Type 22 frigate

HMS Cornwall transiting the Persian Gulf in 2007
Class overview
Builders:	Yarrow (Shipbuilders) Ltd, Cammell Laird, Swan Hunter
Operators:	Royal Navy  Brazilian Navy  Romanian Naval Forces  Chilean Navy
Preceded by:	Type 21
Succeeded by:	Type 23
Subclasses:	Batch 1 Broadsword Batch 2 Boxer Batch 3 Cornwall
In commission:	3 May 1979 – present day
Completed:	14
Active:	7
Lost:	2 (as targets)
General characteristics
Displacement:	Batch 1: 4,400 LT 5,104 ST Batch 2: 4,800 LT 5,568 ST Batch 3: 5,300 LT 6,148 ST
Length:	Batch 1: 131.2 m (430 feet) Batch 2: 146.5 m (480 feet) Batch 3: 148.1 m (486 feet)
Beam:	14.8 m (48 feet)
Draft:	Batch 1: 6.1 m (20 feet) Batch 2 & 3: 6.4 m (21 feet)
Propulsion:	Batch 1 & 2: 2-shaft COGOG 2 Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B high-speed gas turbines (54,000 shp / 40 MW) 2 Rolls-Royce Tyne RM1C cruise gas turbines (9,700 shp / 7.2 MW) Batch 3 & Brave: 2-shaft COGAG 2 Rolls-Royce Spey SM1A boost gas turbines (37,540 shp / 28 MW) 2 Rolls-Royce Tyne RM3C cruise gas turbines (9,700 shp/ 7.2 MW)
Speed:	30 knots (56 km/h (full)) 18 knots (33.3 km/h (cruise))
Complement:	Batch 1: 222 Batch 2: 273 Batch 3: 250
Armament:	Batch 3 are armed with:[1] 2 × Sea Wolf anti air system (Total of 72 Sea Wolf missiles) 2 × Quad Harpoon missile launchers (total of 8 Harpoons) 2 × triple Magazine launched anti-submarine torpedo tubes (total of 36 torpedoes) 1 × 4.5 inch (114 mm) Mk.8 gun 2 × 20 mm GAM-BO1 guns 1 × Goalkeeper CIWS[2] L7A2 GPMGs for point defence M134 Minigun for point defence NATO Seagnat Decoy Launchers
Aircraft carried:	1 or 2 × Lynx Mk.8 helicopters, armed with 2 × machine guns and, 4 × Sea Skua anti-ships missiles, or 2 × Sting Ray anti-submarine torpedoes, or 2 × Mk 11 depth charges

The Type 22 Broadsword class is a class of frigate built for the British Royal Navy. Fourteen of the class were built in total, with production divided into three batches. With the decommissioning of HMS Cornwall on 30 June 2011, the final Type 22 of the Royal Navy was retired from service.^[3][4][5] Seven ships of the earlier batches have been sold for further service with Brazil, Romania and Chile, two have been sunk as targets and the other sold for scrapping.

Contents 1 Design 2 Evolution 2.1 Batch 3 2.1.1 Flagship role 3 Nomenclature 4 Construction programme 5 Crew 6 Running costs 7 Availability 8 Ships – disposal and current state 9 See also 10 Footnotes

Design

The Type 22 was designed to be a specialist anti-submarine warfare vessel as part of the Royal Navy's contribution to NATO. Since then they have evolved into a general purpose frigate with weapons for use against other surface ships, aircraft and submarines. They were built in three batches giving rise to three sub-classes, the first Broadsword of four ships, the second Boxer of six ships and the third and final, Cornwall of four ships.

The four Broadswords (which included two Falklands War veterans) were sold to Brazil in the mid 1990s. Romania has acquired and modernized two of the Batch 2 ships, while a third was purchased by Chile.

The ships have enhanced command, control and co-ordination facilities that results in their often being used as deployment flagships.^[6]

Evolution

The Type 22 was intended as a follow-on class to frigates of the successful Type 12 ("Rothesay" and "Whitby") and the Type 12M ("Leander") classes at a time when the Royal Navy drew a clear distinction between anti-submarine escorts (known as frigates) and air defence ships (destroyers). Type 22s thus began as ASW vessels, but were later to evolve into GPFs (general-purpose frigates) as the ASW/AD distinction blurred.

The role of the Type 22 within overall force architecture can be gauged from a naval staff requirement drawn up in 1967. Following the demise of the future carrier programme (CVA-01), the RN undertook a complete reappraisal of the future surface fleet, and concluded that the following five new ship types were required:

• A cruiser-type ship to operate large ASW helicopters (this requirement eventually led to the Invincible class carriers);

• An air defence destroyer smaller and cheaper than the 'County' class (this resulted in the Type 42 programme);

• A missile-armed frigate as an eventual successor to the Leander class (this requirement led to the Type 22);

• A cheap patrol frigate (this requirement led to the Type 21); and

• A dual-role MCMV successor to the 'Ton' class (this resulted in the 'Hunt' class)

Of these, the air defence destroyer appears to have been given highest priority, the imperative being to get Sea Dart to sea in numbers to replace the air defence capability which would be lost with the premature demise of the carrier fleet.

Visually, the Type 12 lineage in the Type 22 design is less than obvious, though there are said to be similarities in the underwater hull form. Due to the workload of the Admiralty design department in the 1960s, a private design (Type 21) was purchased as an interim stop-gap whilst the Type 22 was under development. The design process, already hampered by the priority given to the Type 21 and the urgently-needed Type 42, was further protracted by attempts to produce a common Anglo-Dutch design. The first Type 22 order was placed in 1972 with Yarrow Shipbuilders; Yarrow undertook much of the detailed design work whilst overall responsibility remained with the Ship Department at Bath.

The length of the first four Type 22s was dictated by the dimensions of the undercover Frigate Refit Complex at Devonport Dockyard. The ships would be powered by a combination of Olympus and Tyne gas turbines in a COGOG (COmbined Gas turbine Or Gas turbine) arrangement. Machinery spaces were sited as far aft as possible to minimise shaft lengths. The after configuration was dictated by the requirement for a large hangar and a full-width flight deck..

Weapons fit was determined by the primary ASW role combined with a perceived need for a general purpose capability. The principal ASW weapons systems were the ship's Lynx helicopter and triple torpedo tubes (STWS), with 2087 towed array sonar a key part of the sensors fit. Air defence was provided in the form of two 'six-pack' launchers for the Seawolf (GWS 25) point-defence missile system. Surface warfare requirements were met by the provision of four Exocet SSM launchers, the standard RN fit at that time.

The Broadsword design was unique to the Royal Navy in lacking a main gun armament. Although some of the Leander class frigates had lost their main gun during upgrades, Broadsword was the first to be designed from the beginning without a main cannon. This changed with the introduction of the Batch III ships.

Ordering of Type 22s proceeded slowly, in part because of the comparatively high unit cost of the ships. The unit cost of the last Type 12Ms had been about £10m; Type 21s cost around £20m each; when the first Type 22s were ordered, unit costs were estimated at £30m though, by the time that the first ship (HMS Broadsword) commissioned in 1979, inflation had driven this figure up to £68m, which was far higher than the cost of the contemporary Type 42s (HMS Glasgow, also commissioned in 1979, cost £40m).

After the first four ("Batch I") ships, the design was "stretched", with the Frigate Refit Complex suitably enlarged. Visually, and in addition to the increase in length, the biggest difference was the sharply raked stem, usually indicative of bow sonar (though none of the Batch II ships was thus fitted). An important addition to the Batch II group was a new Computer Assisted Command System (CACS-1), replacing the CAAIS fitted to the Batch I ships. A revised machinery installation was adopted from HMS Brave onwards, with Spey turbines replacing the previous Olympus. The future machinery arrangement would be COGAG (Combined Gas turbine And Gas turbine). By 1982, the quoted unit cost of a Type 22 had risen to £127m.

This might have been the end of the Type 22 programme had it not been for the Falklands War (1982), in which the two ships of the class present (Broadsword and Brilliant) acquitted themselves well. Replacements for ships lost in the South Atlantic were all of this class.

Batch 3

The last four ships of the class (the Batch III ships Cornwall, Cumberland, Campbeltown and Chatham) were of a greatly improved design. Reflecting lessons learned in the Falklands, the weapons fit was changed, becoming more optimised to a general warfare role. The ships were fitted with the 4.5" (114m) gun, primarily for NGS (Naval Gunfire Support for land forces). Exocet was replaced by the superior Harpoon with eight GWS 60 missile launchers fitted laterally abaft the bridge, and each ship would carry a Goalkeeper CIWS (Close-In Weapon System).

In their final form, the Type 22s were the largest frigates ever built for the Royal Navy – the follow-on Type 23 class would be appreciably smaller ships. Reflecting this, Type 22s were often deployed as flagships for NATO Task Groups.

Flagship role

Unlike the Type 23, the Batch 3 "Type 22 frigate could embark a Task Group Commander's staff, able to command small scale joint and maritime operations."^[7]

Nomenclature

It was originally envisaged that all Type 22s would have names beginning with 'B' (Broadsword, etc), following the 'A' names used for Type 21s (Amazon, etc). This changed when two under-construction ships (Sheffield and Coventry) were re-named to commemorate ships lost in the South Atlantic, with London being similarly honoured. The alphabetical progression was re-established with the Batch 3 ships (Cornwall, etc) before being temporarily abandoned with the Type 23 class, named after Dukedoms (Norfolk, Lancaster, etc). The Royal Navy's latest escort class (the Type 45 or Daring class) have re-introduced the alphabetical progression, using destroyer names from the 1930s and 1950s.

The names selected for the four Batch 3 ships were an interesting mixture: two, Cornwall and Cumberland, revived County-class names previously carried both by First World War-era armoured cruisers, and by Second World War-era heavy cruisers. The other Batch 3s, Chatham and Campbeltown, were Town names, the former reviving a 1911 light cruiser name, and the latter commemorating the most famous of the US destroyers transferred to the Royal Navy in 1940; the name for HMS Chatham was selected as a salute to the Medway town, where the naval dockyard, established in 1570, had closed in 1984.

Construction programme

Pennant	Name	(a) Hull builder	Ordered	Laid down	Launched	Accepted into service[8]	Commissioned	Est. building cost[9]
Batch 1
F88	Broadsword	Yarrow, Glasgow[10]	8 February 1974[10][11]	7 February 1975[10]	12 May 1976[10]	21 February 1979[12]	4 May 1979[13]	£68.6M[14][15]
F89	Battleaxe	Yarrow, Glasgow[10]	5 September 1975[10]	4 February 1976[10]	18 May 1977[10]	20 December 1979[10][14]	28 March 1980[10][16]	£69.2M[14][17]
F90	Brilliant	Yarrow, Glasgow[10]	7 September 1976[10]	25 March 1977[10]	15 December 1978[10]	10 April 1981[10][14]	15 May 1981[10][16]	£102.2M[14]
F91	Brazen	Yarrow, Glasgow[10]	21 October 1977[10]	18 August 1978[10]	4 March 1980[10]	11 June 1982[10][14]	2 July 1982[10][16]	£112M[14]
Batch 2
F92	Boxer	Yarrow, Glasgow[10]	25 April 1979[10]	1 November 1979[10]	17 June 1981[10]	23 September 1983[10][14]	22 December 1983[10][16]	£147M[18]
F93	Beaver	Yarrow, Glasgow[10]	25 April 1979[10]	20 June 1980[10]	8 May 1982[10]	18 July 1984[10][19]	13 December 1984[10][16]	£148M[18]
F94	Brave	Yarrow, Glasgow[10]	27 August 1981[10]	24 May 1982[10]	19 November 1983[10]	21 February 1986[10][19]	4 July 1986[10][16]	£166M[18]
F95	London (ex-Bloodhound)[20]	Yarrow, Glasgow[10]	23 February 1982[10]	7 February 1983[10]	27 October 1984[10]	6 February 1987[19]	5 June 1987[16]	£159M[18]
F96	Sheffield (ex-Bruiser)[21]	Swan Hunter, Wallsend.[22]	2 July 1982[10]	29 March 1984[10]	26 March 1986[10]	25 March 1988[19]	26 July 1988[16]	£151M[23]
F98	Coventry (ex-Boadicea)[24]	Swan Hunter, Wallsend.[22]	14 December 1982[10]	29 March 1984[10]	8 April 1986[10]	1 July 1988[19]	14 October 1988[16]	£147M[23]
Batch 3
F99	Cornwall	Yarrow, Glasgow[10]	14 December 1982[10]	19 September 1983[10]	14 October 1985[10]	19 February 1988[19]	23 April 1988[16]	£131.05M[16]
F85	Cumberland	Yarrow, Glasgow[10]	27 October 1984[10]	12 October 1984[10]	21 June 1986[10]	18 November 1988[19]	10 June 1989[16]	£141.17M[16]
F86	Campbeltown	Cammell Laird,[22] Birkenhead	January 1985[10]	4 December 1985[10]	7 October 1987[22]	24 February 1989[19]	27 May 1989[16]	£161.97M[16]
F87	Chatham	Swan Hunter, Wallsend.[22]	28 January 1985[10][25]	12 May 1986[10]	20 January 1988[22]		4 May 1990[16]	£175.28M[16]

On 11 January 1985, Mr. Dalyell asked the Secretary of State for Defence: "what is the latest cost estimate of a type 22 frigate, with stores, spare parts and ammunition." The Secretary of State for Defence, Mr. Lee, replied: "The average cost of a batch III type 22 frigate is currently estimated at about £140 million at 1984–85 prices. The cost of embarked helicopters, the first outfit of stores, spare parts and ammunition are estimated at about £18 million at the same price level."^[26]

Crew

Department	Officers	Senior Rates	Junior Rates	Total
Operations	10	18	63	91
Weapons Engineering	2	14	27	43
Marine Engineering	2	21	32	55
Supply & Secretariat	2	6	27	35
Royal Marines		1	9	10
Ships Flight	2	4	4	10
Total	18	64	162	244
Source: Marriott, Leo Modern Combat Ships 4, Type 22, pub Ian Allan, 1986, ISBN 0-7110-1593-7 page 49.

Running costs

Date	Running cost	What is included	Citation
1981–82	£11.0 million	Average annual running cost of Type 22s at average 1981–82 prices and including associated aircraft costs but excluding the costs of major refits.	[27]
1985–86	£12 million	The average cost of running and maintaining a type 22 frigate for one year.	[28]
1987–88	£4.8 million	The average annual operating costs, at financial year 1987–88 prices of a type 22 frigate. These costs include personnel, fuel, spares and so on, and administrative support services, but exclude new construction, capital equipment, and refit-repair costs.	[29]
2001–02	£11.9 million	Type 22 Batch 3 frigate, average annual operating costs, based on historic costs over each full financial year. The figures include manpower, maintenance, fuel, stores and other costs (such as harbour dues), but exclude depreciation and cost of capital.	[30]
2002–03	£13.1 million		[30]
2007-08	£32.45 million	"The annual operating cost for the Type 22 Class of Frigates, which comprises four ships, is £129.8M. This is based on information primarily from Financial Year 07/08 the last year for which this information is available, and includes typical day-to-day costs such as fuel and manpower and general support costs covering maintenance, repair and equipment spares. Costs for equipment spares are also included, although these are based on Financial Year 08/09 information as this is the most recent information available. Costs for weapon system support are not included as they could only be provided at disproportionate cost."	[31]
2009–10	£32.725 million	"The average running cost per class... Type 22 is £130.9 million... These figures, based on the expenditure incurred by the Ministry of Defence in 2009-10, include maintenance, safety certification, military upgrades, manpower, inventory, satellite communication, fuel costs and depreciation.".	[32]
2010–11	£16 million	"The projected operating cost for HMS Cumberland in financial year 2010-11, based on actual costs to February 2011 and those estimated for the remainder of the financial year".	[33]

Availability

In February 1998, the Secretary of State for Defence, Dr Reid said: "Type 22 frigates achieved approximately 82 to 86 per cent. average availability for operational service in each of the last five years. This discounts time spent in planned maintenance."^[34]

Ships – disposal and current state

Pennant	Name	Commissioned by RN	Disposal by RN	Sale contract signed	Re-commissioned new owner	Home port	Status
Batch 1
F88	Broadsword	3 May 1979[10]	30 June 1995 to Brazil.[35]	18 November 1994[36]	30 June 1995[36]		Active in Brazil as F Greenhalgh (F46)
F89	Battleaxe	28 March 1980[10]	30 April 1997 to Brazil.[35]	18 November 1994[36]	30 April 1997[36]		Active in Brazil as F Rademaker (F49)
F90	Brilliant	15 May 1981[10]	30 August 1996 to Brazil.[35]	18 November 1994[36]	31 August 1996[36]		Laid up in Brazil as F Dodsworth (F47)
F91	Brazen	2 July 1982[10]	30 August 1996 to Brazil.[35]	18 November 1994[36]	31 August 1996[36]		Active in Brazil as F Bosísio (F48)
Batch 2
F92	Boxer	22 December 1983[10]	4 August 1999 decommissioned. 1999 deleted.[37]				Sunk as target in August 2004.
F93	Beaver	13 December 1984[10]	1 May 1999 decommissioned. 1999 deleted.[37]	21 February 2001 for scrap.			Sold for Scrap
F94	Brave	4 July 1986[10]	23 March 1999 decommissioned. 1999 deleted.[37]				Sunk as target in August 2004 by the submarine, HMS Sceptre and the frigate, HMS Argyll.[38][39]
F95	London	5 June 1987	14 January 1999 decommissioned. 1999 deleted.[37]	14 January 2003 to Romania.[40]	21 April 2005[40]		Active in Romania as Regina Maria (F222)
F96	Sheffield	26 July 1988	15 November 2002 decommissioned.[41]	April 2003 to Chile.[42]	5 September 2003[42]	Valparaiso	Active in Chile as CNS Almirante Williams (FF-19)
F98	Coventry	14 October 1988	December 2001 decommissioned.[43] 2001 deleted.[37]	14 January 2003 to Romania.[40]	9 September 2004[40]		Active in Romania as Regele Ferdinand (F221)
Batch 3
F99	Cornwall	23 April 1988	Decommissioned 30 June 2011 [3]				Awaiting disposal
F85	Cumberland	10 June 1989	Decommissioned 23 June 2011[44]				Awaiting disposal
F86	Campbeltown	27 May 1989	Decommissioned April 2011				Awaiting disposal
F87	Chatham	4 May 1990	Decommissioned 9 February 2011				Awaiting disposal

In May 2000, the Secretary of State for Defence was asked: "what was the planned service life of (a) HMS London, (b) HMS Beaver, (c) HMS Boxer and (d) HMS Brave; and what was the forecast date for withdrawal from Royal Navy service, prior to the decision in the Strategic Defence Review to dispose of them." The Minister of State for the Armed Forces, John Spellar, replied: "The planned service for each ship was 18 years. The additional information is given in the table."^[45] Note that the 18 years was dated from the date of acceptance, not the date first commissioned.

Ship	Pre-SDR date for withdrawal	Citation
HMS Boxer	31 January 2002	[45]
HMS Beaver	31 December 2002	[45]
HMS Brave	29 February 2004	[45]
HMS London	28 February 2005	[45]

In July 2000, the Secretary of State for Defence was asked: when he planned to withdraw the remaining Type 22 Batch II frigates from service. The Minister of State for the Armed Forces, John Spellar, replied: "Plans for the withdrawal from service of the Type 22 Batch 2 frigates currently in service are as follows:"

• "HMS Sheffield 2012 – to be superseded by a T45 Destroyer"
• "HMS Coventry 2001 – to be superseded by HMS St. Albans, a T23 Frigate."^[46]

See also

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Type_22_frigates Type 22 frigates] at Wikimedia Commons

Footnotes

Type 22 frigate  Royal Navy Broadsword · Battleaxe · Brilliant · Brazen · Boxer · Beaver · Brave · London · Sheffield · Coventry · Cornwall · Cumberland · Campbeltown · Chatham  Brazilian Navy Greenhalgh · Dodsworth · Bosísio · Rademaker  Romanian Naval Forces Regele Ferdinand · Regina Maria  Chilean Navy Almirante Williams List of frigates of the Royal Navy