Leander-class frigate | The legendary warrior of Her Majesty
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- Опубліковано 1 лип 2024
- We are investigating the Leander-class, a.k.a Type 12I-class, one of the most successful British frigates. #Leander #Type12I #RoyalNavy
What are the features of the Leander-class' batches?
What differences were there in the national variants compared to the British frigates?
How was the performance of the Leander-class in the Falklands War?
Which developments did pave the way for the Leander-class' creation?
00:00 Introduction
01:14 Historical background
02:54 Programme history
03:09 Design
04:51 Batch 1 Leanders
04:51 Batch 2 Leanders
06:33 Batch 3 Broad-beamed Leanders
07:28 National variants (Condell-class / River-class / Van Speijk-class / Ahmad Yani-class / Nilgiri-class)
08:59 Former operators
09:08 Current operators
09:13 General characteristics
10:02 Armament modernizations
11:05 Helicopters
11:41 Combat experiences
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Music: Anthony Isaac: music from "Warship" (1973)
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I served on HMS Leander as cpo caterer from 1963 to1965 happy days! Now coming 92 years of age!
As a US sailor I had the honor of sailing on HMS Achilles for 3 days in the late 70s. The entire crew was great. Wish I was that young again :)
Wrong ship
@@mattyallen3396 Troll
@@mattyallen3396 HMS Achilles was a Leander class frigate
@@simpsonchen7189 What point are you making?
@@jonathanlegg4308 The point I was making was quite straight forward. Matty Allen wrote that Rick Morgan had not sailed on a Leander class frigate in the 1970s. The ship named HMS Achilles that was in service during this period was a Leander class Frigate.
I served on the hr.ms. van Speijk F802 a Dutch Leander class frigate 1980-1982. This ship is always on my mind.
In my 22 years serving in the Royal Navy as a marine engineer my favourite ship was the Leander class HMS Diomede F16 earning my first medal for the Falkland conflict. Y160 steam at. Boilers.
Old ships, 3F mess, 86-88
@@tee2899 S&S or WAFU? Presumably you joined after the Windies in 86, when the Dartmouth sprogs had given the mess back?
@@nemo6686 s&s, killick chef, joined around May or June 86. I'm still in touch with Lstwd Michael Crawford and ex LS Rob Smith and AB Mark Leeming
@@tee2899 So you would've been kicked out of 3F to make way for the middies on the Windies cruise? Did you go to Helsinki to shadow a Warsaw Pact exercise out of the Baltic and up the Norwegian Sea before that?
@@nemo6686 I joined just as you got back from Helsinki. We moved into the taz apes mess down aft
HMS Juno 1st commission for me, 16 years old and an around the world trip, a great crew and great memories.
She was used as Hero for a time
I served in two of these, HMS Minerva and HMS Diomede. My lasting memory is of them being happy ships. Of course a big ship's company by todays standards but people knew their 'part of ship' and got on well. Great memories!
I was a sea cadet in the town of Ajax Ontario, which was named after the HMS Ajax of River Plate fame. Ajax is on Lake Ontario and the Leander class frigate Ajax came for a port visit around 1978. My sea cadet corps marched through the town with the crew of Ajax and we had a week of activities with the crew of the ship.
A bit before the Canadian visit..........served 2nd commission HMS AJAX..........arguably the happiest and best ship I served in during my 12 years in RN.........."Give us an A".
My dad served in one of these, here in the Chilean Navy of the mid '80s, the PFG-07 "Admiral Lynch". Today the old Lynch is still active, albeit now in service in the Ecuadorian Navy as the BAE FM-02 "Morán Valverde". My memories of the Lynch in particular are hazy because I was only a few years old when my dad took me onboard the frigate for a day (I think it was Christmas of '85) but the Leander class had a long and distinguished career in the Chilean Navy, with the "Lynch" and her twin the "Condell" being among the main fleet, alongside the County class cruisers/destroyers it also had. They later bought two more, the HMS F-12 "Achilles" and HMS F-72 "Ariadne", which were renamed to PF-08 "Zenteno" and PF-09 "Baquedano" respectively.
Because the "Zenteno" and "Baquedano" were purchased second-hand from the Royal Navy, these did not have a long service with the Chilean Navy as the "Condell class" ("Condell" and "Lynch" were basically Batch 2 units newly built for the Chilean Navy, with their own specifications, which made them actually an offshoot of the original Leander class), but the fact that the Chilean Navy decided to buy them regardless speaks favorably about the whole Leander class.
@Leadblast I was aboard PFG Lynch when she arrived at Valparaiso for the first time, having joined her at Punta Arenas. She was greeted by a welcoming committee and a military band. A very moving experience. At the time I worked for the UK Plessey company. Because she was on her maiden voyage being delivered to Chile from the shipbuilders Yarrow in Glasgow, many of the crew had bought stuff to bring back to Chile that were prized in Chile such as bicycles and whisky, so every spare space on the ship was full of interesting things. 🙂
Thanks for this! I served on HMS Euryalus. The Leanders were fantastic ships with fine seakeeping qualities.
Great video , I served in the Royal New Zealand Navy for 6 and 1/2 years 1980 to 1986 and served on two Leander class frigates , HMNZS Canterbury F421 and HMNZS Wellington F69 They were truly great warships, Thank you for making this video.
I think one of them was sunk as an artificial reef off NZ ?
@@johnstirling6597 Both of them were. Canterbury in Deep water cove and Wellington in Wellington. Canterbury benefitted from some careful planning and preparation to sink her properly and is well-preserved, while Wellington is now a pile of rubble due to wave action. Also, the Leander frigate HMNZS Waikato is sunk just outside Tutukaka and is a great dive, although the bow is torn off under the bridge and has moved I guess 75 metres or more now away from the rest of the ship.
Southland was scrapped. Waikato still has it's gun, Wellington still has its gun, Canterbury had its gun removed to become a gate guard at Philomel and Southland had the antisubmarine suite instead of the gun.
@@davesherry5384 Thanks for that. Born and grew up in NZ but left 40 years ago, I recall as a kid in the 60s going to a public day at Devonport and being shown around one of the Leander Frigates and then sometime in the 80s seeing a video of one of them being sunk for an artificial reef .
@@johnstirling6597
HMS Scylla was also sunk as a
reef off Whitsand Bay Cornwall
I served on Bacchante 81-82 got back from the Falklands in August of 82, picked up a bunch of kiwis from ascension Island on the way home, we arrived in portsmouth and basically handed the ship over to the NZ Navy, she was refitted and became the Wellington. It was the Wellington that was sunk as an artificial reef approximately 16 years ago. I believe that there is a documentary on the sinking.
This is when we had a Navy I spent time on both type 81 tribal frigate as well as two Leander and one type 22 tribal was the best sea keeper
HMNZS Canterbury, Waikato, Otago and Wellington. Back when we had a navy
No portholes, chum and you are right. The Leanders had probably the best pre-wetting systems and anti-NBCD citadels of the time. We call them scuttles and forecastle is pronounced fo'c'sle. Those niggles a side, congratulations on an outstanding coverage of truly great ships (you should look at the Daring-class DDs, too. They and the Whitby/Leanders made a formidable force). The RAN had four Whitby and two Leanders as DEs and they traveled world-wide. Mainly with the FESR under SEATO and frequently came up against the Chinese and Russians. The Whitbys were also deployed during Konfrontasi with Indonesia and we frequently indeed commonly exercised with our RN and RNZN counterparts. You will note they all were fitted with the LWO2 air search radar as well Type 973 and 975 radars; sonar was Type 170 and 177. The LWO was mounted atop the foremast in the Whitbys and became known as the 'key'. This did produce significant heeling and was later moved aft all same the Leanders. Armament was a twin 4.5-inch, twin Bofors 40mm replaced by the Seacat system, twin Mk 10 Limbo mortars, Ikara ASW missile system and retrograde twin three-barelled ASW torpedoes.
Brilliant in any seaway (superior to the Perry FFGs we had and the Anzacs) and superb to 'drive', noting the hull is nothing more than a large box to put stuff in, as Australia is seeking new frigates I don't know why we cant build new hulls and then equip them with new systems.
I served on HMS Apollo during the Cod War with Iceland and afterwards on HMS Juno under Captains George Brewer and Ted Anson. Served under Ted again on HMS Ark Royal during her last commission before being retired. So many memories.
This takes me back, when my family lived in Gosport (father in MoD) and you'd see Leander's moored in Portsmouth dockyard and in summer when the "Navy Days" happened (naval base open day) you could get to look around the ships (frigates, destroyers, minesweepers etc) and also some of the workshops in the dockyard (ended up training & working there before the defence cutbacks).
Some of the ABs used to volunteer to stand at the bottom of the ladders to assist Lady Visitors during Navy Days - and they started putting canvas dodgers on the undersides of ladders to frustrate this.
Hi I served on HMS Scylla (F71) 1974/76. During that time HMS Achilles had a collision with a tanker at sea and the front end was badly damaged. It had to come to Plymouth for repairs and as it came in very slowly to be berthed nose to nose with The Scylla someone called across ‘No Smoking on HMS Scylla’s Fo’castle’! To which some wag shouted back ‘At least we’ve got one!’ That was quite funny at the time. A completely new front end was made for the Achilles and attached to it in Plymouth Dockyard. Happy Days!
My first time at sea was in the original HMS Leander, F109. She was an old lady by then, mid 80s. I was in my mid teens and I was horribly seasick! Our mess was aft, underneath where the anti sub mortars were. I got to fly in the Wasp helo which was brilliant for a kid.
Chilean Navy legendary frigates Leander Condell, Lynch, Zenteno y Baquedano.... estuve en RIMPAC 2004 (Hawaii)con la PFG 07 Lynch, dejando en alto nuestro buque !!!
AC is a necessity. Aside from crew comfort and efficiency AC is a must have to reduce humidity. Humidity will kill your electronics
Importance of AC is a bigger concern for operational in tropical waters like in Indonesian waters. Lack of AC would turn the crew cabins into microwaves.
I spent 6 months in the summer of 1974 on a tanker in the Gulf without AC. It was killer, in the engine room it was usually around 65c and on deck 45c.
@@Bruce-1956 was it oar powered?
@@bobbyrayofthefamilysmith24 😂😂
Very cool. The Royal New Zealand Navy operated five Leander-class frigates back in the day.
The HMNZS Southland F104, HMNZS Otago F111, HMNZS Wellington F69, HMNZS Waikato F55 and HMNZS Canterbury F421.
Sadly, all are gone now, with Southland and Otago being sold for scrap in the late 1980's and the remaining three sunk as artificial reefs/dive attractions.
It's a bloody shame one couldn't have been saved as a museum ship. They were replaced by just two ANZAC-class frigates; the HMNZS Te Kaha F77 and HMNZS Te Mana F111.
Otago was a Rothesay class frigate
I remember one of the ship was called the concrete ship because concrete was used in the ship's hull or something...
@@sloo6425 yes southland. I had mates that served on her and in heavy seas they reconned you could look down the main passage way down delow deck and see the ship twisting as it went over waves. So i believe they put concrete in to brace the ship up a bit
@@jameswatt2166 Thanks for the clarification... I suspected as much, but wasn't totally sure to be honest.
I remember one of them has a small beach buggy of some type secured to the upper part of the ship to use in port.
My elder brother, Richard, served on HMS Charybdis. He joined the "Mob£ at age 15, in 1967, when they still had the tot - and the birch!
Finished my naval career serving on F70 HMS Apollo. Great ship great crew. Last saw her leaving Portsmouth in 1976 as I left the service going to Portsmouth Harbour railway station.
I served in Jupiter, Penelope and Hermione, and have fond memories of my time spent on board.
They were a nightmare when on Gulf Patrol....the AC on board really was hopeless.....Great ships and great memories.
Agree - had the same issues with Scylla. Very fragile AC plant.
As an engine fitter apprentice saw the launch of Danae and worked on the build of Scylla. Did the last ever refit of Penelope before Devonport Royal Dockyard was privatised. Worked on many Leander class but my favourite was Penelope, to see her return to Devonport after the Falklands war was quite emotional
When I was working at the missile base at Aberporth in South Wales I heard stories of HMS Penelope shooting down a 4 a half inch artillery shell with the Sea wolf missile system.
I was a junior stoker on board when you were on board
I went to a reunion a couple of weeks ago
With
Bill stubley, Ian Wilkinson and Jim Duncan
Our old MEO Jan Grundy passed away a couple of years ago
That bow is about as British looking as it gets. Unique, purposeful and determined.
Great ships. Served in two in my time, HMS Arethusa (Ikara) as Navigator 1983-1986 and then Euryalus (Ikara) as Ops Officer/PWO(U) when she was doing Dartmouth Training Cruises 1988-1989. Much of my time in Arethusa was spent in either Stanavforlant or Stanavformed which was brilliant fun but hard work. Happy, happy days.
HMS Arethusa - last commission 1987-1989 Corro & Divo. A truly great ship, ships company and sea presence.
Great post thanks. Served on HMNZS Southland F104 (ex Dido) Ikara Leander, HMNZS Canterbury F421 Broad beam 45 Leander, and HMNZS Otago F111 Type 12. Fantastic ships, many great memories.
My first ship was the Batch 2, HMS Juno. I joined her as her refit as a training ship was completed and went through work-up, sea trials and BOST at Portland. Probably one of the most beautiful class of ships ever to sail!!
Certainly an impressive looking little ship, hopfully there is a 1:350 scale model kit for this class I can build
An excellent presentation of one of my favourite RN ships ( the other being the County Class. ) Kudos to you also for mentioning the TV series "Warship" - a superb series that still has no equal.
The county class are impressive although the weapons were obsolete. A seaslug salvo was as sight to behold. I was on Devonshire and Hampshire.
I thought the GMDs were great looking ships, though only ever got to visit the Kent as HTS.
I served in 4x Type 12 frigates in the Australian Navy in the 1980/90s when they were coming to their end of life. They were the most weatherly and toughest old girls I ever went to sea in. I was a Principal Warfare Officer for much of that time and we also often had the advantage of a manual ops room when automated ops rooms in other ships failed and we had to take over command of a task unit or an individual action! Fun times I will never forget. This video is so vivid and accurate (exempt the plummy accents) it almost makes me cry. Nostalgia hey!!
Please also check out our Rothesay class video. We hope you will enjoy it.
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Saw Scylla launched in 1968 in Devonport.
Later in 1976 as a fitter app worked on Ajax main engines. Was blessed with steam turbine work, finished up on Argonaut refit 1978/79, on T/A’s, steering gear etc.
Berwick T/A’s & Sirius when the stannic corrosion was lifting the nickel chrome coating on the main engine journals & wiping the white metal bearings. Very absorbing work & the steam turbines were a joy to work on especially setting to work.
Went sea trials on Argonaut, did the measured mile, suffered a total steam failure & remember they piped stabiliser trials just as we sat down to lunch. A few green dockyardies appeared topside lol.
Seem to remember we did 28 knots full ahead.
We then did 14 knots astern & the Brown bros rep (who thought we were mad), cleared out of the tiller flat while we were watching the steering gear take a pounding. With the row, It was like riding on the tube & the transom stern plate work was well hammered.
Watched Argonaut come home up the river post Falklands.
Shocked n saddened to see the faces of crew who we knew most of, after what they’d been through, bless ‘em. Engineering officer & one of the outside tiffs, their hair had turned white.
Twas a long time ago now but shan’t ever forget them, men or ships.
My first ship was a type 3 Leander, HMS Hermione She was the last ship to be refitted in Chatham Dockyard and came out with the Exocet & Sea Wolf conversion. If I’d stuck with Leanders and not been transferred to big ships, I may well have done my 22…
Gòod frigates if they never went to close in falklands they would have caught tge skyhawks and killed them RN should have kept the big carriers with phantom and later f 18 with destroyer frigate escort would have taken falklands sooner less loses if any.
I piped the Hermione out of Chatham !!
our fleet is more like a training squadron !!, the 1980s was the last time we had a fleet!!
Funny how leanders are thought as small ships.
@@Cous1nJack Well I was comparing her to Ark Royal… 🤪
Thank you for an interesting video. Some comments:
1 - As you said, the Leander and Rothesay/Whitby classes used a standard hull. So much so, that HMS Leander was laid down as HMS Weymouth of the Roth/Whit class.
2 - Two more users of this hull were Salisbury class aircraft direction frigate and Leopard class anti-aircraft frigate.
3 - 1967-8 HMS Penelope was detailed as a trials ship for a certain sonar upon which I was working as an MoD scientific civil servant. The crew hated this duty in general and us in particularly, calling us "Bloody scientists" to our faces and hindering the trials by such devices as turning up 2 days late and thrashing the ship at 26 kts into a 30 foot Atlantic swell so as to abort our tests and arrive in port early on the Friday for a long weekend.
4 - The TV series "Warship" was set on board the fictitious "HMS Hero" (an obvious name for a member of the Leander class, given the Greek legend of Hero and Leander). There's a jolly tale of how the ship was buzzed by a big Soviet reconnaissance plane which flew slowly past, evidently filming her, presumably because they thought it must be a ship they didn't know about! From Wiki:
Seven Leander-class frigates played the role of HMS Hero and for continuity, all were repainted with the pennant number F42 of HMS Phoebe, the main warship used for filming. The others were HMS Danae, HMS Dido, HMS Diomede, HMS Hermione, HMS Juno and HMS Jupiter.
I remember these so well. They used to come down from Devonport to Cornwall to do the measured mile, the land tower markers of which are just west of my hometown of Looe. My dad had the job of going up to the towers and putting the lights on when a ship was coming for trials. I saw many great ships doing their speed tests between those markers as a young boy perched on the cliffs above them; from aircraft carriers to subs. Unforgettable.
As an apprentice in Devonport i was sent down with my instructor to one make sure they were still there and give them a coat of paint if they were.
@@marcbiff2192 They were quite a landmark. I don't know if they are still there now; I have been overseas for over twenty years now. Did you meet farmer Dunn's bull? He wasn't very nice as I remember.
Thanks for this excellent video about an excellent ship.
Crazy to think these ships were replaced by the Type 21 Amazon class frigates, the Leanders would've survived the hits that finished those ships during the Falkands war.
No, the overwhelming consensus is the bomb hits taken by the T21 Ambushcade and HMS Ardent would have sunk any RN Type 12 or Leander. In the RN and Commonwealth navies there are many who think the Leander the smooth ride and effective frigate, but of those who actually served in the T21s many thought they were great. Some dismiss that as more spacious comfortable officer cabins and the always exploited in the late 1970s and early 80s ability to take the frigate out of harbour at speed 32 knots, blowing the mind of the watching chicks and combined with the RN officer uniform providing the sort of elite display most likely to get every 17/18 year old females clothes off fast. But it was more than that Admiral J R Hill said of the Type 21 they offered less rebundancy or necessary back up systems in radars, wiring etc than any post 1948 RN frigate but the crews of the T21 worshiped the design and against all read and logic believed the 21 could do anything. And if course Captain Hugo White finally given command of a T21 at 44 half way thru the Falklands war, took it from Plymouth to the Falklands in less than a week, flat out at 31k all the way other the fuel top ups at Gibraltar, Ancension and a RN tanker Rearmed with a 4/62 N5, 2 L70 , Phalanx and a Seasprite the T21 looks more reasonable than an over complex FFG7 which offered little by the standard of DDG Adams or Hobart or an Anzac which is essentially a rough riding German export frigate possibly successfully upgraded Into some sort of surface or AA patrol ship off North Australia but in no ways performs it's claimed role in replacing the T12, Leander, Rivet thru the Australian Blight, Bass Straight and Foveaux straight if the escort route is forced South by Backfires, Blackjacks or 8H Badgers with the cruise missiles based at Cam Rahn Bay or the Solomon's The Anzacs are not global combat ships and are not really designed for even warfare against diesel Kilo or Song subs.
@frederickmiles327 and breathe Fred. Interesting dit btw
Good to see them operated perfectly until today. But still, they need to rest now (for the remaining Leanders)
Indonesia is going to replace them with FREMMs and Arrowhead 140s
Gawd, I thought they had retired them a decade ago.
@@uberbeeg ikr. There's still no clarity how long will the class operated
Bacot lu
@@25.muh.siswadibudiartodani88 Wow.
My first ship in the RN was a batch 1 ikara conversion Hms Galatea(F18). My pit(bed) was in the mess square(3EZ)and I had more late nights than I wanted to. The accommodation in comparison to the type 21 frigates was positively “Nelsonion” however, I had a great time during a Far East tour in 1980 and have some great memories 😊
Thanks so much for making.
At action stations a common pastime when I was in the royal navy was to name all the leanders.
I used to look across and see many of the Leanders from the 42 I was on, I can only say I admired how they looked. That upward angle near the bow was striking. Steam propulsion with boiler power had me thinking also.
When I was in the U.S. Navy, we did exercises with one of the Chilean ships, the Lynch. If I recall correctly, the Lynch was equipped with the Alouette lll helicopter. Thanks for this video.
Yep Chile had two built and later UK transferred another two...they were the back bone of the Chilean navy..
I was there too in USA, but I was fly SH-32 Cougar !!!
Amazing analysis. Well done.
My father served on 2 Leander Class Frigates HMS Euryalus and HMS Aurora on several occasions during his time in the Navy. He was in Operations working with Radar systems.
Great vid on a beautiful ship! Thank you very much for sharing, appreciate it a lot.
Greets from the Netherlands 🌷, T.
I served on three of these. Penelope F127, Andromeda F57 and Galatea F18. Time of my life. As a young bloke on one of these in the 70s much fun was had!!!!!!!
Nice touch having the “Warship” theme in the background.
I was lucky to visited KRI Oswald Siahaan one of the the Ahmad Yani-class during local Naval Festival back in 2015 in Surabaya, Indonesia. This ship is still have strong presence, although it will retired soon
My stepdad was on F70 Apollo during the cod wars, I remember it well, with my mum glued to the TV for news on what was going on, he had been out of the Navy just long enough to avoid reserve duty when the Falklands kicked off and we had to go and retreive them
the Leander Class Frigates are one of the greatest post war era of surface warship that has ever built and sone few of this type of combat vessels as still in the active service until now
Hi I served on HMS APOLLO, WAS IN THE GULF, ROYAL YACHT ESCORT, SHE WAS A GREAT SHIP.
3:28 comment is wrong. The forecastle kink was primarily due to the hull design being originally for the Type 12 which had the standby diesel generators in the bow, and they needed head space. Although the Leanders moved the generators down into the hull, they kept the original hull shape. On the Type 12s you will often see black staining from the diesel exhausts under the raised forecastle.
I served on HMAS Torrens in the early eighties it was a great ship. Its ashamed that you didn't mention the other Australian DE's Derwent, Yarra, Stuart & Parramatta based off the Type 12M but more powerful as they were originally armed with Twin 4.5inch, Seacat, Ikara ASW system and Limbo mortar.
Shane, I was in Parramatta (1969), Derwent (1969 late to 1970), Torrens (72-73 and Swan late 73 -75)
Shane, As a lad I worked on the building of HMAS Torrens at the Cockatoo Island Dockyard.
@@richarddickson747 One built at CODOCK the other at Dogtown. Each then tended to have rivalry between the crews which came in handy.
@@andrewstackpool4911 That rivalry is part of the navy. I remember the story of an RN sailor who was one of the three survivors of HMS Hood which blew up with almost 2,000 killed and he was picked up by an RN destroyer and his first comment was to ask the name of the destroyer. When he was told the name he replied with disgust JUST MY BLOODY LUCK, PICKED UP BY A BLOODY SHIP FROM CHATHAM NAVAL BASE.
@@richarddickson747 You with respect are telling me? Here I was talking about how officers and senior sailors focused that rivalry for stuff like ship appearances. I was one of em and served for almost 50 years. SWAN and TORRENS tended to be a tad different as Leanders vice Whitney's but working together we were one. Up Top rivalry came down to RAN vs RN vs RNZN vs USN vs ??? Bottom line Type 12 people regardless of hull type were a special breed. I would add. In the Vietnam/SEATO/FESR period had the CHICOM and/or CCCCP balloon gone up we had about three days to live. That's something navy history overlooks. We all worked hard, played hard and partied hard. Then the various Type 12s were the best of the best. No matter the Navy.
Served in three of these in the RAN, HMAS Derwent, HMAS Swan and HMAS Stuart. Dammed things rolled on a wet sponge or even in Dry Dock 🤣🤣. Loved them all.
Please also check out our Rothesay class video for HMAS Derwent and HMAS Stuart. We hope you will enjoy it.
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Was privileged to have worked on X3 Leander class frigates in SA. Great ship!
The frigates of the SA Navy were actually the Rothesay class, which we will cover in a different video. We are still gathering suitable video footage to make the video. If you have video footage of President-class frigates or know where to find them, please share them with us.
What a grand video to get suggested YT, Hm the centurions of the sea some call the Type 12 Frigates serving up until now.
Hm I hope the game (WT) adds a Type 12I soon to bolster support to their cousin the Type 12 (F77) & slight distance cousin the Type 41, As the modifications of the Leander were helpful to their roles historically an if added too.
I kinda hope that prior to scraping the last of the Type 12I's one or some gets preserved an or sold back to Britain to be made a museum ship over their in it's original configuration as they were the workhorses of nations.
Would be interesting to see what type of video you can make on Oslo class. That class have an interesting development story, Oslo class is based on a heavily modified dealey class, but at some point they considered basing it on Fletcher class destroyers.
The Terne III ASW systems alone is also interesting.
The key to understanding the thinking behind the Leander class frigates that they were designed for protecting convoys in the Atlantic Ocean against air or submarine attack. For that reason they were not required to attain a high maximum speed, but instead to be able to maintain a relatively high rate of speed while operating in bad weather, which is not the same thing. Ships that are designed to go very fast cannot necessarily maintain that high rate of speed in heavy sea conditions in the open ocean, just as racing cars cannot necessarily maintain their high speed while driving off-road.
Well put. You got good high speed when needed balanced against good endurance. The five-bladed screws also gave much better thrust and reduced cavitation (unless one rang down full ahead) I suggest diesels or a CODOG type would not have worked as well.
Beautiful ship!
Great video. I remember HMS Plymouth too was hit by 5 bombs on 8-june by Daggers. Not a single bomb exploded though.
I was fortunate enough to visit HMS Plymouth a few times when she was in Birkenhead. Her scrapping was a national disgrace. 🤬
Great vid! I had been on most of the RN Ships and worked on Minerva, my first Ship, Rothesay, Plymouth [went on Sea Trials on her] Pheobe, getting her ready for the Falklands working 12 hour day shifts! Hermione my last ship and Chathams Last one Best one! I used to go to all the Navy Days except Rosyth! I went there before Chatham closed with a view of Transfering there! Too bleak and cold up there!
Good looking ship at speed too!
Thank you that was interesting.
I remember this Fragatas in my country, Chile, Now in Ecuador Navy.
The footage of those crashing through waves is fantastic! It seems like it's doing much more than the 27 kts this class was supposedly capable of.
Leanders and Whitney's were capable of more than 30 knots. I used at least 28 for RAS fast backdown approaches.
@@andrewstackpool4911 Really? I served on 3 broad-beamed Leanders which the video claims and physics suggests would be slower than the Batch 1 & 2. We told visitors that we could do 30 knots, but in speed trials were happy with 27 at standard temperature and pressure - 20°C, 1016 mb. On a cold day in the North Sea, we managed 28 and twisted our propeller shaft so much it had to be refitted. Never really got the kink out.
@@helloxyz You were using yours in different waters than us {mainly tropical/sub-tropical) and we may have had slightly different plants (I cant recall). But in both TORRENS and SWAN, we exceeded 30kt in full power trials and on ops. AS I said, I normally used 28kt for fast backdowns
@@andrewstackpool4911 when we did 28 kts on full power I went down to the towed array bay stood just above the props - the wake shot out above me about 12 feet. It was pretty awesome. We had 30,000 SHP Type Y160 boilers. For RASing, I doubt that we ever did more than 24 knots or I would have noticed, as I was usually on the bridge (but not having the ship). We typically did 220 revs, but I don't remember what speed that was. I think about 240 was the limit on Half- Ahead. I was never on the bridge when we used Full Ahead.
@@helloxyz Yup, all same aboard the converted Tribal DD ANZAC at 35kt and the bow wave ditto. I just looked up the Line Book. English Electric also 30,000 shp. We used 20kt for a standard alongside (140revs) and ditto for the breakaway. For the fast, 28kt was around 200-210 revs depending on sub-waterline hull condition. At Romeo at the Dip, alter to parallel about 1/2 cable out and commence to close at stationing speed (say 20kt). At Romeo Close Up increase power with 00W2 calling the ranges, As the bow aligned with the guide stern Stop Engines and set turns for Guide speed (84-105 depending). Momentum would let the ship continue along the side of the guide. There was a point where you felt the ship settle in the water and you went Half Ahead, at the same time starting to adjust distance off. If you and conditions got it right you ended in station else play with the revs and wheel. It was great fun and one of the things I liked about the Leanders that with the right conditions you drove it like a sports car; even at normal cruising speed around 15kt on long hauls.
I did a short tour on HMS Aurora (F10), before I was assigned a shore job, because of incurable extreme seasickness. 🥴👍🏼
I was lucky enough to spend a few days aboard HMNZS Canterbury and visited all the other Leanders and Rothseys of the RNZN. They were beautiful ships.
hope you enjoyed the rum issue on the flight deck
Please also check out our Rothesay class video. We hope you will enjoy it.
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I did serve on board ship leander class ship. I was in charge of radar section and later sonar section. I found that the redar 992, 966 are best of there kind hardy facing ang major issue with these system but the sonar 184PI was very hard to handle
Good old days!!!!
I actually got to tour the Leander and the HMS Achilles in the early 70s when they made port in Salvador Brazil. My family hosted some of the officers for dinner. The officers of the Achilles gifted my brother and I a flag from the ship.
At last! Thank you
Having the theme from the 1970s show form the TV series ‘Warship’ was a nice touch
Served on the Blackpool (type 12)in 62 for the Borneo Revolution and then the Ajax (Leander) in 65/66 for the Indonesian confrontation great times.
Also did Ajax 65-66 Far East ,happy days.👨🍳
Serving in the Royal Navy in the last two decades of the Cold War, many of us thought service in a Leander class frigate, a highly successful type and workhorse of the Fleet, a badge of honour (HMS Jupiter 1977-78 for me).
To me - a shipslover from Poland - they were SOMETHING in Naval warfare. What took me immensely, were their names, some very difficult to pronounce. 👍😊
an excellent and we'll researched article. however, I am sure that you have much more information about class. that you had to leave out due to time constraints.
perhaps you could create a multi part series for weapons that have served as long as the Leander class. covering all aspects of service.
I served on HMS Scylla and HMS Jupiter , both Leander class frigates.
Thanks for the vid. As a young sea cadet in the eighties, I got the great buzz of doing sea time on both Canterbury (Leander) and Otago (Rothsay) truely memorable days. Shame our (RNZN) seems to have been turned into a glorified coast guard nowadays.
Thanks. Please also check out our Rothesay class video. We hope you will enjoy it.
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i served on the HMAS SWAN the fluffy duck. river class in australia. based on the lleander. great ship.
When were you there, Peter?
@@andrewstackpool4911 87 or 88. Was second intake of g.ds in 3 Lima mess. So long ago now..
@@peterfarrell520 Pk. Roger that. Yeah. Was a tad back but memories never die (what went on aboard stays aboard). I was there 74-75. Did the Xmas Up Top run
@@andrewstackpool4911 she was a great ship. 74 I was 10 so a tad before my time. Lol.
@@peterfarrell520 Once three years later you could have been a Cadet MIDN.
What a beauty Leanders are. Here is me hoping the Indonesian Navy would preserve at least 1 of it.
Probably not, but the onus should be on the Brits to buy one back to preserve it.
I served on Dido and loved it(1972) and was shell loader on left barrel
I served on her as a sonarman in '87, by then commissioned in the Royal New Zealand Navy, and renamed HMNZS Southland.
I joined her in 73.
The first five minutes are a good intro to post war RN frigate evolution. For the RNZN/RAN the type 12 lacked range. It was Suva to Pearl Harbour at the max. The Whitby was built with a cruising turbine so it could just cross the Atlantic in a broken back WW3, which facing opposition might mean an escort travelling 3250/5500 miles. The ability to just cross the Atlantic at 10 knots on a cruising turbine was seen as too ' emvarassing' and unrealistic in the age of British policy and view in the age of nuclear deterence and the Rothesays were built like the late T21 for 2 days sprint and drift in the GIUK Atlantic gap or running with carriers and fleet tankers, constantly refueling East of Suez. They are not convoy escorts
Happy 2 years on HMS Arethusa, lovely ships
Most wonderful video about Leander class frigate with multiple purposes of British nevagation video clearly explained all characteristics of this collective tasks( anti submarines, anti ship s & aircraft's directory)...this wonderful video shared by excellent ( detective weapons) channel...video also labeled to several countries they have this Leander classfrigate..thanks for sharing
I was on the Jupiter and then the Cleopatra,loved the Jupiter.
Could you do a video about the g6 rhino ? And also good video, keep them coming !
My first ship was Juno
Let's hope the new type 31 frigates will be as successful as the Leander class in Royal navy service
They're selling well - but the Royal Navy needs to add some weapons to its variant.
@@well-blazeredman6187 due to recent Russian and chineese aggression the government has announced a new water pistol is to be added to 3 of the class from 2035 onwards
First commission Sirius (F40) 1966-68, inc attending the coronation of the King of Tonga, 4th July 1967. During a 4,5" gun shoot, both barrels were mistaken fired as I passed uner them on my way to film the benchmarks., Minerva (F45) leaving just before our future king joined, Bacchante (F69) attending the US bicentennial 4th July 1976. During the Cod War I witnessed and photographed HMS Scylla deliberately colliding with IGB Odinn. Happy days!
Takes me back I was HMS Scylla F71 from 91-92 part of the Lynx helicopter maintainers
Reminds me of the 70s TV series "Warship". In the first episode, the Admiral is congratulating the incoming CO on his "big ship" command, while adding that in his day it was considered a small ship.
My Old Ship - HMS Phoebe - I was first and second Commission.
And nowadays it's considered a small ship again. Type 45 dwarfs this Gone full circle
@@bobbyrayofthefamilysmith24 Always preferred small ships. I was the Scribes and ended up in the Turret and then on Seacat. Been on "Big" ships - hated them.
The junior ships was always known as the 'Canteen Boat'.
Not in my Navy they were not - we were Captain D a couple of Times. We did all the work.
The Rothesay class came after the Whitby class. They where repeats of the Whitby but tidied up internally, 9 was built and 3 cancelled for the improved Leander class. The Rothesay class would have a refit later to carry helicopters and looked like Leanders. The Tribal class was designed to operate in the Gulf and not in the Atlantic. Please don’t think I’m being negative, love your channel keep up the good work👍🏻.
The Tribal Class had half the propulsion set of the County class destroyers to make it cheaper.
Thanks. Please also check out our Rothesay class video. We hope you will enjoy it.
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Served on HMS Andromeda 1975 to end of 1978 as the ships medic.
Respect - memories of The Marlborough…
Technically the sun still doesn't set upon the British Empire. Long live Her Majesty.
At last the Navy gave some thought to the comfort of the crew. I served on Sirius from 72-74.
Seacat wasn't much use. It was obsolete pretty early on.
the limbo was no wonder weapon either, I served on HMAS Swan a river class, a development of the type 12
A marketing tool for frigate export sales and crew recruitment. The Seacat aimer was usually a 19 year old junior ratings.
Seacat allowed the RN and commonwealth navies to pretend they had equipped with modern and effective tech and mislead their government paymasters and Treasury they were getting a bargain.
Many old sailors and officers viewed the Seacat as just a rocket and the Leander as absurdly underarmed with a twin manually loaded 4.5 ( the loading is not automatic and the gun can not be fired automatically by a radar/ Computer -- detection/ analysis ( IFF)/ tracking and prioritisation / auto loading right ammunition/ firing and is really two slow firing with a fire rate of say 18 rpm X 2 for 2 min and 10-12rpm for say another 8 min.
2 Oerilikons are a junk bashing gesture, surely 2/L60 and 2/L70 might have been very much better for the Confrontation and the Falklands.
What on earth could Seacat have actually engaged it had a speed of about 600 mph or less, max height elevation of O.9 kilometres and a range of 3.5 miles (5km+), and it had to be collected into joystick guidance by an operator using binoculars or local radar a minimum of about 400 metres from the ship. The warhead seemed too small to be effective and it seemed to lack a radar proximity fuse.
First Lord Mountbatten argued it was equivalent to a 300lb 8 inch shell for use against FPB and it was so accurate that the joystick operator could put it through a window half a mile away. What real target could it hit ??- It was argued that Seacat was a deterrent to Soviet Helix helicopter or May 38 MPA ( P3 Orion copy), flying close to RN frigates. I would have thought 40 mm Bofors or the twin 30 mm Oerilikons, fitted too late after the Falklands more useful, and proved so in the confrontation.
During the controversial RNZN Muroroa deployment in 1973 Otago F111 a T12 and Leander, F421 Canterbury (1971) yarrow were constantly harrassed by French Neptune P-2, making low passes, both sides using engaged serious electronic warfare with the RNZN frigates running in the intermediate zone .
The RAN flagship HMAS Supply a tanker providing observation for the Australian media and officers and to some extent the world and US regarded it as an Australian led deployment The RNZN frigates put live Seacats on the launchers to hopefully discourage the French P2 Neptune's but seemed to regard the Frigates 4.5 turrets with shells in their loading trays -as the main deterence to the 3 French Corvettes and possibility of French boarding parties and had Mk 46/44 in the Mk 32 tubes -. Source Lt Cdr G.Wright Ret, XO of Otago - several books on the RNZN deployment.
@@TheWareek How did the RAN rate Ikara. .My lecturer Richard Kennaway said when given a photo of Ikara in 1981 on its launcher on HMS Bristol. That the RNZN couldn't possibly buy that a Ikara Leader ( HMS Dido) Hmnzs Southland, it Ikara is a Polaris missile. It is of course claimed the RN version of Ikara was never NCB fitted but how else, could the inaccuracy ever be overcome
@@TheWareek Seacat it was claimed by RN and RNZN crews could be used against surface targets, but never officially. It was however claimed Limbo was really a big gun/ Howitzer which could be directed against FPB and surfaced subs.I would have thought the Erika version of the Bofors a/s rocket launcher with a range 0.9 km to 4.5 km might be effective against a surfaced or submerging sub 2 miles or 4km way or FPB and a much better solution than a 1km range Limbo.
Used to watch them going up and down the Forth to Rosyth.
Same from Portobello :)
Same and used to love visiting them at Navy Days at Rosyth.
My first ship was a Leander, HMS Juno.
The last class of frigate 2b designed & built in the UK & sold around the world. Those were the days ..
The new frigates are bieng sold to other navies aren't they?
@@bobbyrayofthefamilysmith24 Built locally in Canada & Australia to a UK design
@@markymark3572 oh right so the old ones were built in British yards then. Still better than nowt innit?
@@bobbyrayofthefamilysmith24 Oh yes, that it is. The US navy is going to have it's new Italian design frigate built in the US, so same thing
I served on HMS Leander and was involved with her decommission. She had a mod you didnt mention, 25 tons of concrete added to her bow patrol boats for the use of
My father's last ship before he left in 1967 1968 from Forest Moor. His first ship was Ramillies 1938 to 1941
@@Ponieslad Oh wow i was at Forest Moor as well tho a tad later around 85
@@gowdsake7103 and i was at "foggy moor" in 1978. not for long as my draft to "boats" came through....but forest moor was a brilliant draft. I often wish i could buy up the comms centre to turn into a house. I think it is now shut down ???? cheers mike (BOB / Skippy ) ilett ex REM
@@d165354 I believe it got turned into a school.
I was there twice. First time was superb, old nissen huts and the best food ever in the
RN. Even cadged a married quarter for a while as they ran out of room
Second time was shit, they had modernised ! Crap food and mess decks for 12 but claustrophobic and boring
The com cen yes was huge with a stock of CHB receivers I loved refurbing those. Second time I did watchkeeping and remember at around 1 AM the chief used to send half the watch to sleep in the bedding store
I must have been there in the older times (1978)....but there were a few of us to a mess, and "Yes" the food was brilliant, all local produce and loads of cakes.
I was an REM and later did the type 12 course....now have one here in my submarine display. (open free of charge)
went on your channel to see if i could contact you direct. notice you are into astronomy........here in Orkney we have great black skies but cold ...however no night time in the summer.........cheers mike.