|
The Type 23 frigate or ''Duke''-class is a class of frigate built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The ships are named after British Dukes, thus leading to the class being commonly known as the ''Duke''-class. The first Type 23 was commissioned in 1989, and the sixteenth, was commissioned in June 2002. They form the core of the Royal Navy's destroyer and frigate fleet and serve alongside the Type 45 destroyers. Originally designed for anti-submarine warfare in the North Atlantic, the Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigates have proven their versatility in warfighting, peace-keeping and maritime security operations around the globe.〔(BAE Systems: Type 23 Frigate ), baesystems.com〕 Thirteen Type 23 frigates remain in service with the Royal Navy, with three vessels having been sold to Chile and handed over to the Chilean Navy. The Royal Navy’s current Type 23 frigates will be replaced by the Global Combat Ship starting from 2021.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Royal Navy Future Ships: Type 26 Global Combat Ship )〕 it is planned that HMS ''Argyll'' will be the first Type 23 to retire from the Royal Navy in 2023 while HMS ''St Albans'' will be the last, in 2036.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Daily Hansard - Written Answers to Questions )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Navy unveils latest design of future frigate )〕 ==Development== When first conceived in the late 1970s, the Type 23 was intended to be a light anti-submarine frigate to counter Soviet nuclear submarines operating in the North Atlantic. The Type 23 would be replacing the ''Leander'' class frigates (which had entered service in 1960s) and the Type 21 frigate (a general purpose design that recently entered service) as "the backbone of the Royal Navy's surface ship anti-submarine force". Although not intended to replace the Type 22 frigate, reductions in the size of the Navy due to the 1998 Strategic Defence Review led to HMS ''St Albans'' replacing HMS ''Coventry'', a Type 22 frigate.〔(Hansard 11 Jul 2000: Column: 449W ) Question to the Secretary of State for Defence when he planned to withdraw the Type 22 Batch II frigates from service. His answer was: * "HMS ''Sheffield'' 2012 – to be superseded by a T45 Destroyer * HMS ''Coventry'' 2001 – to be superseded by HMS ''St. Albans'', a T23 Frigate".〕 The ships were intended to carry a towed array sonar to detect Soviet submarines in the North Atlantic and carry a Westland Lynx or EHI Merlin helicopter to attack them. It was initially proposed that the frigates would not mount defensive armament. Instead the Sea Wolf missile system was to be carried by ''Fort Victoria'' class replenishment oilers, one of which was to support typically four Type 23s. The Fort class oilers would also provide servicing facilities for the force's helicopters; the Type 23 would have facilities only for rearming and refuelling them. As a result of lessons learned from the Falklands War, the design grew in size and complexity to encompass the Vertical Launch Sea Wolf (VLS) system with an extra tracking system as a defence against low-flying aircraft and sea-skimming anti-ship missiles such as Exocet.〔 With the addition of Harpoon surface-to-surface missiles and a medium calibre gun for naval gunfire support, the Type 23 had evolved into a more complex and balanced vessel optimised for general warfare, which introduced a host of new technologies and concepts to the Royal Navy. These included extensive radar cross section reduction design measures, automation to substantially reduce crew size, a Combined diesel-electric and gas (CODLAG) propulsion system providing very quiet running for anti-submarine operations along with excellent range, vertical launch missile technology and a fully distributed combat management system. The Vertical Launch Sea Wolf surface-to-air missile system was designed for and first deployed on the Type 23. Unlike conventional Sea Wolf, the missile is boosted vertically until it clears the ship's superstructure and then turns to fly directly to the target. Consequently, the ship's structure does not cause no-fire zones that would delay or inhibit missile firing in a conventionally launched system. Although the Type 23 is officially the "Duke" class, and includes such famous names as HMS ''Iron Duke'', (which had been the name of the battleship , Admiral Jellicoe's flagship at the Battle of Jutland), five of the names had previously been used on classes known as the "County class": ''Kent'' and ''Norfolk'' were names given both to 1960s guided missile destroyers and Second World War-era County class heavy cruisers, while ''Monmouth'', ''Lancaster'', ''Kent'' and ''Argyll'' revived names carried by First World War-era ''Monmouth'' class armoured cruisers. This use of Ducal and County names broke a tradition of alphabetical names for escort ships which had run in two – not unbroken – cycles from the L-class destroyers of 1913 to the ''Daring''-class destroyers of 1950; this progression was revived with the Amazon-class Type 21 frigates of 1972–75, and continued with B and C names for most of the Type 22 frigates of 1976–89. However, the D names have since been used for the new Type 45 ''Daring''-class destroyers, the first of which entered service in 2009. It is stated that: "Type 23 frigates achieved approximately 85–89 per cent average availability for operational service in each of the last five years with the exception of 1996 when the figure dropped to just over 80 per cent due to a number of ships experiencing a particular defect. This discounts time spent in planned maintenance."〔(Hansard 10 Feb 1998: Column: 195, 10 Feb 1998 : Column: 196 ) Questions to the Secretary of State for Defence about the manning and availability of warships, 10 February 1998.〕 Unlike the Type 45 destroyer, the "Type 23 frigate does not have the capability or configuration to act as flagship and is not tasked in this way."〔(Hansard 17 Mar 2011, Column 511W )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Type 23 frigate」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|