The Leander-class, also known as the Type 12I-class, is one of the most successful and
beloved British frigates.
These surface combatants have enchanted naval enthusiasts for nearly 60 years with their
beautiful silhouettes.
Today, the last examples of this class of ships, the Ahmad Yani-class of the Indonesian
Navy and the Condell-class of the Ecuadorian Navy, are counting the days for retirement.
Now, we are investigating the Leander-class, the proud of the crown.
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The Leander-class was an important surface combatant that served well during the sunset
of Great Britain, once an empire on which the sun never sets.
It successfully waved the Union Jack all around the world.
To better understand the Leander-class, let's turn back to the 1950s.
After the Second World War, The British Empire, which had already been in regression since
the First World War, was now fully war-weary.
But, while the Iron Curtain was being raised, the empire faced the unstoppable flame of
independence in its many colonies.
Neither human power nor the economy of the UK could handle this situation.
One of the biggest problems of the Royal Navy was having a distinct class of frigate for
each mission, like anti-submarine, anti-aircraft and aircraft direction.
It increased the unit, maintenance, and operational costs.
Besides, it was not always possible to have the ships with the required capabilities available
for a specific task.
A multi-purpose frigate could conduct all these missions and solve the problem.
The first attempt was the Tribal class frigate, also known as the Type 81-class.
But, this class had a single shaft, which made the ship entirely immobile in case of
malfunction.
Its outdated gun was not sufficient against modern threats.
The combined steam and gas propulsion system of the Tribal class was quite successful,
but it made the vessel too expensive.
And the ship was too small, which limited the options for later upgrades.
So, the UK ceased the Tribal-class construction programme and began to develop a new Whitby-class-based
multi-purpose frigate with a more conservative steam-powered propulsion system in the late
1950s.
The Whitby-class, also known as the Type 12-class, was essentially an ocean-going convoy anti-submarine
warfare escort frigate.
Its modified variant, the Rothesay-class, had better sonars, air defence missiles, and
helicopter capability.
This ship, also known as Type 12M-class, was still an ocean-going convoy anti-submarine
warfare escort frigate.
The real multi-purpose variant of the Whitby-class was the Type 12I/Leander-class.
The letter "I" stood for the term "improved".
The Leander-class had the proven same hull and machinery as the Whitby-class.
This choice reduced the development and building costs.
The hull design allowed for maintaining a high cruising speed on heavy seas, providing
a critical capability for hunting the high-speed Soviet submarine.
The highly raised forecastle did not only cut through the water but also that spray
was thrown upwards and outwards, away from the bridge and gun turret.
The forecastle had a distinctive kink because of the large and heavy 114mm Mk 6 gun.
It had to be carried low to maintain stability and give a good view over it from the bridge.
The ship was fitted with new five-bladed low-cavitation propellers, which provided fuel efficiency
and a low acoustics signature.
So, the Leander-class became a perfect high-speed, all-weather anti-submarine vessel.
In that years, the comfort of the crew was not a priority.
The sailors still slept on the hammocks.
But, the Rothesay-class frigate of the Royal New Zealand Navy, HMNZS Otago, had air conditioning.
Besides, bunks for the crew had replaced hammocks.
The Royal Navy also applied them to the Leander-class.
Besides the air conditioning, the ship had no portholes.
These features improved the nuclear, biological and chemical defence.
Unlike the Whitby-class with the stepped quarterdeck, the Leander-class had a flush deck, except
for the raised forecastle.
The British naval engineers preferred a superstructure combined into a single block amidships and
a new bridge design, which improved visibility.
Also, the Leander-class had a hangar and flight deck.
It was also equipped with the D-band Type 965 long-range air surveillance radar, the
Seacat anti-aircraft guided missile, and improved anti-submarine detection equipment, including
variable depth sonar.
These ships were fitted with twin rudders, which gave it exceptional acceleration and
manoeuvrability.
The first of the first ten frigates, defined as Batch 1, was HMS Leander, laid down on
April 10, 1959, launched on June 28, 1961, and commissioned on March 27, 1963.
These ships had the Y100 steam plant.
Between 1970 and 1978, eight Batch 1 Leanders were equipped with the Ikara anti-submarine
warfare missile system, which replaced the Mk 6 gun.
During the conversion, the Type 965 radars of the ships were removed, and the ADAWS 5
computer-aided combat direction systems of the Ikara were added.
Between 1973 and 1977, the Mk 6 guns of two Batch 1 Leanders were replaced with four MM38
Exocet anti-ship missiles.
The frigates were also equipped with two additional Seacat launchers, and they gained the ability
to operate the Lynx helicopter.
One frigate was fitted with the Type 2031(I) passive search very low frequency towed array.
The first Batch 2 ship with the Y136 steam plant was HMS Phoebe, laid down on June 3,
1963, launched on July 8, 1964, and commissioned on April 15, 1966.
Six frigates of this batch were built.
After the modernization, conducted between 1975 and 1982, four MM38 Exocet anti-ship
missiles replace the Mk 6 guns of the Batch 2 Leanders.
The frigates were also equipped with two additional Seacat launchers, and they gained the ability
to operate the Lynx helicopter.
In 1985, the Royal Navy converted HMS Juno of this batch to a training ship.
Four Batch 2 frigates were fitted with the Type 2031(I) passive search very low frequency
towed array.
The first of the Batch 3 Leanders, HMS Charybdis, was laid down on January 27, 1967, launched
on February 28, 1968, and commissioned on June 2, 1969.
They had the Y160 steam plant with steam atomisation equipment on the fuel supply, which increased
fuel efficiency.
Later, some Batch 1 ships, like HMS Cleopatra, were also fitted with steam atomisation equipment.
The Batch 3 frigates were also known as Broad-beamed Leander because their hull was widened by
0.61 metres to create extra space for future developments.
The wider beam increased endurance and stability but reduced the maximum speed by 0.5 knots.
Between 1978 and 1984, the Seacat air defence systems and Mk 6 guns of six Batch 3 Leanders
were removed, and these frigates were fitted with the Sea Wolf air defence systems and
MM38 Exocet anti-ship missiles.
Besides the Royal Navy, one Batch 2 and one Batch 3 Leander-class frigates were built
for the Royal New Zealand Navy.
Also, two Batch two frigates were built for the Chilean Navy, which defined them as Condell-class.
The Australian locally built two Leander-class frigates.
The Royal Australian Navy classified these ships as escort destroyers and defined them
as River-class.
The Netherlands also built six Leanders and defined them as Van Speijk-class.
Different from the British sisters, they had locally produced radars.
Later, the Netherlands removed the ships' Mk 6 guns and the Mk 10 Limbo anti-submarine
warfare mortars and reequipped them with 76mm OTO Melara guns, Harpoon anti-ship missiles,
and 324mm torpedo tubes.
These frigates were sold to Indonesia.
Defined as Ahmad Yani-class by the Indonesian Navy, they now have the SS-N-26 or C-802 anti-ship
missiles instead of the Harpoons and Mistral air defence missile instead of Seacats.
Also, the Ahmad Yani-class are refitted with diesel engines.
India locally built six Leander-class frigates under the designation of the Nilgiri-class.
Because the British refused to provide license production of the radar suite, the Indian
Navy equipped the ships with license-built variants of the Dutch radars, tracking and
fire control suites.
The last two frigates, INS Vindhyagiri and INS Taragiri, were modified to accommodate
the Sea King helicopter, a collapsible hangar, 324mm torpedo tubes and a Bofors anti-submarine
warfare mortar.
Australia, Chile, India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan and the UK are the former
users of the Leander-class.
Ecuador and Indonesia are still using these frigates.
The complement of the Leander-class is 260-person.
Its standard displacement is 2,350 tons, while its fully loaded displacement is 2,860 tons.
The ship has a length of 113.4 metres, a beam of 12.5 metres, and a draught of 4.5 metres.
Two Babcock & Wilcox oil-fired boilers, geared steam produce 30,000 horsepower.
Its top speed is 27 knots.
The ship could reach a range of 7,400 kilometres, in other words, 4,600 nautical miles, at an
economical speed of 15 knots.
Initially, The Leander-class had one 114mm twin-barrel Mk 6 gun, two 40mm Bofors guns,
two 20mm Oerlikon guns, and one Limbo anti-submarine warfare mortar.
As mentioned before, during their service time, the weaponry of the Leander class has
constantly changed.
The first essential change was replacing the 40mm L/60 guns with the Seacat air defence
missiles.
But later, many users of the frigate have chosen other weapon systems instead of these
missiles.
For example, the Seacats of PNS Zulfiqar, former HMS Apollo, were replaced by twin-barrel
25mm guns.
The Indonesian Navy's Ahmad Yani-class frigates now have three twin SIMBAD launchers for Mistral
anti-aircraft missiles.
The Chilean Condell-class ships had been already reequipped with a single 20mm six-barrel Mk
15 Phalanx close-in weapon system before they transferred to Ecuador.
Again, India had replaced the Seacats with the 30mm twin-barrel AK-230s before it decommissioned
them.
Many users of the Leander-class have removed the Limbo and added the ship 324mm torpedo
tubes.
The Chilean frigates, which belong to Ecuador today, have the MM40 Exocet anti-ship missiles.
The first helicopter of the Leander-class was the Westland Wasp.
Later, the Royal Navy and Royal Royal Netherlands Navy replaced them with the Lynxes.
Pakistan deployed the SA 319B Alouette III, while New Zealand the SH-2G Super Seasprite,
Chile the AS-532 SC, Bell 206 and Bell 412, and India the Sea King and HAL Chetak on the
ships.
Today, Ecuador is using the Bell 230 and Bell 430, while Indonesia is preferring the NBO-105C
and NAS 332L Super Puma.
The first combat mission of the Leander-class was in the 1963-1966 Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation.
Later 12 frigates joined the Beira Patrol, the blockade of oil shipments to Rhodesia.
The British Leanders also participated in the Cod War, caused by the fishery rights
dispute between the UK and Iceland.
During this weird war, the frigates of the Royal Navy and patrol boats of the Icelandic
Coast Guard purposely rammed each other from time to time.
But also, the Leander-class ship occasionally rescued the Icelander fishermen.
In 1973, when HMS Apollo collided with ICGV Ægir, the only lethal incident of the Cod
War happened.
During the Iran Iraq War, the Leanders were in the Persian Gulf to protect oil shipments.
HMS Andromeda, HMS Argonaut, HMS Minerva and HMS Penelope fought against the Argentines
during the early stages of the 1982 Falklands War.
On May 21, An Argentine MB-339 attacked HMS Argonaut with cannon fire and rockets, causing
damage to her Type 965 radar.
Nearly three hours later, five A-4 Skyhawks sent their bombs on her.
Even though they did not detonate themselves, two of them entered the ship's Seacat missile
magazine and detonated two missiles.
They also severely damaged the boiler room, knocking out the HMS Argonaut's power and
leaving her dead in the water.
She was stranded for six days.
HMS Plymouth came to the assistance of the frigate and towed her away from danger.
On June 1, HMS Minerva detected an Argentinian C-130 and vectored a flight of patrolling
Sea Harriers towards it.
The aircraft was intercepted and shot down.
On June 13, The Lynx of HMS Penelope struck the already stranded Argentinian patrol boat
Rio Iguazú with a Sea Skua missile.
She was also the last ship attacked by Argentine aircraft throughout the war.
The five gun-armed Batch 3 Leanders arrived in the combat zone in the last week of the
war.
The service stories of the other user's Leanders were relatively uneventful.
Still, the Indonesian Ahmad Yanis patrolled around the disputed Ambalat sea block.
In 1992, KRI Yos Sudarso intercepted Portuguese ship Lusitania Expresso in East Timor.
In 2016, KRI Oswald Siahaan seized a Chinese trawler in the waters of Natuna Islands and
blocked the rescue attempt by a Chinese coast guard ship.
The BBC television drama series Warship made the Leander-class highly mediatic in the UK.
Besides, its silhouette became synonymous with the Royal Navy from the 1960s until the
1980s for all naval enthusiasts.
These frigates served the crown for a long time.
They were true warriors and unforgettable legends.
There are many other stories and details we had to skip to keep the video short and sweet.
Please don't hesitate to share your stories in our comment section.
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