County class destroyer
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 HMS Devonshire |
|
| United Kingdom |  |
|---|---|
| Builders: | Cammell Laird Swan Hunter Vickers Armstrong |
| Operators: |  Royal Navy Chilean Navy Pakistani Navy |
| Commissioned: | 16 November 1962 |
| Decommissioned: | 22 September 2006 |
| Ships in Class | |
| Ships in class: | 8 |
| Ships in storage: | Almirante Cochrane Capitán Prat |
| Sunk ships: | HMS Devonshire (as target) Almirante Latorre (accident) |
| Scrapped ships: | Babur HMS Hampshire HMS Kent Blanco Encalada |
| General Characteristics | |
| Class type: | Air defence destroyer |
| Displacement: | 6,200 tons |
| Length: | 158 m |
| Beam: | 16.5 m |
| Draught: | 6.3 m |
| Propulsion and power: | COSAG (6 turbines) 60,000 shp |
| Speed: | 30 knots |
| Range: | 3,500 miles |
| Complement: | 471 |
| Armament: | 96 surface-to-air missiles 0-8 anti-ship missiles 2-4 dual purpose guns 2 anti-aircraft guns 6 torpedo tubes |
| Aircraft complement: | 1 helicopter |
The County class was a class of guided missile destroyers, the first such vessels built by the Royal Navy. Designed specifically around the GWS.1 Sea Slug anti-aircraft missile system, the primary role of these ships was area air-defence around the aircraft carrier task force in the nuclear-war environment.
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[edit] Ships of the class
Eight of the vessels were built, in two batches between 1962 and 1970, the later four vessels carrying Mark 2 SeaSlug and updated electronics requiring rearranged mastheads. The major identifying feature was the prominent "double bedstead" AKE-2 antennas of the Type 965 air-search radar and a taller foremast carrying the Type 992Q low-angle search radar on Norfolk batch.
[edit] Batch 1 (London batch)
[edit] Batch 2 (Norfolk batch)
[edit] Design Features
The County class were designed around the GWS.1 SeaSlug beam riding anti-aircraft missile system. Everything about the SeaSlug was on a grand scale, from the missile itself to its handling arrangements and electronics systems; fitting even the single system aboard a ship the size of even the Counties was a challenge in itself. The missile itself was enormous and was stowed vertically in a large magazine that took up a great deal of internal space. It also required a large handling room where the solid-fueled wrap-around launch boosters were attached before the weapon passed out of an airlock onto the large twin launcher. The electronics required for the SeaSlug were the large Type 901 fire-control radar and the Type 965 air-search radar. These required a great deal of weight to be carried high up on the ship, further defining the design. SeaSlug could also be used in the surface to surface role, and was a highly effective system in its day.
Short range air-defence was provided by the Sea Cat short range anti-aircraft missile system. The Counties were the Royal Navy's first vessels to carry two different missile systems. In addition, the ships were armed with two dual 4.5 inch (114 mm) Vickers guns in Mark 6 mountings. In the 1970s, the four ships of the second batch had their superfiring "B" Mark 6 turret replaced with four canister launchers for MM38 Exocet anti-ship missiles; a first in the Royal Navy, and the first to carry three different missile systems.
Armament was completed by a hangar and flight-deck for one Westland Wessex (later Westland Lynx) helicopter. The flight facilities were unusual as the helicopter had to be wheeled around the deckhouse carrying the large Type 901 radar and enter the hangar from the side; rather than the more usual practice of the hangar opening onto the flight deck. This was an artefact of the design originally specifying Limbo mortars, which were replaced by a helicopter later in the design stage. For close defence and policing duties two single WW2-era 20 mm Oerlikon cannons were carried.
[edit] Falklands service
Antrim and Glamorgan saw service in the Falklands War, with Glamorgan suffering serious damage as a result of an Exocet strike. Their endurance, large size and heavy gun armament were prized assets.
[edit] Replacement
These ships were to be replaced in service by the large Type 82 fleet air defence destroyers carrying the Sea Dart missile. Changes in defence policy and budget cuts that eliminated the aircraft carriers meant only a single Type 82, HMS Bristol, was built as a test bed for the new weapon. In the event, they were replaced by the smaller Sea Dart carrying Type 42 destroyers. HMS Fife was the last of the Counties to be decommissioned by the Royal Navy, in 1987 after service as a training ship.
[edit] Chilean Service
The four Batch-2 Counties were sold to the Chilean navy. Two of these ships, Blanco Encalada (ex-Fife) and Almirante Cochrane (ex-Antrim) were modernised by having the SeaSlug system removed (in the case of Fife, the Sea Slug had been removed while in RN service when she was converted to a training ship) and replaced by an enlarged flight deck and hangar for two French Cougar helicopters. The Capitán Prat (ex-Norfolk) was refitted in 2001 to a DLH, with a new hangar built, but she can only can carry one Cougar. In 1996 all Counties were fitted with the Israeli anit-aircraft missile Barak, replacing the Seacat system. In 1998, the Almirante Latorre was decommissioned, and in 2005 was sunk outside of Chilean EEZ. In 2003 Blanco Encalada was decommissioned and sold for scrap in 2004. The next in the list to be replaced is the Capitán Prat, when 2 ex-Dutch frigates arrive in Chile.
[edit] General characteristics
- Displacement - 6,200 tons standard, 6,800 tons full load
- Length - 158.9 m
- Beam - 16.4 m
- Draught - 6.2 m
- Machinery - 2 shaft COSAG, 2 geared steam turbines, 2 boilers, 4 Metrovick G6 gas turbines - 30,000 + 30,000 shp
- Speed - 30 knots+
- Range - 3500 nm at 28 knots
- Armament
- Four 4.5 inch guns in 2 x twin Mark 6 turrets
- Twin launcher for SeaSlug GWS.1 SAM Mark 1 (Batch 1) or Mark 2 (Batch 2)
- Four MM38 Exocet SSM in lieu of 1 x Mark 6 turret (Batch 2)
- Two quadruple launchers for GWS.21 (later GWS.22) SeaCat SAM
- Two (2x1) 20 mm Oerlikon AA
- One Wessex (later Lynx) helicopter
- Electronics
- Type 965 air-search radar with AKE-1 (Batch 1) or AKE-2 (Batch 2) antennas
- Type 901 SeaSlug fire-control radar
- Type 903 (GWS.21) or Type 904 (GWS.22) SeaCat / gunnery fire-control radar on MRS.3 director
- Type 277Q (Batch 1) or Type 278 (Batch 2) height-finding radar
- Type 992 (Batch 1) or Type 992Q (Batch 2), later Type 993 low-angle search radar
- Type 974 (later Type 978) navigation radar
- complement: 440-471
[edit] References
- Conway's All the Worlds Fighting Ships 1947-1995
- From Daring to Devonshire - G.Moore - Warship 2005, Conways Maritime Press.
| County-class destroyer |
| Devonshire | Hampshire | London | Kent | Fife | Glamorgan | Antrim | Norfolk |
List of destroyers of the Royal Navy |
