Warship Silhouette
The cognoscenti will recognise these lines as those of a Batch II Type 22 frigate of the Royal Navy.
This is HMS Boxer, F92, and the image was taken by a member of the Fleet Photographic Unit, Portsmouth, at sea in the English Channel in May 1986. The Royal Navy holds the copyright for this image, which I acquired whilst serving aboard her. The Batch IIs were stretched versions of the Batch I Type 22s, Boxer being the first of six built.
A major improvement from the originals was the addition of a new Computer Assisted Command System (CACS-1), replacing the CAAIS fitted to the Batch Is.This could track up to 500 targets, including those detected by the ship's passive towed array and ESM.
However, the most significant change in these anti-submarine frigates was a much more sophisticated electronic warfare system, particularly the Classic Outboard system for the intercept of Soviet tactical naval communications. These very sophisticated and specialised versions of the Type 22 were apparently specifically approved by Prime Minister James Callaghan. The larger hull also improved sea keeping. However, the batch apparently never achieved the anticipated quietness for fully-effective use of their towed arrays, reportedly due to a failure to isolate the diesel generators from the hull.
Post-Cold War, their specialised nature, large crew size and operating costs meant the Royal Navy could not afford to keep them running. And there was very little interest from anywhere else. In 1999, Boxer was decommissioned. She was used as a target in 2004.
Scanned from a print. The map location is arbitrary.
Warship Silhouette
The cognoscenti will recognise these lines as those of a Batch II Type 22 frigate of the Royal Navy.
This is HMS Boxer, F92, and the image was taken by a member of the Fleet Photographic Unit, Portsmouth, at sea in the English Channel in May 1986. The Royal Navy holds the copyright for this image, which I acquired whilst serving aboard her. The Batch IIs were stretched versions of the Batch I Type 22s, Boxer being the first of six built.
A major improvement from the originals was the addition of a new Computer Assisted Command System (CACS-1), replacing the CAAIS fitted to the Batch Is.This could track up to 500 targets, including those detected by the ship's passive towed array and ESM.
However, the most significant change in these anti-submarine frigates was a much more sophisticated electronic warfare system, particularly the Classic Outboard system for the intercept of Soviet tactical naval communications. These very sophisticated and specialised versions of the Type 22 were apparently specifically approved by Prime Minister James Callaghan. The larger hull also improved sea keeping. However, the batch apparently never achieved the anticipated quietness for fully-effective use of their towed arrays, reportedly due to a failure to isolate the diesel generators from the hull.
Post-Cold War, their specialised nature, large crew size and operating costs meant the Royal Navy could not afford to keep them running. And there was very little interest from anywhere else. In 1999, Boxer was decommissioned. She was used as a target in 2004.
Scanned from a print. The map location is arbitrary.