|
The
first of class was ordered from Yarrows on 29 October 1984 at the
height of the Cold War. Further batches of three were ordered in
September 1986, July 1988, December 1989, January 1992 and February
1996. The class is now completed.
There
were some early problems, e.g. the Command System was not operational
as quickly as had been planned, but these have been overcome and the
RN has made steady improvements to weapons and sensors in the ships
over the years since first introduction.
From
1999, the Lynx helicopter was replaced on some of the vessels by the
EH 101 Merlin helicopter. These ships are powered by a CODLAG system
(Combined diesel-electric and gas-turbine propulsion) and the
diesel-electric is used for minimum underwater noise during ASW
operations.
| TYPE
23 FRIGATE Specifications |
| Length |
133.0 m |
| Displacement |
4,200 tons full load |
| Beam |
16.2 |
| Draught |
5.5 m |
| Max Speed |
28 knots |
| Range |
7,800 nm at 15 knots |
| Engines |
CODLAG Type system with 2 x Rolls Royce Spey SM1A gas turbines
delivering 18,770 shp each.
For
vessels after HMS Westminster (1994) 2 x Rolls Royce Spey SM1C delivering
26,150 shp each |
| Complement |
181 (13 officers) |
| Armament |
Surface-to-Surface
Missiles (SSM) 8 x Harpoon (130 km range)
Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAM) Sea Wolf (6 km range)
1 x 4.5 in Gun (25 rounds/min 22 km range)
2 x 30 mm twin Guns (10 km range) |
| Aircraft |
Lynx or Merlin
(Missile and Torpedo armed) |
| Sensors |
Modern above and
under water sensors |
| NAME |
DATE
COMMISSIONED |
| HMS
Argyll
(F231) |
1989 |
| HMS
Lancaster
(F229) |
1990 |
| HMS
Iron
Duke (F234) |
1991 |
| HMS
Monmouth
(F235) |
1991 |
| HMS
Montrose
(F236) |
1992 |
| HMS
Westminster
(F237) |
1992 |
| HMS
Northumberland
(F238) |
1992 |
| HMS
Richmond
(F239) |
1993 |
| HMS
Somerset
(F82) |
1994 |
| HMS
Grafton
(F80) |
1994 |
| HMS
Sutherland
(F81) |
1996 |
| HMS
Kent
(F78) |
1998 |
| HMS
St
Albans (F83) |
2000 |
| HMS
Portland
(F79) |
1999 |
|
