HMS CHICHESTER F59

HMS CHICHESTER F59

Class……………………………Salisbury-class (Type 61) Aircraft Direction Frigate

Builder………………………..Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd., Govan

Yard number……………….771

Laid down..………………….26 June 1953

Launched….…………………21 April 1955

Completed.………………….16 May 1958

Propulsion.…………………..2 shafts driven by 8-off Admiralty Standard Range (ASR1) 12-cylinder oil engines manufactured by Crossley Brothers Ltd., Manchester

Speed..…………………………25 knots

Range…………………………..7600 nm at 16 knots

Fate…………………………….1981: Arrived Queenborough 17/03/1981 for breaking up by Shipbreaking Queenborough.

 

DESIGN HISTORY On the same hull as the Type 41, the Type 61 design sacrificed the after 114mm twin gun in favour of a much more comprehensive air warning radar outfit. The ships were thus a much more valuable addition to the fleet than the Leopard class, for with adequate radar coverage carrier aircraft provided much better defence against air attack than guns. This was recognized quite carry, and the Leopard class was stopped at four units whereas the Salisbury class was to have been expanded to eight units. Furthermore, the survivors had received a more comprehensive modernization.

 

Fourth ship, Lincoln, was completed later, with a big deckhouse aft to take a GWS20 director and a quadruple Seacat missile launcher (a single 40mm gun was mounted initially). Two more of the class, Exeter and Gloucester, were cancelled under the 1957 Defence Review and another (Coventry) was suspended. It was hoped to order her in 1961, but by then the more flexible Leander design was ready and so she was replaced by Penelope..(NavyPedia)

 

HMS CHICHESTER F59 photographed in 1967 in an official MOD photo.

 

©MOD-Print Own Collection

 

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