Leopard class frigate

Class overview
Operators:  Royal Navy
 Indian Navy
 Bangladesh Navy
Built: 1953–1960
In commission: 1957–
Planned: 5 British & 3 Indian
Completed: 4 British & 3 Indian
Cancelled: 1 British
Active: 2 (ex-RN serving with Bangladesh)
Retired: 5
General characteristics
Type: Air Defence Frigate
Displacement: 2,300 long tons (2,337 t) standard
2,520 long tons (2,560 t) full load
Length: 340 ft (100 m) o/a
Beam: 40 ft (12 m)
Draught: 16 ft (4.9 m)
Propulsion: 8 × Admiralty Standard Range ASR1 diesels, 14,400 shp (10,738 kW), 2 shafts
220 tons oil fuel
Speed: 24 knots (28 mph; 44 km/h)
Range: 7,500 nmi (13,900 km) at 16 kn (30 km/h)
Complement: 205 or 235
Sensors and
processing systems:		 Type 960 air search radar, later;
Type 965 AKE-1 air search radar
Type 293Q target indication radar, later;
Type 993 target indication radar
Type 277Q height finding radar
Type 974 navigation radar
Type 285 fire control radar on director Mark 6M
Type 262 fire control radar on director CRBF
Type 262 fire control radar on STAAG mount
Type 1010 Cossor Mark 10 IFF
Type 174 search sonar
Type 164 attack sonar
Armament: • 2 × twin 4.5 in guns Mark 6
• 1 × twin 40 mm Bofors gun STAAG Mark 2, later;
• 1 × single 40 mm Bofors gun Mark 9
• 1 × Squid A/S mortar

The Type 41 or Leopard class were a class of anti-aircraft defence frigates built for the Royal Navy (4 ships) and Indian Navy (3 ships) in the 1950s. These ships were designed to provide anti-aircraft escorts to convoys, as a result they were not built for fleet speeds and made only 24 knots (44 km/h). They shared a common hull and machinery with the Type 61 or Salisbury class aircraft direction vessels. An intended anti-submarine version, the Type 11 class (see Type system of the Royal Navy), was cancelled due to the low top speed being insufficient to combat contemporary adversaries, and was replaced by the turbine powered Type 12. HMS Jaguar and HMS Lynx were sold to the Bangladesh Navy in 1978 and 1982 respectively, and were still in service in 2007.

Contents

Construction Programme

Pennant Name (a) Hull builder
(b) Main machinery manufacturers		 Ordered Laid down Launched Accepted into service Commissioned Estimated building cost[1] Fate
F14 HMS Leopard (a) HM Dockyard, Portsmouth
(b) Vickers Armstrong (Engineers) Ltd, Barrow-in-Furness
(b) Peter Brotherhood Limited, Peterborough[2]		 21 August 1951[3] 25 March 1953[4] 23 May 1955[4] December 1958[2] 30 September 1958[4] £3,545,000[2] Paid off for last time 12 December 1975.[5] Broken up 1977.[4]
F27 HMS Lynx (a) John Brown and Co Ltd, Clydebank
(b) Crossley Bros Ltd, Manchester
(b) British Polar Engines Ltd, Glasgow[6]		 28 June 1951[3] 13 August 1953[4] 12 January 1955[4] 14 March 1957[6] 14 March 1957[4] £2,720,000[6] Sold to Bangladesh 12 March 1982, renamed Abu Bakr,[7] in service 2006.
F34 HMS Puma (a) Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Co Ltd, Greenock
(b) HM Dockyard, Chatham
(b) British Polar Engines Ltd, Glasgow[8]		 28 June 1951[3] 16 November 1953[4] 30 June 1954[4] April 1957[8] 27 April 1957[4] £2,914,000[8] Paid off for last time June 1972.[5] Broken up 1976.[4]
F37 HMS Jaguar (a) Wm Denny Bros Ltd, Dumbarton
(b) Crossley Bros Ltd, Manchester[9]		 28 June 1951[3] 2 November 1953[4] 20 July 1957[4] December 1959[9] 12 December 1959[4] £3,772,000[9] Sold to Bangladesh 6 July 1978 for £2 million,[7] renamed Ali Haider,[4] in service 2006.
F34 INS Brahmaputra (ex-HMS Panther) (a) John Brown and Co Ltd, Clydebank[10] 1954[10] 20 October 1955[10] 13 March 1957[10] 31 March 1958[10] Ordered HMS Panther, but transferred to India 1953.[4] Broken Up 1986.[10]
F37 INS Beas (a) Vickers Armstrongs (Shipbuilders) Ltd, Newcastle-on-Tyne [10] 1954[10] 29 November 1956[10] 9 October 1958[10] 24 May 1960[10] Broken up 1992.[10]
F38 INS Betwa (a) Vickers Armstrongs (Shipbuilders) Ltd, Newcastle-on-Tyne[10] 1954[10] 29 May 1957[10] 15 September 1959[10] 8 December 1960[10] Broken Up 1988.[10]

A fifth Royal Navy vessel, HMS Panther was ordered twice. The first was transferred to India in 1953 before being laid down, a replacement was cancelled in 1957, before being laid down.[4]

See also

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Leopard_class_frigate Leopard 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 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
  3. ^ a b c d Moore, George, The dawn of the Salisbury, Leopard and Whitby class frigates in Warship, 2004, pub Conways, 2004, ISBN 0-85177-948-4 page 134.
    Moore gives the dates the vessels were ordered as 21 August 1951 for Leopard and 28 June 1951 for the others.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Gardiner, Robert Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995, pub Conway Maritime Press, 1995, ISBN 0-85177-605-1 page 516.
    This source says that first orders were placed in August 1951, which contradicts the article by George Moore in Warship, 2004
  5. ^ a b Friedman, Norman British Destroyers and Frigates, the Second World War and After, pub Seaforth, 2006, ISBN 978-1-84832-015-4 page 338.
  6. ^ a b c Navy Estimates, 1957-58, 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
  7. ^ a b Gardiner, Robert Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995, pub Conway Maritime Press, 1995, ISBN 0-85177-605-1 page 23.
  8. ^ a b c 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
  9. ^ a b c Navy Estimates, 1960-61, pages 226-7, 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 1960
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Gardiner, Robert Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995, pub Conway Maritime Press, 1995, ISBN 0-85177-605-1 page 174.

References

Leopard class frigate
Leopard · Jaguar · Lynx · Puma