PNS Babur (D182), former HMS Amazon, 2004 |
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| Career (UK) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Amazon (F169) |
| Operator: | Royal Navy |
| Builder: | Vosper Thornycroft |
| Laid down: | 6 November 1969 |
| Launched: | 26 April 1971 |
| Commissioned: | 11 May 1974 |
| Decommissioned: | 30 September 1993 |
| Motto: | Audaciter ("Boldly") |
| Fate: | Sold to Pakistan on 30 September 1993 |
| Career (Pakistan) | |
| Name: | PNS Babur |
| Operator: | Pakistan Navy |
| Acquired: | 30 September 1993 |
| Status: | in active service, as of 2012[update] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Type 21 frigate |
| Displacement: | 3,250 tons full load |
| Length: | 384 ft (117 m) |
| Beam: | 41 ft 9 in (12.73 m) |
| Draught: | 19 ft 6 in (5.94 m) |
| Propulsion: |
COGOG: |
| Speed: | 32 knots (59 km/h) |
| Range: | 4,000 nautical miles at 17 knots (7,400 km at 31 km/h) 1,200 nautical miles at 30 knots (2,220 km at 56 km/h) |
| Complement: | 177 |
| Armament: | RN: 1 × 4.5 inch (114 mm) Mark 8 naval gun 2 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon 4 × MM38 Exocet missiles 1 × quadruple Sea Cat SAMs 2 × triple ASW torpedo tubes 2 × Corvus chaff launchers 1 × Type 182 towed decoy Pakistan: 1 × 4.5 inch (114 mm) Mark 8 naval gun 2 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon 1 × LY-60N missile launcher 2 × triple ASW torpedo tubes 2 × Mark 36 SRBOC chaff launchers 1 × Type 182 towed decoy |
| Aircraft carried: | 1 × Westland Wasp helicopter, later refitted for 1 × Lynx |
HMS Amazon (F169) was the first Type 21 frigate of the Royal Navy. Her keel was laid down at the Vosper Thornycroft shipyard in Southampton, England. The ship suffered a fire in the Far East in 1977, drawing attention to the risk of building warships with aluminium superstructure.
Amazon was the only unit of her class to not participate in the Falklands War, as she was in the Persian Gulf at the time.
By the mid-1980s the surviving Type 21s were suffering cracking in the hull and so she was taken in for refitting, with a steel plate being welded down each side of the ship. At the same time modifications were made to reduce hull noise. Four Exocet launchers were also fitted in 'B' position, the last of the class to be so fitted.
Amazon decommissioned and was sold to Pakistan on 30 September 1993, being renamed Babur. Exocet was not transferred to Pakistan and Babur had her obsolete Sea Cat launcher removed. A Chinese LY 60N missile launcher was fitted in place of the Exocet launchers. Signaal DA08 air search radar replaced the Type 992 and SRBOC chaff launchers and 20 mm and 30 mm guns were fitted. Babur remains in service with the Pakistan Navy. In Aug 03 2011, A video purportedly showing Pakistani Naval Ship (PNS) Babur brushing against INS Godavari in Gulf of Aden during the rescue of hostages on-board merchant vessel MV Suez in June, surfaced on the Internet [1].
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