Blackwood class frigate


HMS Exmouth
Class overview
Name: Type 14
Builders: Swan Hunter, Wallsend

Yarrow Shipbuilders, Scotstoun
John I. Thornycroft & Co., Woolston
Alexander Stephen and Sons, Govan

J. Samuel White, Cowes
Operators: Royal Navy, Indian Navy
In service: 1955 (RN) - 1985 (RN)
Completed: 15
Lost: 1 (+1 as target)
General characteristics
Class and type: anti-submarine frigate
Displacement: 1,456 tons (1,479 tonnes) full load
Length: 310 ft (94 m)
Beam: 33 ft (10 m)
Draught: 15 ft (4.6 m)
Propulsion:

Y-100 plant; 2 x Babcock & Wilcox boilers, steam turbines on 1 shaft, 15,000 shp (11 MW)

Exmouth, from 1966: COGOG, 1 x Rolls-Royce Olympus boost and 2 x Rolls-Royce Proteus cruise gas turbines.
Speed: 27 knots (50 km/h)
Range: 5,200 nautical miles (9,630 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h)
Complement: 112
Sensors and
processing systems:

Radar Type 974 navigation
Sonar Type 174 search
Sonar Type 162 target classification

Sonar Type 170 targeting
Armament:

3 x 40 mm Bofors gun Mark 7 (quarterdeck mount later removed)
2 x Limbo Mark 10 A/S mortars

2 x twin 21-inch (533 mm) deck-mounted tubes for A/S homing torpedoes(Blackwood, Exmouth, Malcolm and Palliser only, later removed)

The Type 14, Blackwood, class were a twelve ship class of "second rate" anti-submarine warfare (A/S) frigates of the Royal Navy, designed and built during the increasing threat from the Soviet Union's large fleet of submarines that roamed the Atlantic Ocean.

Contents

Design

They were designed to be cheaper and smaller to complement the expensive Type 12 frigates and had light armament. The class were very specialised for the A/S role and thus had little capability in any other role, though they did perform fishery protection duties during the Cod Wars. One of the ships, HMS Exmouth, was later converted to gas turbines in 1966, becoming the first major warship of the Royal Navy to be so powered.

After experience with these frigates, the admiralty decided to ensure that quality was the top priority of all ships, even though it meant having a smaller fleet.

In the late 1950s, during their time on patrols around Iceland to ensure that Iceland did not interfere with British fishermen's attempts to fish, problems were found with the hulls of the Type 14s in such heavy waters, such that their hulls had to be strengthened to cope with these patrols. However, they proved to be good seaboats throughout the dispute, which continued into the mid-1970s.

Service

The Type 14s' limited size, at just 310 ft (94 m), restricted them from continuing past the 1970s and continuing the work as anti-submarine ships. Their small hull limited the extent of modifications and upgrades possible, preventing the Type 14s from being modernised with more effective weapons, effectively rendering them obsolete. All were decommissioned in the 1970s.

Ships

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy ships were all named after British captains. Many had been in the Napoleonic wars and some were present at the Battle of Trafalgar

Indian Navy

Three ships were built for the Indian Navy in the late 1950s

Construction Programme

Pennant Name (a) Hull builder
(b) Main machinery manufacturers		 Laid down Launched Accepted into service Commissioned Estimated building cost[1] Fate
Royal Navy
F54 Hardy (a) & (b) Yarrow and Co Ltd, Scotstoun, Glasgow [2] 4 February 1953 [3] 25 November 1953 [4] 8 December 1955 [2] 15 December 1955 [4] £1,449,000 [2] Harbour service 1971, sunk as target 1983.[3]
F48 Dundas (a) & (b) JS White and Co Ltd, Cowes, Isle of White [2] 17 October 1952 [3] 25 September 1953 [4] March 1956 [2] 16 March 1956 [4] £1,434,000 [2] Broken up 1983.[3]
F91 Murray (a) & (b) Alex Stephen and Co Ltd, Glasgow [5] 30 November 1957 [3] 22 February 1955 [4] 5 June 1956 [5] 5 June 1956 [4] £1,625,000 [5] Broken up 1970.[3]
F85 Keppel (a) & (b) Yarrow and Co Ltd, Scotstoun, Glasgow [5] 27 March 1953 [3] 31 August 1954 [4] 6 July 1956 [5] 6 July 1956 [4] £1,506,000 [5] Broken up 1979.[3]
F62 Pellew (a) Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd, Wallsend-on-Tyne
(b) The Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Co Ltd, Wallsend-on-Tyne [5]		 5 November 1953 [3] 29 September 1954 [4] 26 July 1956 [5] 26 July 1956 [4] £1,548,000 [5] Broken up 1971.[3]
F51 Grafton (a) & (b) JS White and Co Ltd, Cowes, Isle of White [5] 25 February 1953 [3] 13 February 1954 8 January 1957 [5] 8 January 1957 [4] £1,411,000 [5] Broken up 1971.[3]
F97 Russell (a) Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd, Wallsend-on-Tyne
(b) The Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Co Ltd, Wallsend-on-Tyne [5]		 11 November 1953 [3] 10 December 1954 [4] 7 February 1957 [5] 7 February 1957 [4] £1,581,000 [5] Broken up 1985.[3]
F78 Blackwood (a) & (b) JI Thornycroft and Co Ltd, Woolston, Southampton [6] 14 September 1953 [3] 4 October 1955 [4] August 1957 [6] 22 August 1957 [4] £1,769,000 [6] Broken up 1976.[3]
F88 Malcolm (a) Yarrow and Co Ltd, Scotstoun, Glasgow
(b) Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Co, Wallsend-on-Tyne [6]		 1 February 1954 [3] 18 October 1955 [4] December 1957 [6] 12 December 1957 [4] £1,582,000 [6] Broken up 1978.[3]
F94 Palliser (a) & (b) Alex Stephen and Co Ltd, Glasgow [6] 15 March 1955 [3] 10 May 1956 [4] December 1957 [6] 13 December 1957 [4] £1,620,000 [6] Broken up 1983.[3]
F84 Exmouth (a) & (b) JS White and Co Ltd, Cowes, Isle of White [6] 24 March 1954 [3] 16 November 1955 [4] December 1957 [6] 20 December 1957 [4] £1,422,000 [6] Broken up 1979.[3]
F80 Duncan (a) & (b) JI Thornycroft and Co Ltd, Woolston, Southampton [7] 17 December 1953 [3] 30 May 1957 [4] October 1958 [7] 21 October 1958 [4] £1,960,000 [7] Broken up 1985.[3]
Indian Navy
F149 [8] Khukri (a) & (b) JS White and Co Ltd, Cowes, Isle of White [8] 29 December 1955 [9] 20 November 1956 [8] 16 July 1958 [8] Torpedoed and sunk by the Pakistan submarine Hangor 9 December 1971.[9]
F144 [8] Kirpan (a) & (b) Alex Stephen and Co Ltd, Glasgow [8] 5 November 1956 [9] 19 August 1958 [8] July 1959 [9] Transferred to Coast Guard Service 1978.[9]
F146 [8] Kuthar (a) & (b) JS White and Co Ltd, Cowes, Isle of White [8] 19 September 1957 [9] 14 October 1958 [8] November 1959 [9] Transferred to Coast Guard Service 1978.[9]

See also

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Blackwood_class_frigate Blackwood class frigate] at Wikimedia Commons

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Unit cost, i.e. excluding cost of certain items (e.g. aircraft, First Outfits)."
    Text from Defences Estimates
  2. ^ a b c d e f Navy Estimates, 1956-57, pages 238-9, List and particulars of new ships which have been accepted or are expected to be accepted into HM service during the Financial Year ended 31st March 1956
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Gardiner, Robert Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995, pub Conway Maritime Press, 1995, ISBN 0-85177-605-1 page 515.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Blackman, Raymond VB Jane's Fighting Ships, 1961-62 pub Sampson Low, Marston & Co Ltd, page 270.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Navy Estimates, 1957-8, pages 234-5, List and particulars of new ships which have been accepted or are expected to be accepted into HM service during the Financial Year ended 31st March 1957
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Navy Estimates, 1958-59, pages 234-5, List and particulars of new ships which have been accepted or are expected to be accepted into HM service during the Financial Year ended 31st March 1958
  7. ^ a b c Navy Estimates, 1959-60, pages 230-1, List and particulars of new ships which have been accepted or are expected to be accepted into HM service during the Financial Year ended 31st March 1959
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Blackman, Raymond VB Jane's Fighting Ships, 1961-62 pub Sampson Low, Marston & Co Ltd, page 114.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Gardiner, Robert Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995, pub Conway Maritime Press, 1995, ISBN 0-85177-605-1 page 173.
Blackwood class frigate
RN
Blackwood · Duncan · Dundas · Exmouth · Grafton · Hardy · Keppel · Malcolm · Murray · Palliser · Pellew · Russell
Indian Navy
Khukri  · Kirpan  · Kuthar