HMS Amazon (F169)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Amazon.
PNS Babur (D182), former HMS Amazon, 2004
Career (UK)
Name: HMS Amazon
Operator: Royal Navy
Builder: Vosper Thornycroft
Laid down: 6 November 1969
Launched: 26 April 1971
Commissioned: 11 May 1974
Decommissioned: 30 September 1993
Identification: Pennant number: F169
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 2015
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:

2 × Rolls-Royce Olympus gas turbines

2 × Rolls-Royce Tyne RM1A gas turbines for cruising
Speed:32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph)
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 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.

Royal Navy Service

In 1977 Amazon took part in the Fleet Review, of the Royal Navy at Spithead in celebration of HM the Queen's Silver Jubilee.[1] 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.

Pakistan Navy Service

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.

On 3 August 2011, a video surfaced on the Internet reportedly showing Babur brushing against the Indian frigate Godavari in the Gulf of Aden during the rescue of hostages on-board merchant vessel MV Suez in June.[2]

Commanding Officers

FromToCaptain
19751977Commander David Dobson RN
19771978Commander A B Richardson RN
19781979Commander R N Woodard RN
19801982Commander Ian Garnett RN
19821984
19861988Commander R J Lippiett RN

Gallery

References

  1. ↑ Official Souvenir Programme, 1977. Silver Jubilee Fleet Review, HMSO
  2. ↑ "Video Shows PNS Babur Brushing Against INS Godavari". Outlook India. Retrieved 4 August 2011.

Publications