| Blackwood-class frigate | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Class overview | |
| Name: | Type 14 |
| Builders: |
Swan Hunter, Wallsend |
| Operators: | Royal Navy, Indian Navy |
| In service: | 1955 (RN) - 1985 (RN) |
| Completed: | 15 |
| Lost: | 1 (+1 as target) |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Anti-submarine frigate |
| Displacement: | 1,456 long ton (1,479 tonnes) full load |
| Length: | 310 ft (94 m) |
| Beam: | 33 ft (10 m) |
| Draught: | 15 ft (4.6 m) |
| Propulsion: |
Y-100 plant; 2 x Babcock & Wilcox boilers, steam turbines on 1 shaft, 15,000 shp (11 MW) |
| Speed: | 27 knots (50 km/h) |
| Range: | 5,200 nautical miles (9,630 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h) |
| Complement: | 112 |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
Radar Type 974 navigation |
| Armament: |
3 x 40 mm Bofors gun Mark 7 (quarterdeck mount later removed) |
The Type 14 Blackwood class were a twelve ship class of "second-rate" anti-submarine warfare frigates of the Royal Navy, designed and built during the increasing threat from the Soviet Union's large fleet of submarines that roamed the Atlantic Ocean.
Design[]
They were designed to be cheaper and smaller to complement the expensive Type 12 frigates and had light armament. However their antisubmarine armament of two limbo mortars, Mk 20 torpedoes and sonar fit equaled the larger type 12 and as the crews of the Type 14 concentrated almost entirely on practicing and thinking about anti submarine warfare, they were often the most effective frigates in anti submarine exercises till the mid 1960s. The class were very specialised for the anti-submarine role and thus had little capability in any other role, though they did perform fishery protection duties during the Cod Wars. One of the ships, Exmouth, was later converted to gas turbines in 1966, becoming the first major warship of the Royal Navy to be so powered.
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After experience with these frigates, the admiralty decided to ensure that quality was the top priority of all ships, even though it meant having a smaller fleet. In the late 1950s, during their time on patrols around Iceland to ensure that Iceland did not interfere with British fishermen's attempts to fish, problems were found with the hulls of the Type 14s in such heavy waters, such that their hulls had to be strengthened to cope with these patrols. However, they proved to be good seaboats throughout the dispute, which continued into the mid-1970s. The low profile of the superstructure and to a degree the fact much of the frigate superstructure, ran underwater and they were almost a sort of semi submersible in the deep Atlantic was in part a deliberate design feature to allow surprise attacks into surfaced Russian submarine packs.[1] The Type 14 was flawed by the lack of a 3/4 inch deck gun to counter a submarine that decided to fight back on the surface, and the general lack of space in the design.
Service[]
The Type 14s' limited size, at just 310 ft (94 m), restricted them from continuing past the 1970s and continuing the work as anti-submarine ships. Their small hull limited the extent of modifications and upgrades possible, preventing the Type 14s from being modernised with more effective weapons, effectively rendering them obsolete. All were decommissioned in the 1970s.
Ships[]
[]
The Royal Navy ships were all named after British captains. Many had been in the Napoleonic wars and some were present at the Battle of Trafalgar
- Blackwood - Henry Blackwood
- Duncan - Adam Duncan
- Dundas - James Whitley Deans Dundas
- Exmouth - Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth
- Grafton - Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton
- Hardy - Vice Admiral Thomas Hardy
- Keppel - Augustus Keppel
- Malcolm - Pulteney Malcolm
- Murray - George Murray
- Palliser - Hugh Palliser
- Pellew - Israel Pellew
- Russell - Thomas McNamara Russell
[]
Three ships were built for the Indian Navy in the late 1950s
- Khukri, sunk by the Pakistani submarine PNS Hangor on 8 December 1971 during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
- Kirpan
- Kuthar
Construction Programme[]
| Pennant | Name | (a) Hull builder (b) Main machinery manufacturers |
Laid down | Launched | Accepted into service | Commissioned | Estimated building cost[2] | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Navy | ||||||||
| F54 | Hardy | (a) & (b) Yarrow and Co Ltd, Scotstoun, Glasgow [3] | 4 February 1953 [4] | 25 November 1953 [5] | 8 December 1955 [3] | 15 December 1955 [5] | £1,449,000 [3] | Harbour service 1971, sunk as target 1983.[4] |
| F48 | Dundas | (a) & (b) JS White and Co Ltd, Cowes, Isle of Wight [3] | 17 October 1952 [4] | 25 September 1953 [5] | March 1956 [3] | 16 March 1956 [5] | £1,434,000 [3] | Broken up 1983.[4] |
| F91 | Murray | (a) & (b) Alex Stephen and Co Ltd, Glasgow [6] | 30 November 1957 [4] | 22 February 1955 [5] | 5 June 1956 [6] | 5 June 1956 [5] | £1,625,000 [6] | Broken up 1970.[4] |
| F85 | Keppel | (a) & (b) Yarrow and Co Ltd, Scotstoun, Glasgow [6] | 27 March 1953 [4] | 31 August 1954 [5] | 6 July 1956 [6] | 6 July 1956 [5] | £1,506,000 [6] | Broken up 1979.[4] |
| F62 | Pellew | (a) Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd, Wallsend-on-Tyne (b) The Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Co Ltd, Wallsend-on-Tyne [6] |
5 November 1953 [4] | 29 September 1954 [5] | 26 July 1956 [6] | 26 July 1956 [5] | £1,548,000 [6] | Broken up 1971.[4] |
| F51 | Grafton | (a) & (b) JS White and Co Ltd, Cowes, Isle of Wight [6] | 25 February 1953 [4] | 13 February 1954 | 8 January 1957 [6] | 8 January 1957 [5] | £1,411,000 [6] | Broken up 1971.[4] |
| F97 | Russell | (a) Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd, Wallsend-on-Tyne (b) The Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Co Ltd, Wallsend-on-Tyne [6] |
11 November 1953 [4] | 10 December 1954 [5] | 7 February 1957 [6] | 7 February 1957 [5] | £1,581,000 [6] | Broken up 1985.[4] |
| F78 | Blackwood | (a) & (b) JI Thornycroft and Co Ltd, Woolston, Southampton [7] | 14 September 1953 [4] | 4 October 1955 [5] | August 1957 [7] | 22 August 1957 [5] | £1,769,000 [7] | Broken up 1976.[4] |
| F88 | Malcolm | (a) Yarrow and Co Ltd, Scotstoun, Glasgow (b) Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Co, Wallsend-on-Tyne [7] |
1 February 1954 [4] | 18 October 1955 [5] | December 1957 [7] | 12 December 1957 [5] | £1,582,000 [7] | Broken up 1978.[4] |
| F94 | Palliser | (a) & (b) Alex Stephen and Co Ltd, Glasgow [7] | 15 March 1955 [4] | 10 May 1956 [5] | December 1957 [7] | 13 December 1957 [5] | £1,620,000 [7] | Broken up 1983.[4] |
| F84 | Exmouth | (a) & (b) JS White and Co Ltd, Cowes, Isle of Wight [7] | 24 March 1954 [4] | 16 November 1955 [5] | December 1957 [7] | 20 December 1957 [5] | £1,422,000 [7] | Broken up 1979.[4] |
| F80 | Duncan | (a) & (b) JI Thornycroft and Co Ltd, Woolston, Southampton [8] | 17 December 1953 [4] | 30 May 1957 [5] | October 1958 [8] | 21 October 1958 [5] | £1,960,000 [8] | Broken up 1985.[4] |
| Indian Navy | ||||||||
| F149 [9] | Khukri | (a) & (b) JS White and Co Ltd, Cowes, Isle of Wight [9] | 29 December 1955 [10] | 20 November 1956 [9] | 16 July 1958 [9] | Torpedoed and sunk by the Pakistan submarine Hangor 9 December 1971.[10] | ||
| F144 [9] | Kirpan | (a) & (b) Alex Stephen and Co Ltd, Glasgow [9] | 5 November 1956 [10] | 19 August 1958 [9] | July 1959 [10] | Transferred to Coast Guard Service 1978.[10] | ||
| F146 [9] | Kuthar | (a) & (b) JS White and Co Ltd, Cowes, Isle of Wight [9] | 19 September 1957 [10] | 14 October 1958 [9] | November 1959 [10] | Transferred to Coast Guard Service 1978.[10] | ||
See also[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Blackwood class frigate. |
Footnotes[]
- ↑ N.Freidman. British Frigates and Destroyers
- ↑ "Unit cost, i.e. excluding cost of certain items (e.g. aircraft, First Outfits)."
Text from Defences Estimates - ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Navy Estimates, 1956-57, pages 238-9, 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 1956
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 4.19 4.20 4.21 4.22 4.23 Gardiner, Robert Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995, pub Conway Maritime Press, 1995, ISBN 0-85177-605-1 page 515.
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 5.18 5.19 5.20 5.21 5.22 Blackman, Raymond VB Jane's Fighting Ships, 1961-62 pub Sampson Low, Marston & Co Ltd, page 270.
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 Navy Estimates, 1957-8, 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
- ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 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
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 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
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 9.9 Blackman, Raymond VB Jane's Fighting Ships, 1961-62 pub Sampson Low, Marston & Co Ltd, page 114.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 Gardiner, Robert Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995, pub Conway Maritime Press, 1995, ISBN 0-85177-605-1 page 173.
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Warning: Display title "<i>Blackwood</i> class frigate" overrides earlier display title "<i>Blackwood</i>-class frigate".
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