HMS ''Lowestoft'' was a or Type 12 class
anti-submarine
An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...
frigate of the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English ...
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...
. ''Lowestoft'' was reconstructed in the late 1960s to largely the same pattern as the third group of s, with new radar and fire control and a hangar and pad for a
Westland Wasp
The Westland Wasp is a small 1960s British turbine powered, shipboard anti-submarine helicopter. Produced by Westland Helicopters, it came from the same P.531 programme as the British Army Westland Scout, and is based on the earlier piston-e ...
helicopter for longer range, anti-submarine, engagement. In the late 1970s it was converted as the prototype towed array frigate for the Royal Navy, but retained its full armament. ''Lowestoft'' was sunk as a target on 8 June 1986 by using a Tigerfish torpedo. She was the last Royal Naval target to be sunk still displaying her pennant number.
Design
The was an improved version of the anti-submarine frigate, with nine ''Rothesay''s ordered in the 1954–55 shipbuilding programme for the Royal Navy to supplement the six ''Whitby''s.
''Lowestoft'' was
long overall and
between perpendiculars
Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the stern ...
, with a
beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
* Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
** Laser beam
* Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized g ...
of and a
draught of .
The ''Rothesay''s were powered by the same Y-100 machinery used by the ''Whitby''-class. Two
Babcock & Wilcox
Babcock & Wilcox is an American renewable, environmental and thermal energy technologies and service provider that is active and has operations in many international markets across the globe with its headquarters in Akron, Ohio, USA. Historicall ...
water-tube boiler
A high pressure watertube boiler (also spelled water-tube and water tube) is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which boils water in the steam-gene ...
s fed steam at and to two sets of geared
steam turbine
A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turb ...
s which drove two propeller shafts, fitted with large ( diameter) slow-turning propellers. The machinery was rated at , giving a speed of .
Crew was about 212 officers and men.
A twin
4.5-inch (113 mm) Mark 6 gun mount was fitted forward, with 350 rounds of ammunition carried. It was originally intended to fit a twin
40 mm L/70 Bofors anti-aircraft mount aft, but in 1957 it was decided to fit the
Seacat Seacat may refer to:
* Seacat missile, a short-range surface-to-air missile system
* SeaCat (1992–2004), ferry company formerly operating from between Northern Ireland, Scotland and England
* The Sea-Cat, an imaginary monster from Flann O'Brien ...
anti-aircraft missile instead. Seacat was not yet ready, and ''Yarmouth'' was completed with a single
L/60 40 mm Bofors mount aft as a temporary anti-aircraft armament.
The design anti-submarine armament consisted of twelve 21-inch
torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes.
There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed abo ...
s (eight fixed and two twin rotating mounts) for
Mark 20E Bidder homing anti-submarine torpedoes, backed up by two
Limbo
In Catholic theology, Limbo (Latin ''limbus'', edge or boundary, referring to the edge of Hell) is the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. Medieval theologians of Western Europ ...
anti-submarine mortars fitted aft. The Bidder homing torpedoes proved unsuccessful however, being too slow to catch modern submarines, and the torpedo tubes were soon removed.
The ship was fitted with a
Type 293Q surface/air search radar on the
foremast
The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the centre-line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, and giving necessary height to a navigation ligh ...
, with a
Type 277 height-finding radar on a short mast forward of the foremast. A Mark 6M fire control system (including a Type 275 radar) for the 4.5-inch guns was mounted above the ship's bridge, while a Type 974 navigation radar was also fitted.
The ship's sonar fit consisted of Type 174 search, Type 170 fire control sonar for Limbo and a Type 162 sonar for classifying targets on the sea floor.
''Lowestoft'' was
laid down
Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship.
Keel laying is one ...
at
Alexander Stephen and Sons
Alexander Stephen and Sons Limited, often referred to simply as Alex Stephens or just Stephens, was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in Linthouse, Glasgow, on the River Clyde and, initially, on the east coast of Scotland.
History
The com ...
's
Linthouse
Linthouse is a neighbourhood in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated directly south of the River Clyde and lies immediately west of Govan, with other adjacent areas including Shieldhall and the Southern General Hospital to the west, ...
,
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...
shipyard on 19 June 1958, was
launched on 23 June 1960 and completed on 26 September 1961.
Modernisation
From 1967 to 1969 ''Lowestoft'' underwent a major modernisation, which brought the ship close in capacity to the .
A hangar and flight deck was added aft to allow a
Westland Wasp
The Westland Wasp is a small 1960s British turbine powered, shipboard anti-submarine helicopter. Produced by Westland Helicopters, it came from the same P.531 programme as the British Army Westland Scout, and is based on the earlier piston-e ...
helicopter to be operated, at the expense of one of the Limbo anti-submarine mortars, while a Seacat launcher and the associated GWS20 director was mounted on the hangar roof. Two 20-mm cannons were added either side of the ship's bridge. A MRS3 fire control system replaced the Mark 6M, and its integral Type 903 radar allowed the Type 277 height finder radar to be removed. A Type 993 surface/air-search radar replaced the existing Type 293Q radar, while the ship's defences were enhanced by the addition of the Corvus
chaff rocket dispenser.
Service
''Lowestoft'' commissioned on 18 October 1961 and joined the 5th Frigate Squadron in March 1962.
Between 1961 and 1963 she was commanded by
Raymond Lygo
Admiral Sir Raymond Derek Lygo, (15 March 1924 – 7 March 2012) was a Royal Navy officer who served as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff from 1975 to 1978.
Naval career
Educated at Ilford County High School and Clark's College, Bromley, Lygo j ...
.
In January 1971, ''Lowestoft'' joined
STANAVFORLANT
Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1) is one of NATO's standing naval maritime immediate reaction forces. SNMG1 consists of four to six destroyers and frigates. Its role is to provide NATO with an immediate operational response capability.
...
, the NATO Standing Naval Force Atlantic.
From October 1976 to September 1977, ''Lowestoft'' was refitted at Portsmouth for her new role as a trials ship for towed array sonar arrays. She was again refitted, at
Falmouth in October 1978.
In June 1982, as a result of the
Falklands War
The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territori ...
, she was returned to operational service with the 7th Frigate Squadron after a short refit at Portsmouth, serving as guardship at
Ascension Island
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory o ...
.
''Lowestoft'' was
paid off
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship i ...
at Portsmouth on 29 March 1985,
and was placed on the Disposal list. ''Lowestoft'' was sunk as a target off the
Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the archi ...
on 8 June 1986.
Notes
References
Publications
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External links
HMS Lowestoft Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowestoft
Rothesay-class frigates
1960 ships
Ships of the Fishery Protection Squadron of the United Kingdom
Ships sunk as targets