Tribal class frigate
|
|
| Missing image HMS_Eskimo_(Tribal-class_frigate).jpg HMS Eskimo HMS Eskimo | |
| Type 81-class | 
|
|---|---|
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 2,300 tons standard/2,700 tons full load |
| Length: | 360 ft (110 m) |
| Beam: | 42.3 ft (12.9 m) |
| Draught: | 17.5 ft (5.33 m) |
| Propulsion: | 1 shaft, 2 (one steam and one gas turbine) Combination of Steam and Gas (COSAG), 1 boilers, 12,500 shp (steam)/7,500 shp (gas) |
| Speed: | 28 knots (gas)/20 knots (steam) |
| Range: | 5300 nautical miles at 12 knots (9820 km at 22 km/h) |
| Complement: | 253 |
| Armament: | Two 4.5 inch (110 mm) gun Two 40 mm (replaced with two 20 mm Oerlikons) Eight SeaCat missiles later added Mk 10 Limbo ASW mortar |
| Aircraft: | 1 Westland Wasp helicopter |
Type 81, or the Tribal class, was a class of seven general-purpose frigates, the first of the Royal Navy. The Tribals were designed during the 1950s due to the increasing cost of having single-role vessels such as the Type 14s. They were also designed to be self-contained warships, at a time when British foreign policy was still concentrated colonially, specifically, in the Middle East, and thus were designed with air conditioning to allow them to operate effectively in such humid regions, as-well as all bunk sleeping.
The class were the first class of the Royal Navy to be designed from the start to operate a helicopter. The class were better armed than many previous classes, with two 4.5 inch (110 mm) guns, and also later, three of the class were armed with the Seacat missile launcher. The Tribals also had another first, being powered by a Combination of Steam and Gas (COSAG).
The costs for the Tribals escalated above the costs first envisaged, and the original order of ships, over twenty, was cancelled after the first seven ships had been completed. The class were still good warships despite their cost, proving the usefulness of the general purpose frigate, a type of frigate type that can now be seen in the modern Type 22 and Type 23s.
The ships were still rather small, at 360 ft (110 m), which prevented much modernisation, and all were decommissioned from the Royal Navy during the 1970s, the manpower crisis also attributing to the removal of the class from service with the Royal Navy. Three Tribals were sold to Indonesia.
| Tribal-class frigate |
| Ashanti | Eskimo | Gurkha | Mohawk | Nubian | Tartar | Zulu |
| List of frigates of the Royal Navy |