Leopard-class frigate

Leopard class
Class overview
Operators:
Built: 1953–1960
In commission:
  • 1957-1982 (British service)
  • 1958-1992 (Indian service)
  • 1978-2013 (Bangladesh service)
Planned: 5 British & 3 Indian
Completed: 4 British & 3 Indian
Cancelled: 1 British
Retired: 7
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[1]
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:

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.[2][3]

Design

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. Within a few years of the Type 41's introduction in the late 1950s they were regarded as obsolete for their intended function as anti aircraft convoy escorts, particularly after the failure of the power ramming for the twin 4.5 inch guns intended to boost the rate of fire from 14rpm to 24rpm, the abandonment of their STAAG, CIWS mount and replacement of the experimental version of the fast rotating 992 target indicators with the standard 993.

The Leopard class was also fitted with an early type of hydraulic stabiliser system consisting of two fins that could be extended outside the main hull to port and starboard, from a compartment between the two engine rooms. Gyro controlled with a relatively simple control system, they proved very effective in use. During testing every 3 months at sea, the ship could be easily driven into a 20°+ roll from the manual control on the bridge. Prior warning had to be given to allow stowage of loose items over the ship's tannoy system before testing was carried out. Slight reduction in top speed was also noticed when in use.

Service

They were used mainly as pure patrol frigates, notably on the South American station operating out of Simonstown in South Africa, and on Cod War duties. In 1972 it was decided not to refit HMS Puma again, as purchasing the half sister of the class, the former Black Star ordered by Ghana, and commissioning it as HMS Mermaid, would cost less than a Type 41 refit. HMS Leopard finished its service in the 1975-6 cod war, having given an Icelandic gunboat a 30 second warning, that it would, open fire with its 4.5 guns . HMS Lynx was the last of the class operational in 1977, attending the Spithead 1977 fleet review. HMS Jaguar was reactivated, from the standby squadron for the 3rd Cod War, but sprang too many leaks on the voyage to Iceland, and sailed back to Chatham in the UK.

HMS Jaguar and HMS Lynx were sold to the Bangladesh Navy in 1978 and 1982 respectively, and were retired in 2013.

Construction Programme

Pennant Name (a) Hull builder
(b) Main machinery manufacturers		 Ordered Laid down Launched Accepted into service Commissioned Estimated building cost[4] Fate
F14 HMS Leopard (a) HM Dockyard, Portsmouth
(b) Vickers Armstrong (Engineers) Ltd, Barrow-in-Furness
(b) Peter Brotherhood Limited, Peterborough[5]		 21 August 1951[6] 25 March 1953[7] 23 May 1955[7] December 1958[5] 30 September 1958[7] £3,545,000[5] Paid off for last time 12 December 1975.[8] Broken up 1977.[7]
F27 HMS Lynx (a) John Brown and Co Ltd, Clydebank
(b) Crossley Brothers Ltd, Manchester
(b) British Polar Engines Ltd, Glasgow[9]		 28 June 1951[6] 13 August 1953[7] 12 January 1955[7] 14 March 1957[9] 14 March 1957[7] £2,720,000[9] Sold to Bangladesh 12 March 1982, renamed Abu Bakr.[10] Decommissioned 22 January 2013.
F34 HMS Puma (a) Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Co Ltd, Greenock
(b) HM Dockyard, Chatham
(b) British Polar Engines Ltd, Glasgow[11]		 28 June 1951[6] 16 November 1953[7] 30 June 1954[7] April 1957[11] 27 April 1957[7] £2,914,000[11] Paid off for last time June 1972.[8] Broken up 1976.[7]
F37 HMS Jaguar (a) Wm Denny Bros Ltd, Dumbarton
(b) Crossley Bros Ltd, Manchester[12]		 28 June 1951[6] 2 November 1953[7] 20 July 1957[7] December 1959[12] 12 December 1959[7] £3,772,000[12] Sold to Bangladesh 6 July 1978 for £2 million,[10] renamed Ali Haider.[7] Decommissioned 22 January 2013.
F34 INS Brahmaputra (ex-HMS Panther) (a) John Brown and Co Ltd, Clydebank[13] 1954[13] 20 October 1955[13] 13 March 1957[13] 31 March 1958[13] Ordered HMS Panther, but transferred to India 1953.[7] Broken Up 1986.[13]
F37 INS Beas (a) Vickers Armstrongs (Shipbuilders) Ltd, Newcastle upon Tyne [13] 1954[13] 29 November 1956[13] 9 October 1958[13] 24 May 1960[13] Broken up 1992.[13]
F38 INS Betwa (a) Vickers Armstrongs (Shipbuilders) Ltd, Newcastle upon Tyne[13] 1954[13] 29 May 1957[13] 15 September 1959[13] 8 December 1960[13] Broken Up 1988.[13]

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.[7]

See also

Media related to Leopard class frigates at Wikimedia Commons

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Gardiner, p. 156
  2. ↑ Purvis,M.K., 'Post War RN Frigate and Guided Missile Destroyer Design 1944-1969', Transactions, Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA), 1974
  3. ↑ Marriott,Leo, 'Royal Navy Frigates Since 1945', Second Edition, ISBN 0-7110-1915-0, Published by Ian Allan Ltd (Surrey, UK), 1990
  4. ↑ "Unit cost, i.e. excluding cost of certain items (e.g. aircraft, First Outfits)."
    Text from Defences Estimates
  5. 1 2 3 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 31 March 1959
  6. 1 2 3 4 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.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 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
  8. 1 2 Friedman, Norman British Destroyers and Frigates, the Second World War and After, pub Seaforth, 2006, ISBN 978-1-84832-015-4 page 338.
  9. 1 2 3 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 31 March 1957
  10. 1 2 Gardiner, Robert Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995, pub Conway Maritime Press, 1995, ISBN 0-85177-605-1 page 23.
  11. 1 2 3 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 31 March 1958
  12. 1 2 3 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 31 March 1960
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 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

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