Type 21 frigate
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| Type 21 (Amazon) class | |
|---|---|
HMS Active |
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| General Characteristics |  |
| Displacement: | 2,860 tons standard / 3,360 tons full load (after hull strengthening) |
| Length: | 384 ft (117 m) |
| Beam: | 41.5 ft (12.6 m) |
| Draught: | 19.6 ft (6.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | Rolls-Royce COGOG (COmbined Gas Or Gas turbine) 2 Tyne cruise turbines; 8 500 shp (6 MW) |
| Speed: | 30 knots+ (56 km/h), 18 knots (33 km/h) cruise on Tynes |
| Range: | 4000 nautical miles (7,000 km) at 17 knots (31 km/h) |
| Complement: | 235 |
| Armament: | 1 x 4.5 in (114 mm) Vickers Mark 8 gun
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| Aircraft: | 1 x Westland Wasp (later Westland Lynx) |
| Electronics: | 1 x Radar Type 992Q low-level search
|
The Type 21 frigate or Amazon class frigate was a Royal Navy general-purpose escort designed in the late 1960s, built in the 1970s and that served throughout the 1980s into the 1990s.
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[edit] History
The class was designed to fulfil a requirement for a relatively cheap yet modern general purpose escort vessel to fill a projected gap in the number of escort hulls in the fleet. Many older vessels were rapidly approaching the end of their useful lives yet their replacements, the Type 42 destroyer and Type 22 frigate, would not be ready until the mid-to-late 1970s. The Admiralty design board were busy with the latter, therefore the Type 21 project was given to private shipyards Vosper Thornycroft and Yarrow. The unmistakably yacht-like and rakish lines were indicative of their commercial design. Their handsome looks combined with their impressive handling and acceleration lent itself to the class nickname of Porsches. The design was partially funded by the Royal Australian Navy who had originally intended to buy five vessels, but in the event did not purchase any. The first of the eight built, HMS Amazon, entered service in May 1974.
[edit] Design
These ships were the Royal Navy's first privately designed modern frigates. They were also the first design to enter service which used solely gas-turbine propulsion (the Type 42 was designed to use this system first), as opposed to the steam turbines or diesel engines of their predecessors. The design made use of large amounts of aluminium alloy in the superstructure to lower topweight but worries later surfaced about resilience to fire, particularly following a major fire on Amazon in 1977 during which aluminium ladders distorted preventing fire-fighting teams from reaching the blaze. Later warships reverted to using steel again.
As originally built, the Type 21 design made use of a lot of 'off the shelf' technology, such as the old Sea Cat missile (combined with the Italian Alenia Orion-10X fire-control system as the GWS-24 system), the Wasp anti-submarine helicopter and marinised Rolls-Royce aircraft engines. Yet it also featured modern electronics such as the CAAIS (Computer Assisted Action Information System) system to integrate the ship's weapons and sensor systems and provide the crew with all the relevant information they required to fight the ship, as and when they needed it.
In terms of automation, systems integration and habitability they were well in advance of many of their older Royal Navy contemporaries, such as the Type 81 and Type 12 frigates, the latter of whose basic design could be traced back to 1945.
[edit] Modifications
When they entered service, the Type 21s were immediately criticised for being woefully under-armed. A program was put in hand to increase their firepower by fitting 4 French built MM38 Exocet anti-ship missiles. These were sited on the fo'c'sle, displacing the Corvus countermeasure launchers to amidships. This improvement was carried out to all ships apart from Amazon and Antelope. When it came available, the Westland Wasp, a single-role torpedo carrying helicopter, was replaced by the vastly more capable multi-mission Westland Lynx. Ship-launched anti-submarine torpedoes were also fitted as and when ships came in for refit, in the form of two STWS-1 triple-tube launchers capable of firing USN Mark 44 or Mark 46 torpedoes.
[edit] Active Service
All of the class except Amazon, as the 4th Frigate Squadron, took part in the Falklands War of 1982. They were heavily involved, performing extensive shore-bombardment missions and providing anti-submarine and anti-aircraft duties for the task force. Two vessels were lost, Ardent was hit by bombs dropped by Argentine aircraft on May 21 and was consumed by fire. HMS Antelope was hit by bombs on May 23, one of which was set off by the bomb disposal team attempting to defuse it on May 24, causing the ship to break her back and sink. It is highly unlikely that any ship of this size would be able to survive a direct hit from aerial bombs, and that they stayed afloat as long as they did to allow the evacuation of their crews is testament to the design.
[edit] Shortcomings
Criticism was levelled at the performance of the type in the Falklands conflict. The ships developed cracks in their decks due to the severe weather conditions they encountered in the South Atlantic, which required steel reinforcing plates to be subsequently fitted. However this must be taken in the context that these were vessels built to an exacting budget and design specification, and although carrying obsolete anti-aircraft weaponry they distinguished themselves in a theatre for which they were not designed.
The class were also criticised for being overcrowded; at 384 ft (117 m) they had 235 crew compared to 436 ft (133 m) and just 185 crew for the modern Type 23 frigate. This was important at a time when the Royal Navy was facing a manpower shortage. The standard of accommodation for the Officers was better than the RN average but the ratings accommodation was worse. Furthermore, with little capability to modernise due to the small size and already being close to its top weight limit, the Type 21's days were numbered. Nevertheless, they were extremely popular with their crews and useful ships in a Navy severely depleted in numbers of modern escort hulls.
[edit] Disposal
All six remaining Type 21s were sold to Pakistan in 1993–1994. The class was renamed by the Pakistan Navy to the Tariq class, after the first vessel they acquired, PNS Tariq, formerly HMS Ambuscade. As of 2004, all six ships remain in the Pakistani Navy. They have had their Sea Cat missile launcher removed, as-well as the Exocet missile launcher, which has been replaced by the more capable Harpoon missile. In 2005, it was reported that a Chinese made LY-60N (Hunting Eagle - Navy version) anti-air missile launcher was installed abroad these frigates by the Pakistan Navy.
[edit] References
- A.Preston, World's Worst Warships, 2002, Conway's Maritime Press
| Type 21 frigate |
| Amazon | Antelope | Active | Ambuscade | Arrow | Alacrity | Ardent | Avenger |
List of frigates of the Royal Navy |
