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EspañolTYPE 42 DESTROYER
The 'Type 42' or '''Sheffield'' class', are guided missile destroyers of the Royal Navy.
| Contents |
| History |
| Design Details |
| Replacement |
| Notes |
| See also |
History
The class was designed in the late 1960s to provide fleet area air-defence. In total fourteen vessels were constructed in three batches, eight of which remain in service. In addition, two ships were also built to the same specifications as the Batch 1 vessels for the Armada Republica Argentina. The ships, along with the Type 23 frigates, today form the backbone of the Royal Navy surface fleet. HMS ''Sheffield'' and ''Coventry'' were lost in the Falklands War to enemy action, this war being the first where two surface warships of the same design have been on opposite sides since the second world war, where four Flower class corvettes were launched by the German navy.
The Type 42 began as an original, lighter-design to complement the heavier Bristol (Type 82) air defence cruisers, proposed to give protection for the proposed CVA-01 carrier. When the class 82, with only the Bristol being built, was cancelled with the proposed carrier by the Labour Government of 1966, the Type 42 was proposed as a design with the same capabilities as the far larger Type 82, but at a much lower cost. The class is fitted with the Sea Dart surface-to-air missile first deployed on the ''Bristol''. The Type 42s were also given a flight deck and hangar to field an anti-submarine warfare helicopter, greatly increasing their utility compared to the Type 82.
The design was budgeted with a ceiling of £19 million per hull, but soon ran over-budget. The final design at (£21 million) became the 'Batch 3'. To cut costs, the first two batches had 47 feet removed from the bow and the beam-to-length ratio was reduced. These Type 42s performed poorly during the contractor's sea trials particularly in heavy seas and the hull was extensively examined for other problems. The Batch 1s (''Sheffield'' through to ''Coventry'') and Batch 2s (''Exeter'' through to ''Liverpool'') are notoriously poor sea-keepers compared to the later Batch 3s.
The class was fitted with exhaust deflectors to her Rolls Royce Olympus TM1A turbine engines to minimise damage to overhead aerials. As this was a prominent target for then new infra-red homing missiles, the deflectors were removed during later refits in Portsmouth. All subsequent Olympus and Tyne uptakes were fitted with 'cheese graters' which mix machinery space vent air with the engine exhaust.
The Argentine versions of this class are both based at Puerto Belgrano; ''Santissima Trinidad'' now being used for spares for her heavily modified sister, ''Hercules'', who sports a new aft superstructure and hangar and launchers of Exocet missiles.
Design Details
The Type 42 Destroyer was built to fill the gap left by the cancellation of the large Type 82 destroyer. It was intended to fulfil the same role, with similar systems yet on a smaller and more cost effective hull. The ships are primarily carriers for the GWS-30 Sea Dart surface-to-air missile system. Although claimed to be obsolete, it is still effective against most modern missile threats, as proven in the 1991 Gulf War.
The Type 42 is also equipped with a 4.5 inch (114 mm) gun, six torpedo launchers, and two Vulcan Phalanx Mk 15 Close-In Weapons Systems (CIWS) were fitted after the loss of the ''Sheffield'' to an Exocet missile. There have been three batches of ships, Batch 1 & 2 displacing 4,820 tonnes and Batch 3 (sometimes referred to as the '''Manchester'' class') displacing 5,200 tonnes. As per the norm, Batch 3 ships were heavily upgraded. Although the Batch 3 ships were lengthened, the planned Sea Wolf missile systems were never fitted. Because of their more general warfare role, the two Argentine ships have been fitted with the MM38 Exocet, and not with a CIWS.
The electronics suite includes one Type 1022 L-band long range radar with Outfit LFB track extractor, one Type 996 S-band 3D target indication radar with Outfit LFA track extractor, two Type 909 X-band fire control radars and an Outfit LFD Radar Track Combiner.
In recent years the importance of the Type 42 destroyers has increased rather than diminished. The UK has adopted an increasingly expeditionary defence policy and the deletion of the Sea Dart missile systems from the ''Invincible'' class aircraft carriers has made the role of escort all the more important.
All ships are propelled by Rolls Royce TM3B Olympus and Rolls Royce RM1C Tyne gas turbines, arranged in a COGOG (Combined Gas or Gas) arrangement, driving through Synchronous Self-Shifting Clutches into a Double Reduction, Dual Tandem, Articulated, Locked-Train gear system and out through five blade Stone Manganese Controllable Pitch Propellers (CPP). All have four Paxman Ventura 16YJCAZ diesel generators creating 1 MW of 3ph 440V power.
Replacement
The ships are all scheduled to be out of service by 2014. As of 2007, none of the remaining Batch 1 vessels are in commission. Initially, the UK sought to procure replacements first in collaboration with seven other NATO nations under the NFR-90 project and then with France and Italy through the Horizon CNGF programme. However, both these collaborative ventures failed and the UK decided to go it alone with a national project. Jane's described this situation in its 2000 Warship's edition as 'little short of a national scandal'.
The Type 42s are now to be replaced by eight Type 45 destroyers. The first six Type 45s; HMS ''Daring'', ''Dauntless'', ''Defender'', ''Dragon'', ''Duncan'' and ''Diamond'' have been ordered, with a further two due to be ordered later in the decade. The Type 42 class has always suffered from cramped accommodation, a problem for both crew safety and comfort and also when finding space for upgrades. The Type 45s are to be considerably larger; displacing almost 7,400 tonnes, compared to the Type 42 displacement of 4,820–5,200 tonnes.
Notes
1. ARA ''Hercules'' only
See also
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