RN Type 42 AAW Destroyer (Study 382) 1964 question

[Thorvic]

In "Rebuilding the Royal Navy" by D K Brown and "British Destroyers & Frigates" by N Friedman there are drawings of the study 381 ASW type 17 frigate and its half sister the study 382 the Type 42 AAW destroyer.

Bother share a common hull form are bare a striking resemblance to the larger Type 82 of the same period.

However one thing appears to be missing, as an AAW frigate armed with Sea Dart shouldn't it have an air search radar as well as the Type 992 set atop the main mast. The type 909 Sea Dart director is immediately forward of the main mast so i cant see them fitting a radar ahead of this on the superstructure as it would block target tracking !!!.

Here's a drawing somebody put on Shipbucket of the design that matches the official drawings in the books

 

[JohnR]

I wondered about that myself, maybe it was intended to fit the 965 ontop of the MACK mainmast. One of the early T42 design - the one with a single f.c. radar - had the 965 aft as did the County class.

The sketch designs made me wonder why the primary weapons system was placed in different positions. Wouldn't it have been more logical to have design a common hull from around the front of the bridge structure aft, and design just the bow area to take the relevant weapons systems.

Adjustments could have been made to the structure to reduce weights to take into account different equipment - such as only a single hangar on the AAW variant which carried the heavier radar and extra f.c.

Regards.

 

[RP1]

Wouldn't it have been more logical to have design a common hull from around the front of the bridge structure aft, and design just the bow area to take the relevant weapons systems.

Sea Dart has a large, cuboid magazine which would adversely affect the hull lines forward - examine the "tub" shape of the actual T42s for an example. This was a problem with the T22 derived T44, IIRC, which would have had quite fine lines forward.

RP1