Type 42 destroyer

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HMS Birmingham (D86)
HMS Birmingham (D86)
Class overview
Name: Type 42
Builders: Several different
Operators:
Royal Navy Jack
Royal Navy
Armada Republica Argentina
Preceded by: Type 82 (RN)
Sumner class (ARA)
Succeeded by: Type 45
In service: 1975
Building: 0
Completed: 16
Active: 9
Lost: 2
Retired: 7
General characteristics
Class and type: guided missile destroyer
Displacement: Batch 1 & 2: 4,350 tons full load
Batch 3: 5,350 tons
Length: Batch 1 & 2: 125 m (413 feet)
Batch 3: 141.1 m (466 feet)
Beam: Batch 1 & 2: 14 m (46 feet)
Batch 3: 14.9 (49 feet)
Draught: 5.8 m (19 feet)
Propulsion:

2 shafts COGOG;
2 x Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B high-speed gas turbines, (50,000 shp (37.5 MW))

2 x Rolls-Royce Tyne RM1A cruise gas turbines, (8,000 shp (6 MW))
Speed: 30 knots (Olympus)
18 knots (Tyne)
Complement: 312
Sensors and
processing systems:

Radar Type 1022/965P air surveillance,
Radar Type 996/992Q 3-D surveillance,
2 x Radar Type 909 GWS-30 fire-control,
Radar Type 1007 navigation,
Sonar Type 2050 / 2016 search,

Sonar Type 162 bottom profiling,
Armament:

Twin launcher for GWS-30 Sea Dart missiles,
4.5 inch (114 mm) Mark 8 naval gun,
2 x 3-tube STWS-1 launchers for 324 mm (12.75") A/S torpedoes,
2 x 20 mm Phalanx CIWS (not on Argentine ships),
2 x Oerlikon / BMARC 20 mm L/70 KBA guns in GAM-B01 single mounts,

4 x MM38 Exocet anti-ship missile launchers (only on Argentine ships)
Aircraft carried: 1 x Westland Lynx HAS / HMA


The Type 42 or Sheffield class, are guided missile destroyers of the Royal Navy.

Contents

[edit] History

The class was designed in the late 1960s to provide fleet area air-defence. In total fourteen vessels were constructed in three batches, eight of which remain in service. In addition, two ships were also built to the same specifications as the Batch 1 vessels for the Armada Republica Argentina. The ships, along with the Type 23 frigates, today form the backbone of the Royal Navy surface fleet. HMS Sheffield and Coventry were lost in the Falklands War to enemy action, this war being the first where two surface warships of the same design have been on opposite sides since the second world war, where four Flower class corvettes were launched by the German navy.

When the Type 82 air defence cruisers were cancelled along with the proposed CVA-01 carrier by the Labour Government of 1966, the Type 42 was proposed as a lighter and cheaper design with the same capabilities as the Type 82. The class is fitted with the Sea Dart surface-to-air missile first deployed on Bristol. The Type 42s were also given a flight deck and hangar to field an anti-submarine warfare helicopter, greatly increasing their utility compared to the Type 82.

The design was budgeted with a ceiling of £19 million per hull, but soon ran over-budget. The final design at (£21 million) became the 'Batch 3'. To cut costs, the first two batches had 47 feet removed from the bow and the beam-to-length ratio was reduced. These Type 42s performed poorly during the contractor's sea trials particularly in heavy seas and the hull was extensively examined for other problems. The Batch 1s (Sheffield through to Cardiff) and Batch 2s (Exeter through to Liverpool) are notoriously poor sea-keepers compared to the later Batch 3s.

The class was fitted with exhaust deflectors to her Rolls Royce Olympus TM1A turbine engines to minimise damage to overhead aerials. As this was a prominent target for then new infra-red homing missiles, the deflectors were removed during later refits in Portsmouth. All subsequent Olympus and Tyne uptakes were fitted with 'cheese graters' which mix machinery space vent air with the engine exhaust.

The Argentine versions of this class are both based at Puerto Belgrano; Santisima Trinidad now being used for spares for her heavily modified sister, Hercules, which has a new aft superstructure and hangar and Exocet missile launchers.

[edit] Design details

The Type 42 destroyer was built to fill the gap left by the cancellation of the large Type 82 destroyer. It was intended to fulfil the same role, with similar systems yet on a smaller and more cost effective hull. The ships are primarily carriers for the GWS-30 Sea Dart surface-to-air missile system. Although claimed to be obsolete, it is still effective against most modern missile threats, as proven in the 1991 Gulf War.

The Type 42 is also equipped with a 4.5 inch (114 mm) gun and six torpedo launchers. Two Vulcan Phalanx Mk 15 Close-In Weapons Systems (CIWS) were fitted to British type 42s after the loss of Sheffield to an Exocet missile. There have been three batches of ships, Batch 1 & 2 displacing 4,820 tonnes and Batch 3 (sometimes referred to as the Manchester class) displacing 5,200 tonnes. As per the norm, Batch 3 ships were heavily upgraded. Although the Batch 3 ships were lengthened, the planned Sea Wolf missile systems were never fitted. Because of their more general warfare role, the two Argentine ships have been fitted with the MM38 Exocet, and not with a CIWS.

The electronics suite includes one Type 1022 D-band long range radar with Outfit LFB track extractor or one Type 965P long ranger air survellience radar, one Type 996 E/F-band 3D target indication radar with Outfit LFA track extractor or type 992Q surface search, two Type 909 I/J-band fire control radars and an Outfit LFD Radar Track Combiner.

In recent years the importance of the ageing Type 42 destroyers has increased. The UK has adopted an increasingly expeditionary defence policy and the deletion of the Sea Dart missile systems from the Invincible class aircraft carriers has made the role of escort all the more important.

All ships are propelled by Rolls Royce TM3B Olympus and Rolls Royce RM1C Tyne gas turbines, arranged in a COGOG (Combined Gas or Gas) arrangement, driving through Synchronous Self-Shifting Clutches into a Double Reduction, Dual Tandem, Articulated, Locked-Train gear system and out through five blade Stone Manganese Controllable Pitch Propellers (CPP). All have four Paxman Ventura 16YJCAZ diesel generators, each creating 1 MW of 3ph 440V power.

[edit] Replacement

The ships are all scheduled to be out of service by 2014. By 2007 none of the Batch 1 vessels remained in commission. Initially the UK sought to procure replacements first in collaboration with seven other NATO nations under the NFR-90 project and then with France and Italy through the Horizon CNGF programme. However, both these collaborative ventures failed and the UK decided to go it alone with a national project. Jane's described this situation in its 2000 Warship's edition as 'little short of a national scandal'.

The Type 42s are now to be replaced by eight Type 45 destroyers. The first six Type 45s; HMS Daring, Dauntless, Defender, Dragon, Duncan and Diamond have been ordered, with a further two due to be ordered later in the decade. The Type 42 class has always suffered from cramped accommodation, a problem for crew safety and comfort, and also when finding space for upgrades. The Type 45s are to be considerably larger, displacing almost 7,400 tonnes, compared to the Type 42 displacement of 4,820–5,200 tonnes.

 Name   Pennant   Builder   Launched   Commissioned   Home port   Status 
Royal Navy
Batch 1
Sheffield D80 VSEL 10 June 1971 16 February 1975 Portsmouth Sunk in Falklands War
Birmingham D86 Cammell Laird 30 July 1973 3 December 1976 Portsmouth Sold for Scrap
Newcastle D87 Swan Hunter 24 April 1975 23 March 1978 Portsmouth Awaiting Disposal
Glasgow D88 Swan Hunter 14 April 1976 25 May 1977 Portsmouth Awaiting Disposal
Cardiff D108 VSEL 22 February 1974 24 September 1979 Portsmouth Awaiting Disposal
Coventry D118 Cammell Laird 21 June 1974 20 October 1978 Portsmouth Sunk in Falklands War
Batch 2
Exeter D89 Swan Hunter 25 April 1978 18 September 1980 Portsmouth Active
Southampton D90 Vosper Thornycroft 29 January 1979 31 October 1981 Portsmouth Active
Nottingham D91 Vosper Thornycroft 18 February 1980 8 April 1983 Portsmouth Active
Liverpool D92 Cammell Laird 25 September 1980 9 July 1982 Devonport - later Portsmouth Active
Batch 3
Manchester D95 VSEL 24 November 1980 16 December 1982 Portsmouth Active
Gloucester D96 Vosper Thornycroft 2 November 1982 11 September 1985 Portsmouth Active
Edinburgh D97 Cammell Laird 14 April 1983 17 December 1985 Portsmouth Active
York D98 Swan Hunter 21 June 1982 9 August 1985 Portsmouth Active
Armada Republica Argentina
ARA Hercules BV52 VSEL 24 October 1972 12 July 1976 Puerto Belgrano Active
ARA Santisima Trinidad D2 AFNE, Rio Santiago 9 November 1974 1 July 1981 Puerto Belgrano Awaiting disposal

[edit] Notes

[edit] See also

v • d • e
Type 42 destroyer
Royal Navy
Argentine Navy
List of destroyers of the Royal Navy