Type 16 frigate HMS Tenacious (F44) | |
Class overview | |
---|---|
Operators | |
Built | 1949–1954 |
In commission | 1951–1967 |
Completed | 10 |
General characteristics for T-class conversion | |
Type | Anti-submarine Frigate |
Displacement |
|
Length | 362 ft 9 in (110.57 m) o/a |
Beam | 37 ft 9 in (11.51 m) |
Draught | 14 ft 6 in (4.42 m) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 32 knots (37 mph; 59 km/h) full load |
Complement | 175 |
Sensors and processing systems |
|
Armament |
|
The Type 16 frigates were a class of British anti-submarine frigates of the Royal Navy. They were based on the hulls of World War II-era destroyers that had been rendered obsolete by rapid advances in technology. They were similar in concept to the Type 15 frigate, but were a far more limited design rendered necessary by budget constraints.
At the start of the Cold War, the Royal Navy was in urgent need of fast escort ships to counter the large number of Whiskey-class submarines being built by the Soviet Union, which were faster than the Royal Navy's existing sloops and frigates. Britain had large numbers of War Emergency Programme destroyers, which while relatively new, were poorly equipped for modern fleet purposes, with poor anti-aircraft armament and fire control. It was therefore decided to convert the Emergency Programme destroyers to interim escorts to meet the Royal Navy's requirements until new-build ships (which eventually became the Type 12 and Type 14 frigates) could be designed and built. The initial design was the Type 15 frigate or Rapid class, which was a major rebuild of the ships, with an extended forecastle and new superstructure giving improved accommodation and complete replacement of the ships' armament and sensors. [1] At one time, it was planned to convert 57 destroyers to the Type 15 standard, [2] but the cost of such a large programme proved prohibitive, with only 23 ships becoming Type 15 frigates. Instead, a simpler and cheaper conversion, the Type 16 was ordered. [3]
The Type 16 conversion removed the existing gun armament, substituting a twin 4 inch gun forward with a close-in anti-aircraft armament of seven Bofors 40 mm guns, with simpler fire control than used in the Type 15. Anti-submarine armament consisted of two Squid anti-submarine mortars, while a quadruple set of 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes provided a limited anti-surface ship armament. [4]
Name | Pennant [5] | Built by [5] | Laid down [5] | Launched [5] | Completed [5] | Converted by | Fate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
O and P-class conversion | |||||||
Orwell | F98 | Thornycroft, Woolston | 16 May 1940 | 2 April 1942 | 7 October 1942 | Royal Dockyard, Rosyth, 1952 | Broken up, 1965 |
Paladin | F169 | J Brown, Clydebank | 22 July 1940 | 11 June 1941 | 12 December 1941 | Royal Dockyard, Rosyth, 1954 | Broken up, 1962 |
Petard | F56 | Vickers Armstrong, Tyne | 26 December 1939 | 27 March 1941 | 14 June 1942 | Harland & Wolff, Belfast, 1953–1955 | Broken up, 1967 |
T-class conversion | |||||||
Teazer | F23 | Cammell Laird | 20 October 1940 | 7 January 1943 | 13 September 1943 | Mountstart Dry Docks, Cardiff, 1953–1954 | Broken up, 1965 |
Tenacious | F44 | Cammell Laird | 3 December 1941 | 24 March 1943 | 30 October 1943 | Royal Dockyard, Rosyth, 1951–1952 | Broken up, 1965 |
Termagant | F189 | Denny, Dumbarton | 25 November 1941 | 22 March 1943 | 30 October 1943 | Grayson Rollo, Birkenhead, 1952–1953 | Broken up, 1965 |
Terpsichore | F19 | Denny, Dumbarton | 25 November 1941 | 17 June 1943 | 20 January 1944 | J. I. Thornycroft, Woolston, Hampshire, 1953–1954 | Broken up, 1966 |
Tumult | F121 | J Brown, Clydebank | 16 November 1941 | 9 November 1941 | 2 April 1943 | Grayson Rollo, Birkenhead, 1949–1950 | Broken up, 1965 |
Tuscan | F156 | Swan Hunter, Wallsend | 9 September 1941 | 28 May 1942 | 11 March 1943 | Mountstart Dry Docks, Cardiff, 1949–1950 | Broken up, 1966 |
Tyrian | F67 | Swan Hunter, Wallsend | 15 October 1941 | 27 July 1942 | 8 April 1943 | Harland & Wolff, Liverpool & Gordon Alison, Birkenhead, 1951–1953 | Broken up, 1965 |
Ex-O class destroyers of the Pakistan Navy Onslow / Tippu Sultan and Onslaught / Tughril were returned to the UK between 1957 and 1959 to be converted along the lines of the Type 16 frigate.
Also two ex-W class destroyers of the South African Navy: SAS Jan van Riebeeck (ex-Wessex) and SAS Simon van der Stel (ex-Whelp) underwent conversions to modified Type 16 frigates in 1962–66. [6] They differed mainly in ability to carry two Westland Wasp helicopters, instead of having a Squid launcher. [6]
HMS Mohawk was a Tribal-class frigate of the Royal Navy in service from 1963. She was named after a tribe of Native Americans located in southeast Canada and New York State. Mohawk was scrapped in 1983.
The S and T class was a class of sixteen destroyers of the Royal Navy launched in 1942–1943. They were built as two flotillas, known as the 5th and 6th Emergency Flotilla, and they served as fleet and convoy escorts in World War II.
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HMS Chichester was a Salisbury-class or Type 61 aircraft direction frigate of the British Royal Navy.
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The Type 15 frigate was a class of British anti-submarine frigates of the Royal Navy. They were conversions based on the hulls of World War II-era destroyers built to the standard War Emergency Programme "utility" design.
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HMS Grafton was one of a dozen Blackwood-class frigate of second-rate anti-submarine frigates built for the Royal Navy in the 1950s.
HMS Pellew (F62) was one of a dozen Blackwood-class frigate of second-rate anti-submarine frigates built for the Royal Navy in the 1950s. She was named for Israel Pellew, who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was brother to Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth
HMS Brighton was a Rothesay or Type 12I class anti-submarine frigate of the Royal Navy.
HMS Lowestoft was a Rothesay-class or Type 12 class anti-submarine frigate of the British Royal Navy. Lowestoft was reconstructed in the late 1960s to largely the same pattern as the third group of Leander-class frigates, with new radar and fire control and a hangar and pad for a Westland Wasp helicopter for longer range, anti-submarine, engagement. In the late 1970s it was converted as the prototype towed array frigate for the Royal Navy, but retained its full armament. Lowestoft was sunk as a target on 8 June 1986 by HMS Conqueror using a Tigerfish torpedo. She was the last Royal Naval target to be sunk still displaying her pennant number.
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HMS Undaunted was a U-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service during World War II. She was later converted into a Type 15 fast anti-submarine frigate, with the new pennant number F53.
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HMS Wrangler was one of eight W-class destroyers built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Completed in 1944, the ship spent most of the war in the Far East and escorted British aircraft carriers as their aircraft attacked targets in the occupied Dutch East Indies and in Japan itself. Wrangler was present in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese formally surrendered on 2 September 1945.
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