Type 21 frigate
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.jpg) HMS Amazon |
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Type 21 Amazon |
| Builders: | Yarrow Shipbuilders, Vosper Thornycroft |
| Operators: |  Royal Navy Pakistan Navy |
| Preceded by: | Type 12M Leander |
| Succeeded by: | Type 22 Broadsword |
| In commission: | 11 May 1974 |
| Completed: | 8 |
| Active: | 6 |
| Lost: | 2 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | frigate |
| Displacement: | As built;
|
| Length: | 360 ft (109.7 m (w/l)) 384 ft (117 m (o/a)) |
| Beam: | 41.8 ft (12.7 m) |
| Draught: | 19 ft (6.8 m) |
| Propulsion: | COGOGon 2 shafts; |
| Speed: | 32 kt (Olympus) / 18 kt (Tyne) |
| Range: |
4,000 nmi at 17 kt |
| Complement: | 13 officers, 164 ratings |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
1 x Radar Type 992Q low-level search |
| Armament: |
|
| Aircraft carried: | 1 x Wasp or Lynx |
| Aviation facilities: | Flight deck and hangar |
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.
Contents |
[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 top weight 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 fire power by fitting 4 French built MM38 Exocet anti-ship missiles. These were sited in front of the bridge screen aft of the fo'c'sle, displacing the Corvus countermeasure launchers to amidships. This improvement was carried out to all ships of the class. An interesting point to note was the fact that the Exocet were located in two pairs and the missiles would deploy across the ship and clear the opposite side of the vessel to their launchers in flight. This differed to the later type 22 frigates where deployment of the missiles was to the same side of the vessel as the missile pairs were fitted. When it became 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. After the Falklands war extra 20mm oerlikon guns were mounted each side of the hangar to provide extra close in armament on some ships of the class.
[edit] Analysis
Criticism was levelled at the performance of the type in the Falklands conflict. The ships developed cracks in their decks due to the differing expansion properties of steel and aluminium. This was a vulnerability particularly demonstrated under the severe weather conditions they encountered in the South Atlantic. Steel reinforcing plates were eventually fitted down the sides of the ships. 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 was also criticised for being overcrowded; however, at 384 ft (117 m) they had 177 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 and the senior ratings enjoyed separate cabins to their mess – unlike the petty officers of the Type 42 destroyer of the same era, who slept in bunk rooms. The ratings' accommodation was also improved, with four-man sleeping berths leading off from the communal mess deck. The accommodation arrangements (designed by a woman)[citation needed] were far better than those of the Type 42 destroyer. With little capability to modernise (owing to its small size) and already being close to its top weight limit, the Type 21's days were numbered. Nevertheless, these ships were extremely popular with their crews and proved to be useful assets in a navy severely depleted in numbers of modern escort hulls.
[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] 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. All six ships remain in service as of 2007. They have had their Sea Cat launcher removed, as well as the Exocets. Three of the ships had the Exocets replaced by the more capable Harpoon missile. In 2005, it was reported that a Chinese made LY-60 / FD-60 / PL10 (Hunting Eagle - Navy version) anti-air missile launcher was installed aboard the other three frigates by Pakistan[citation needed].
[edit] Ships
| Name | Pennant | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | F169 | Vosper Thornycroft, Woolston | 1969-11-06 | 1971-04-26 | 1974-05-11 | To Pakistan as Babur |
| Antelope | F170 | Vosper Thornycroft | 1971-03-21 | 1972-03-16 | 1975-07-19 | Bombed by Argentine A-4 Skyhawks 23 May 1982 and sank following day in San Carlos Water |
| Active | F171 | Vosper Thornycroft | 1971-07-23 | 1972-11-23 | 1977-06-17 | To Pakistan as Shah Jahan |
| Ambuscade | F172 | Yarrow Shipbuilders, Scotstoun | 1971-09-01 | 1973-01-18 | 1977-06-17 | To Pakistan as Tariq |
| Arrow | F173 | YSL | 1972-09-28 | 1974-02-05 | 1976-07-29 | To Pakistan as Kalibar |
| Alacrity | F174 | YSL | 1973-03-05 | 1974-09-18 | 1977-07-02 | To Pakistan as Badr |
| Ardent | F184 | YSL | 1974-02-25 | 1975-05-09 | 1977-10-13 | Bombed by Argentine A-4 Skyhawks 1982-05-21 in San Carlos Water and sank following day in Grantham Sound |
| Avenger | F185 | YSL | 1974-10-30 | 1975-11-20 | 1978-04-15 | To Pakistan as Tippu Sultan |
[edit] References
- Royal Navy Frigates 1945-1983 Leo Marriot, Ian Allan, 1983 ISBN 0-7110-1322-5
- Warships of the Royal Navy; New Edition Capt. John E. Moore, Jane's Publishing, 1981 ISBN 0-7106-0105-0
- World's Worst Warships, Anthony Preston 2002, Conway's Maritime Press
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