NAVYPEDIA

Photo

Dundas 1973

Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comp	Fate
Blackwood	F78	4149	Thornycroft, Woolston	14.9.1953	4.10.1955	22.8.1957	BU 11.1976
Duncan	F80	4150	Thornycroft, Woolston	17.12.1953	30.5.1957	21.10.1958	BU 2.1985
Dundas	F48		White, Cowes	17.10.1952	25.9.1953	9.3.1956	BU 4.1983
Exmouth	F84		White, Cowes	24.3.1954	16.11.1955	20.12.1957	BU 2.1979
Grafton	F51		White, Cowes	25.2.1953	13.9.1954	11.1.1957	BU 12.1971
Hardy	F54	2012	Yarrow, Scotstoun	4.2.1953	25.11.1953	15.12.1955	hulk 10.1979
Keppel	F85	2013	Yarrow, Scotstoun	27.3.1953	31.8.1954	6.7.1956	BU 4.1979
Malcolm	F88	2032	Yarrow, Scotstoun	1.2.1954	18.10.1955	12.12.1957	BU 8.1973
Murray	F91	638	Stephen, Glasgow	30.11.1957	22.2.1955	5.6.1956	BU 8.1970
Palliser	F94	639	Stephen, Glasgow	15.3.1955	10.5.1956	13.12.1957	BU 3.1983
Pellew	F62	1829	Swan Hunter, Wallsend	5.11.1953	29.9.1954	26.7.1956	BU 4.1971
Russell	F97	1831	Swan Hunter, Wallsend	11.11.1953	10.12.1954	7.2.1957	BU 7.1985

Technical data

Displacement standard, t	1180
Displacement full, t	1535
Length, m	91.4 pp 94.5 oa
Breadth, m	10.7
Draught, m	4.70 max
No of shafts	1
Machinery	F78, 80: 1 set Thornycroft geared steam turbines, 2 Babcock & Wilcox boilers F48, 51, 84: 1 set White geared steam turbines, 2 Babcock & Wilcox boilers F54, 85, 88: 1 set Yarrow geared steam turbines, 2 Babcock & Wilcox boilers F91, 94: 1 set Stephen geared steam turbines, 2 Babcock & Wilcox boilers F62: 1 set Swan Hunter geared steam turbines, 2 Babcock & Wilcox boilers F97: 1 set Wallsend Slipway & Eng geared steam turbines, 2 Babcock & Wilcox boilers
Power, h. p.	15000
Max speed, kts	27
Fuel, t	oil
Endurance, nm(kts)	4500(12)
Armament	F78, 84, 88, 94: 3 x 1 - 40/60 Mk 9, 2 x 3 - 305 Limbo Mk 10 ASWRL, 2 x 2 - 533 TT F80, 48, 51, 54, 85, 91, 62, 97: 3 x 1 - 40/60 Mk 9, 2 x 3 - 305 Limbo Mk 10 ASWRL
Electronic equipment	type 974, type 291 radars, type 174, type 170, type 162 sonars
Complement	140

Standard scale images

Graphics

Project history

The high unit cost of the Whitby design - £3.5m - led the Admiralty to consider cheaper vessels which could to be built more quickly: the result was the Type 14 (there was no Type 13), with the same ASW capacity as the Type 12, but with only half the power and virtually every other capability eliminated. All were ordered in March 1951.

The result illustrates vividly die problems of building a 2nd rate frigate, for although the Blackwoods achieved exactly what the Staff Requirement demanded - good ASW qualities at half the cost of the Whitbys - they were not popular in the Navy. Described as a utility design (as against the 'quality' Type 12) they were mocked as 'futility frigates', for their single-mission design made them inflexible for peacetime use. What was ignored was the fact that if hostilities had broken out with the Soviet Union in the late 1950s (as many Western defence planners envisaged) there would have been an extra half dozen Type 14s and ten Type 16s. In ASW exercises the Blackwoods often proved superior to more sophisticated frigates, mainly because their inflexibility permitted them to be left to continue their ASW training to a high level, whereas other frigates frequently had their training programs interrupted.

With only half the machinery of the Whitby class the designers had to go for finer lines and less weight to reach 25kts, and so the short forecastle reappeared. Although later strengthened after experiencing exceptionally heavy weather off Iceland. they proved very seaworthy, and many gave good service in the Fishery Protection Squadron.

Modernizations

late 1950s, Blackwood, Exmouth, Malcolm, Palliser: - 2 x 2 - 533 TT

early 1960s, all: - 1 x 1 - 40/60 (aft)

(1966-1968), Exmouth: was re-engined with COGAG installation: Rolls-Royce Olympus gas turbine (23200hp)+ 2 Rolls-Royce Proteus gas turbines (8500hp), geared to one shaft (31000hp summary), 28kts at full speed, 22kts under cruising turbines.

late 1960s, all: - type 291, type 974 radars; + type 978 radar

Naval service

No significant events.