HMS ''Mohawk'' was a of the

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 ...

in service from 1963. She was named after a tribe of Native Americans located in southeast

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and

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. ''Mohawk'' was scrapped in 1983.

Design and construction

The Tribal-, or Type 81-class, frigates were developed in the mid-1950s as a General Purpose frigate, capable of use in both anti-submarine and anti-aircraft duties in a full-scale war, while serving for Cold War policing duties in peace-time, in particular to replace the old s serving in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bo ...

. The Tribals were long overall and between perpendiculars, with a beam of . The ship's hull had a draught of , with the propeller increasing overall draught to . Displacement was standard and full load. Propulsion was by a single-shaft Combined steam and gas (COSAG) arrangement, effectively half of the powerplant of the s. A single Babcock & Wilcox boiler fed steam at and to a 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 ...

rated at , which could be supplemented by a Metrovick G-6

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directio ...

rated at to reach top speed, with the gas turbine also allowing the ship to get underway quickly in an emergency, without having to wait to raise steam. Speed was about using both steam and gas turbine power, and on steam power alone. The ships were fitted with two QF 4.5-in (113 mm) Mark 5 guns, salvaged from scrapped

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destroyers, mounted fore and aft. It was intended to fit two Seacat anti-aircraft missile launchers, but these were not ready in time, and ''Gurkha'' completed with two

40 mm Bofors Bofors 40 mm gun is a name or designation given to two models of 40 mm calibre anti-aircraft guns designed and developed by the Swedish company Bofors: *Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun - developed in the 1930s, widely used in World War II and into the 1990s ...

guns instead, with Seacat replacing the Bofors guns on refit. For anti-submarine and anti-ship duties, a hangar and flight deck for a single Westland Wasp helicopter was fitted, while a Limbo anti-submarine mortar provided close-in anti-submarine armament. ''Mohawk'' was fitted with a large Type 965 long range air search

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

on a lattice foremast, with a Type 993 short range air/surface target indicating radar and Type 978 navigation radar also fitted. An MRS3 fire control system was carried to direct the 4.5-inch guns. The ship had a

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects on ...

suite of Type 177 medium range search sonar, Type 162 bottom search and Type 170 attack sonar. The ship had a crew of 253 officers and other ranks. ''Mohawk'' was built by

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in ...

, of

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 202 ...

, at a cost of £4,705,000. She 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 ...

on 23 December 1960, was launched on 5 April 1962 and commissioned on 29 November 1963. Her construction had been disrupted by a labour dispute.

Operational Service

In 1965, ''Mohawk'' deployed to the

. She joined the Beira Patrol, intended to enforce an oil blockade of

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to th ...

, in 1966. The following year, ''Mohawk'' deployed to the

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and the

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, becoming the Gibraltar guardship in 1968. By 1969, ''Mohawk'' had returned to the West Indies. ''Mohawk'' underwent a conversion to accommodate her planned utilisation as a training ship. The refit entailed the removal of ''Mohawk''s aft 4.5-inch gun and the conversion of her hangar to a classroom, but the process was abandoned. In 1973, ''Mohawk'' and the destroyer relieved the destroyer and frigate in the Far East Squadron. ''Mohawk'' contributed to the Beira Patrol before returning to Britain in 1973. Later that year she embarked on a tour of the Norwegian coast. She was called onto assist in the search for , a fishing vessel that went missing in the

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian ter ...

. In 1974, ''Mohawk'' served in the West Indies and the Mediterranean. In 1977, ''Mohawk'' joined Naval On-call Force of the Mediterranean (NAVOCFORMED), a

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

multi-national squadron. Later that year, ''Mohawk'' formed part of a task force designated "Group 6", led by the cruiser , that toured the Middle and Far East. During the group's return journey the following year, ''Mohawk'' suffered hull damage in the port of

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after slipping her moorings early. In 1979, ''Mohawk'' was reduced to the reserve and allocated to the

Standby Squadron Standby may refer to: * Standby (air travel), a list in which passengers may request to be placed on to request an earlier or more convenient flight * Standby (theater), an actor or performer who will appear in a particular role if the regular per ...

. After being placed on the disposal list in 1981. ''Mohawk'' was sold for scrap and broken up at Cairnryan.Colledge & Warlow (2010), p. 265

Notes

Publications

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mohawk Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness Tribal-class frigates 1962 ships