The frigate has a double-skinned hull up to two metres above the water-line. The hull is divided by ten bulkheads into watertight compartments such that the vessels are able to sustain hull damage up to eight metres in length without dangerous instability problems. For ship propulsion, one engine-room and the gear-room can be water-filled at the same time, and the frigates will still be able to proceed. The basic hull shape corresponds to that of a high-speed trawler. The frames in the bow and stern are very closely spaced. Amidships the thickness of the outer skin has been increased. The propeller is protected against ice by a bulb in the stern There are no bilge keels, but stabilisation is achieved by a combination of fin stabilizers from Blohm and Voss and a controlled passive tank system supplied by Intering. To minimise ice formation on the superstructure, all winches, capstans, etc. are placed under deck. The forecastle deck is trawler shaped and all open deck spaces and scuppers are heated. The allowed amount of icing is 375 tons.
The propulsion machinery consists of three MAN B&W V28/32 diesel engines with combined power of 9000 kW, fitted in two separate watertight compartments on each side of the gear compartment. The reduction gear box is able to operate under water. The fitted bow thruster is able to hold the bow against a wind of 28 knots. A retractable azimuth thruster is capable of propelling the ship at 10 knots, and can be considered as an emergency machinery set in case of damage to propeller or gears or total engine failure. A shaft generator of 1500 kW is located in the forward engine room, and there are three GM Detroit diesel motors with Volund Teknik generators, each with an output of 480 kW, installed with one in the forward and two in the aft engine room. An 127 kW emergency diesel generating set is fitted in a compartment under the forecastle deck. The ship has an endurance of 8300 nautical miles at varying speeds with a 10 per cent fuel reserve. Provisions cover four months' operations, and the stocks of spare parts are sufficient for six months at sea without replenishment. Helicopter fuel suffices for 150 flying hours. The frigate is ice strengthened and is able to proceed through 80 cm of solid ice. The hull has an icebreaking bow and stem lines suitable for operations in ice with only one propeller. Maximum continuous speed is 20 knots in four metre seas. The sea keeping qualities allow the ship to stand up to wind gusts of 150 knots during light ice conditions and operate in all sea conditions at speeds of 4-5 knots.
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The Najade is a German Thetis Class corvette of 575 tons displacement. She is powered by two MAN V84V diesels rated at 6800 shp giving a top speed of 19.5 knots and a range of 4500 km at 15 knots. She carries a crew of 60 ratings and four officers. Armaments consist of two Breda 40 mm/70 (in two twin arrangements) guns; four 324 mm single torpedo tubes and four Honeywell Mk 46 Mod 1 torpedoes; one Bofors 375 mm 4-barrelled trainable anti-ship mortar and twenty rockets; two depth charge rails.
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HMS Theseus was a British Colossus Class light fleet aircraft carrier of 13350 tons displacement launched in 1944. HMS Theseus was powered by four Admiralty 3-drum type boilers providing a top speed of 25 knots. She carried a crew of 850 plus aircrew and between 39 and 44 aircraft. Armaments comprised four 3-pounder guns, twenty-four 2-pounder pompoms and nineteen 40 mm anti-aircraft guns. The Theseus is a German Thetis Class corvette of 575 tons displacement. She is powered by two MAN V84V diesels rated at 6800 shp giving a top speed of 19.5 knots and a range of 4500 km at 15 knots. She carries a crew of 60 ratings and four officers. Armaments consist of two Breda 40 mm/70 (in two twin arrangements) guns; four 324 mm single torpedo tubes and four Honeywell Mk 46 Mod 1 torpedoes; one Bofors 375 mm 4-barrelled trainable anti-ship mortar and twenty rockets; two depth charge rails.
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The Thetis was a French Schneider-Laubeuf type Sirene Class submarine of 552 tons displacement surfaced launched in 1927. The Thetis was powered by two sets of 2-cycle Schneider-Carels diesel engines providing a top speed of 14 knots surfaced and electric motors providing a top speed of 7.5 knots submerged and a range of 3200 km at 10 knots on the surface, and carried a complement of 40. She could dive to a depth of 45 fathoms. Armaments consisted of one 3-inch anti-aircraft gun; two machine-guns and seven 21.7 inch torpedo tubes.
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The USS Thetis Bay was an American Casablanca Class light fleet aircraft carrier of 6730 tons displacement launched in 1944. The USS Thetis Bay had a top speed of 18 knots and carried a complement of 800 and about 30 aircraft. She was armed with one 5 inch gun and twenty-four 20 mm anti-aircraft guns.
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HDMS Thetis was a British-built Danish fishery patrol vessel of 925 tons displacement launched in 1940 as HMS Geranium. HDMS Thetis was powered by oil-fired boilers providing a top speed of 16 knots and carried a complement of 85. She was armed with one 4 inch anti-aircraft gun; one 40 mm anti-aircraft gun and four 20 mm anti-aircraft guns. HDMS Thetis operated in the North Sea and off the Faeroes after the Second World War.
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The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
©1993 - 2009 The Probert Encyclopaedia
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