Fearless class landing platform dock
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 HMS Intrepid and HMS Fearless |
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Operators: |  Royal Navy |
| Succeeded by: | Albion |
| In commission: | 1965 - 2002 |
| Completed: | 2 |
| Retired: | HMS Fearless, HMS Intrepid |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 16,950 tons |
| Length: | 158.5 m (520 ft) |
| Beam: | 24.4 m (80 ft) |
| Draught: | 6.3 m (21 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 2 steam turbines 22,000 shp |
| Speed: | 22 knots (41 km/h) |
| Boats and landing craft carried: |
4 medium landing craft (in dock) 4 light landing craft (on davits) |
| Capacity: | Up to 700 troops 15 tanks 27 vehicles |
| Complement: | 580 |
| Armament: | 2 anti-aircraft guns 16 surface-to-air missiles |
| Aircraft carried: | 5 helicopters |
The two Fearless class ships, HMS Fearless and HMS Intrepid, were the first purpose built amphibious warfare vessels in the Royal Navy. Designed as Landing Platform Docks, they were designed to transport and land troops by sea either using LCUs or helicopters. As constructed, the ships have an internal dock that is accessed via the stern - while in port, vehicles can simply drive up the stern ramp and into the internal vehicle decks. At sea, the ships could partially sink themselves at the stern, flooding the internal dock and allowing landing craft to come right up to the edge of the vehicle deck.
Each ship carried four LCUs in the stern dock, with four more smaller landing craft on davits on the superstructure. They provided accommodation for up to 400 troops (though if no vehicles were carried, up to 700 could be accommodated using the vehicle decks and corridors).
Intrepid was put into extended reserve in 1991, effectively removing her from active service. While in this state, she was used as a source of spares to maintain Fearless. Intrepid was finally withdrawn from service in August 1999. Fearless was kept in service, and continued to be deployed in concert with HMS Ocean until the end of 2002, when she too was withdrawn from service, ready for the Albion class to enter the fleet. The Feareless class were the last steam-powered surface vessels in Royal Navy service (nuclear submarines use a steam turbine-electric drive).
The successful deployments of the two ships, with the flexibility their configuration provided, meant that they have now been replaced by two new LPD ships of the Albion class. These LPD have been developed and commissioned despite the development of the Ocean Helicopter Carrier which itself has considerable Assault landing capability demonstrating the importance of the options that a dock provides.
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