Type 26 Fearless Class
HMS Foxhound, 2020
In the late 1990s the search for a Type 22 and Type 23 replacement began as a new ASW and General Purpose Frigate. The planned Type 25 was cancelled but work continued on a less radical solution. The result was the Type 26, it had ancestry from the Type 23 but was heavily influenced by the development of the Type 45 destroyers and relies on the CAMM missile family to provide area and point defence and has a land attack capability with SCALP-M and Spear-ER missiles. Sixteen ships are planned for completion by 2025.
Drawing Notes:
I could not resist stealing Blackbuck's excellent latest stealth Type 23 development, it looked perfect for the job. I have made a few changes and tweaks to suit.
HMS Fearless F120 commissioned July 2016
HMS Foxhound F121 commissioned September 2017
HMS Firedrake F122 commissioned May 2018
HMS Fame F123 commissioned November 2018
HMS Fury F124 commissioned April 2019
HMS Fortune F125 commissioned November 2019
HMS Foremost F126 commissioned May 2020
HMS Faithful F127 commissioned October 2020
HMS Foil F128 commissioned April 2021
HMS Falmouth F129 commissioned December 2021
HMS Ferocious F130 commissioned May 2022
HMS Falkland F131 commissioned November 2022
HMS Fylde F132 commissioned March 2023
HMS Forth F133 commissioned October 2023
HMS Fox F134 commissioned April 2024
HMS Firebrand commissioned September 2024
Dimensions: 469ft 6in (oa), 437ft 6in (wl) length; 67ft beam; 17ft draught (over sonar dome), 14ft (hull).
Machinery: One 48,000shp Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbines plus four MTU Type 20V 4000 M53B diesel generators, two electric motors
Speed: 31kts (deep and clean)
Range: 7,000 nautical miles at 18kts
Displacement: 6,750 tons standard
Armament:
1x 76mm OTO Super Rapid gun mount, fire-control by 1x EOGCS
2x4 container-launchers for Kongsberg NSM SSMs
2x8-cell Sylver A70 VLS for Naval-SCALP cruise-missiles or Sea Meteor SAMs
4x8-cell Sylver A50 VLS for quad-packed CAMM, CAMM-ER SAMs or quad-packed Spear-ER SSMs
2x1 30mm MSI-DSI Sigma 30 gun mounts - also fitted with 5-round Martlet anti-boat missiles
2x1 25mm MSI-DSI Sigma 25 gun mounts
1x Starstreak CIWS mounts with 24x Starstreak SAMs and/or Martlet SSMs
2x2 12.75in lightweight A/S torpedo tubes for Stingray
Aircraft:
Hangar for up to;
2x Westland Merlin HM.2 or 2x Leonardo Wildcat HM.2 or 2x Leonardo SW-4MU UCAV (capable of carrying out recon and strike using Martlet or Sea Venom ASMs)
Radars:
BAe Artisan 3-D search radar
1x Type 1009 navigation radars
4x Type 1010 phased-array surface search radars
4x Gatekeeper EO/IR sensors
Type 2091 bow-mounted multi-function sonar
Type 2087 towed sonar
EW/Defences:
Thales UAT(16) ESM
2x Type 2199 Pillbox EW jammers
6x MAWS/DAS
2x12 Centurion decoy launchers
1x8 Type 2170 UAD anti-torpedo decoy launchers
4x DLF(3) floating decoy launchers
Type 24 Eclipse Class
The littoral mission was handled by the Type 24 class which were updated during the 2010s with Artisan radar and received CAMM SAMs and Spear land-attack missiles replacing Sea Wolf and updated cannon and self-defence dispensers.