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fighting ships of the world

ROYAL NAVY (UNITED KINGDOM)

TORPEDO SHIPS

SHEFFIELD missile destroyers (1975 - 1983)

Sheffield 1980

Exeter 2000

Name No Yard No Builder Laid down Launched Comp Fate
Batch 1
Sheffield D80   Vickers SB, Barrow 15.1.1970 10.6.1971 16.2.1975 sunk 4.5.1982
Birmingham D86   Cammell Laird, Birkenhead 28.3.1972 30.7.1973 3.12.1976 sold 10.2000
Newcastle D87   Swan Hunter, Wallsend 21.2.1973 24.4.1975 23.3.1978 sold 11.2008
Coventry D118   Cammell Laird, Birkenhead 29.1.1973 21.6.1974 10.11.1978 sunk 25.5.1982
Glasgow D88   Swan Hunter, Wallsend 16.4.1974 14.4.1976 24.5.1979 sold 12.2008
Cardiff D108   Vickers SB, Barrow // Swan Hunter, Hebburn 6.11.1972 22.2.1974 24.9.1979 sold 11.2008
Batch 2
Exeter D89   Swan Hunter, Wallsend 22.7.1976 25.4.1978 19.9.1980 sold 9.2011
Southampton D90   Vosper Thornycroft, Woolston 21.10.1976 29.1.1979 31.10.1981 sold 10.2011
Liverpool D92   Cammell Laird, Birkenhead 5.7.1978 25.9.1980 1.7.1982 sold 10.2014
Nottingham D91   Vosper Thornycroft, Woolston 6.2.1978 18.2.1980 14.4.1983 sold 10.2011

 

Displacement standard, t

3560

Displacement full, t

4250

Length, m

119.5 pp 125.0 oa

Breadth, m

14.3

Draught, m

4.30 hull 5.90 sonar dome

No of shafts

2

Machinery

Batch 1: COGOG: 2 Rolls-Royce TM-3B gas turbines / 2 Rolls-Royce Tyne RM-1A gas turbines

Batch 2: COGOG: 2 Rolls-Royce TM-3B gas turbines / 2 Rolls-Royce Tyne RM-1C gas turbines

Power, h. p.

Batch 1: 54400 / 8200

Batch 2: 54400 / 10680

Max speed, kts

28

Fuel, t

gas turbine oil 600

Endurance, nm(kts) 4500(18)

Armament

D80: 1 x 2 Sea Dart GWS30 SAM (22 Sea Dart), 1 x 1 - 114/55 Mk 8, 2 x 1 - 20/70 Mk 7A, 1 helicopter (Lynx)

D86-90, 108, 118: 1 x 2 Sea Dart GWS30 SAM (22 Sea Dart), 1 x 1 - 114/55 Mk 8, 2 x 1 - 20/70 Mk 7A, 2 x 3 - 324 STWS.2 TT, 1 helicopter (Lynx)

D91, 92: 1 x 2 Sea Dart GWS30 SAM (22 Sea Dart), 1 x 1 - 114/55 Mk 8, 2 x 2 - 30/75 GCM-A03, 2 x 1 - 20/90 GAM-B01, 2 x 1 - 20/70 Mk 7A, 2 x 3 - 324 STWS.2 TT, 1 helicopter (Lynx)

Electronic equipment

D80, 86-88, 108, 118: type 965M AKE-2, type 992Q, type 1006, 2x type 909 radars, type 162M, type 184M sonars, type 670, UAA(1) ECM suites, 2x Corvus decoy RL, 4x DLF(2) floating decoy launchers, type 182 torpedo decoy, ADAWS-4 CCS

D89, 90: type 1022, type 992Q, type 1006, 2x type 909 radars, type 162M, type 184M sonars, type 670, UAA(1) ECM suites, 2x Corvus decoy RL, 4x DLF(2) floating decoy launchers, type 182 torpedo decoy, ADAWS-7 Mod.1 CCS

D91, 92: type 1022, type 992Q, type 1006, 2x type 909 radars, type 162M, type 184M sonars, type 670, UAA(1) ECM suites, 4x DLD decoy RL, 4x DLF(2) floating decoy launchers, type 182 torpedo decoy, ADAWS-7 CCS

Complement

253

Project history: The cancellation of CVA-01 led to a new Staff Requirement for a smaller fleet escort capable of providing area defence. The result was the Type 42 guided missile destroyer (DDG), which achieved significant savings on cost and displacement by dropping the Ikara long-range ASW missile and Limbo mortar and adopting an all-gas turbine (COGOG) propulsion system, using Rolls-Royce Olympus turbines for main drive and Tynes for cruising.

    Although lacking Ikara, the ASW capability was greatly improved over previous ships by providing a hangared Lynx light helicopter (armed with torpedoes and missiles). Unlike Bristol the forecastle deck extends right aft to form the helicopter flight deck, leaving a small covered quarterdeck below for handling mooring wires. Close-range ASW defence was provided by triple TT similar to the USN Mk 32, firing Mk 44 or Mk 46 weapons, but eventually to fire the new Stingray lightweight torpedo. Apart from having the Sea Dart twin-arm launcher forward (a lighter hand-operated version of the type in Bristol), the configuration was similar to Bristol: Type 909 Sea Dart trackers forward and aft and a Type 965 (AKE-2) air warning radar above the forward superstructure.

    The appearance was quite different from previous DLGs, with a single wide funnel. Sheffield appeared with prominent 'Loxton Bends' on each side, an attempt to keep her heat signature down, but this was not repeated in following ships. Exeter commissioned in 1980 with the new Type 1022 interim STIR radar in place of the double 965, and this set was retro-fitted to the earlier ships. Sheffield did not receive her STWS TT, but the others carried them on small platforms abreast the mainmast.

    The main weakness of the Sheffield class lay in the constraints placed on dimensions during the design phase. As a result of Treasury pressure the length and beam were kept down, resulting in cramped accommodation and reduced endurance. The problem of endurance was shrugged aside on the grounds that the ships had no 'east of Suez" role and would always be within reach of a replenishment group around the coasts of northwestern Europe, but the short forecastle affects their seaworthiness by making them very wet forward. This fault has been rectified in later vessels (see below), but it places severe limits on what can be added to the surviving ships.

    The high degree of automation had resulted in a reduction of one hundred men over Bristols complement. The layout of the machinery compartments allows easy removal routes, and a complete change of gas turbine can be carried out by the ship herself: all that was needed was a sheltered anchorage and a crane capable of lifting the turbine in its module.

    Cardiff was seriously delayed by a shortage of skilled manpower at Barrow-in-Furness and had to be towed to the Tyne in February 1976 for completion by Swan Hunter. Liverpool was the first to be built by the 'extrusion' method: large sections of hull were built separately and then moved on to the slipway. This enabled Cammell Laird to cut delivery time by a year.

Modernizations: 1982, Birmingham: + 2 x 2 - 30/75 GCM-A03, 2 x 1 - 20/90 GAM-B01

1982, Newcastle, Glasgow, Cardiff, Exeter, Southampton: - 2x Corvus decoy RL; + 2 x 2 - 30/75 GCM-A03, 2 x 1 - 20/90 GAM-B01, 4x DLD decoy RL

mid-1980s, Birmingham, Nottingham: - 2 x 1 - 20/70; + 2 x 1 - 20/90 GAM-B01

1984-1989, Newcastle, Glasgow, Cardiff: - 2 x 2 - 30/75, type 992Q, type 965M (AKE-2) radars, type 184M sonar, UAA(1), type 670 ECM suites, ADAWS-4 CCS; + 2 x 6 - 20/76 Mk 15 Phalanx, type 996, type 1022, 2x Mk 90 radars, type 2016 sonar, UAA(2) , type 675 ECM suites, type 182 torpedo decoy, 2x DEC laser dazzlers, ADAWS-7 CCS

1987-1989, Birmingham: - 2 x 2 - 30/75, type 965M (AKE-2) radars, type 184M sonar, UAA(1), type 670 ECM suites, ADAWS-4 CCS; + 2 x 6 - 20/76 Mk 15 Phalanx, type 1022, 2x Mk 90 radars, type 2016 sonar, UAA(2), type 675 ECM suites, type 182 torpedo decoy, 2x DEC laser dazzlers, ADAWS-7 CCS

1987-1989, Exeter, Southampton, Liverpool, Nottingham: - 2 x 2 - 30/75, type 992Q radar, type 184M sonar, UAA(1), type 670 ECM suites; + 2 x 6 - 20/76 Mk 15 Phalanx, type 996, 2x Mk 90 radars, type 2050 sonar, UAA(2), type 675 ECM suites, type 182 torpedo decoy, 2x DEC laser dazzlers

2000, all survived: - 2 x 3 - 324 TT, type 1006 radar, type 675 ECM suite; + type 1007, type 1008 radars

2000, Exeter, Southampton: - UAA(2) ECM suite; + UAT(5) ECM suite

2001, Newcastle, Exeter, Southampton, Liverpool: - 2 x 1 - 20/70

early 2000s, some ships: - 4x DLF(2) floating decoy launchers, type 182 torpedo decoy; + 4x DLF(3) floating decoy launchers, type 2070 torpedo decoy

Naval service: Sheffield was disabled and set on fire by unexploded Argentine AM39 Exocet missile launched by Super Étendard attacker on 4 May 1982 off Falklands; the wreck was scuttled 10 May. Coventry was sunk by 3 bombs from Argentine A-4 Skyhawk attackers on 25 May 1982 off Falklands. Glasgow was hit by 1000pdr bomb from Argentine aircraft 12.5.1982, bomb pierced the hull of the ship from side to side but did not explode. Southampton was badly damaged on 3 September 1988 a collision with a roll-on/roll-off ship in the Persian Gulf: she was rebuilt on the Tyne during 1989-91.

Sheffield 1981

Newcastle 2003

 

© Ivan Gogin, 2016