- Joined
- 27 September 2006
- Messages
- 5,744
- Reaction score
- 5,634
The armament of escort ships has become increasingly complicated.
Up until 1960 a typical Royal Navy frigate needed only a gun of some kind and anti submarine mortars or torpedos. Accordingly the vessels could be built in some numbers.
By 1970 the helicopter had become an essential tool for any RN escort ship. A basic point defence missile system (Seacat) had replaced the 40mm gun.
In the 1970s more missiles arrived. Ikara for ASW Exocet for anti-ship and Seadart and Seawolf for air defence.
26 gun and helicopter carrying Leander class ships gave way to smaller numbers of conversions (Leanders with Ikara, Exocet or Seawolf) and new build ships (T42 with Seadart and T22 with Seawolf).
By the end of the Cold War the new RN frigate (T23) carried a range of weapons unimaginable in 1960. A large ASW helo (Merlin) could be carried. Harpoon SSMs and Seawolf PDMS could deal with Soviet threats that had emerged since 1960.
Not surprisingly (except to journalists and the public) the numbers of escort ships fell dramatically.
The end of the Cold War froze RN frigate procurement for thirty years. But the 12 remaining T42 Air Defence destroyers were eventually replaced by six T45 destroyers. In US terms this was like replacing Perry class frigates with Burke destroyers.
Since 1991 RN ships have had to be able to take on a broad range of peacetime policing and relief tasks while still being able to shoot down missiles in the Gulf or provide air defences for the 2012 Olympics.
The threat from China, N Korea, Iran and Russia is not as coherent as that posed by the Soviets in the 80s. But the range of weapons at their disposal is daunting.
The six T45 are being joined by handfuls of T26 and T31 frigates. Each one of these ships is probably more capable than the whole RN frigate force in 1960 but numbers have shrunk to the figures of the 1939 battleship and battlecruiser fleet.
Up until 1960 a typical Royal Navy frigate needed only a gun of some kind and anti submarine mortars or torpedos. Accordingly the vessels could be built in some numbers.
By 1970 the helicopter had become an essential tool for any RN escort ship. A basic point defence missile system (Seacat) had replaced the 40mm gun.
In the 1970s more missiles arrived. Ikara for ASW Exocet for anti-ship and Seadart and Seawolf for air defence.
26 gun and helicopter carrying Leander class ships gave way to smaller numbers of conversions (Leanders with Ikara, Exocet or Seawolf) and new build ships (T42 with Seadart and T22 with Seawolf).
By the end of the Cold War the new RN frigate (T23) carried a range of weapons unimaginable in 1960. A large ASW helo (Merlin) could be carried. Harpoon SSMs and Seawolf PDMS could deal with Soviet threats that had emerged since 1960.
Not surprisingly (except to journalists and the public) the numbers of escort ships fell dramatically.
The end of the Cold War froze RN frigate procurement for thirty years. But the 12 remaining T42 Air Defence destroyers were eventually replaced by six T45 destroyers. In US terms this was like replacing Perry class frigates with Burke destroyers.
Since 1991 RN ships have had to be able to take on a broad range of peacetime policing and relief tasks while still being able to shoot down missiles in the Gulf or provide air defences for the 2012 Olympics.
The threat from China, N Korea, Iran and Russia is not as coherent as that posed by the Soviets in the 80s. But the range of weapons at their disposal is daunting.
The six T45 are being joined by handfuls of T26 and T31 frigates. Each one of these ships is probably more capable than the whole RN frigate force in 1960 but numbers have shrunk to the figures of the 1939 battleship and battlecruiser fleet.
