HMS Rothesay (F107)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Rothesay.
Saluting the Royal Yacht in the 1960s, before Rothesay's 1966 Seacat/helicopter upgrade - note the 40 mm gun in stern
History
United Kingdom
Class and type: Rothesay class frigate
Name: HMS Rothesay
Builder: Yarrow, Scotstoun
Laid down: 6 November 1956
Launched: 9 December 1957
Commissioned: 23 April 1960
Decommissioned: March 1988
Identification: Pennant number: F107
Fate: Scrapped in 1988
General characteristics
Displacement:
  • As built: 2,150 tons standard
  • 2,560 tons full load
  • As modified: 2,380 tons standard
  • 2,800 tons full load
Length: 370 ft (110 m)
Beam: 41 ft (12 m)
Draught: 17.3 ft (5.3 m)
Propulsion:
Speed: 30 knots (56 km/h)
Range: 400 tons oil fuel, 5,200 nautical miles (9,600 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h)
Complement: 152, later 225, modified to 235
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • Electronics (as built):
  • Radar Type 293Q target indication
  • Radar Type 277Q height finding
  • Radar Type 275 fire control on director Mark 6M
  • Radar Type 974 navigation
  • Type 1010 Cossor Mark 10 IFF
  • Sonar Type 174 search
  • Sonar Type 162 target classification
  • Sonar Type 170 attack
  • Electronics (as modified):
  • Radar Type 993 target indication
  • Radar Type 903 fire control on director MRS3
  • Radar Type 978 navigation
  • Type 1010 Cossor Mark 10 IFF
  • Sonar Type 177 search
  • Sonar Type 162 target classification
  • Sonar Type 170 attack
Armament:
  • Armament (as built):
  • 1 × twin 4.5in gun Mark 6
  • 1 × twin 40 mm Bofors gun on STAAG mounting
  • 2 × Limbo A/S mortar Mark 10
  • 12 × 21-in A/S torpedo tubes, 8 fixed and 2 x twin trainable mounts
  • Armament (as modified):
  • 1 × twin 4.5in gun Mark 6
  • 1 × Sea Cat GWS-20 SAM
  • 2 × 20 mm Oerlikon guns
  • 1 × Limbo A/S mortar Mark 10
  • 1 × Westland Wasp HAS.1 Helicopter
  • 2 × 8-barrel 3in Knebworth/Corvus chaff countermeasures launchers

HMS Rothesay was the lead ship of the Rothesay or Type 12M class of anti-submarine frigates of the British Royal Navy. She was commissioned in 1960 and scrapped in 1988.

History

In the spring/summer of 1961 Rothesay was in Halifax, Nova Scotia and was intending to make courtesy calls at ports on the eastern seaboard of the USA but was instead diverted to Bermuda where she was to stay ready to protect British interests in Cuba. On 21 March 1962 she accidentally rammed the Turkish Balao-class submarine TCG Gür in the western Mediterranean (off Gibraltar) during the NATO exercise "Dawn Breeze".

During two visits to the West Indies (7 months and 11 months) she was at Nassau and filmed for three days to get a 30 second showing in the James Bond film Thunderball.[1] A sheet of canvas with a "0" was placed over the "F1" of her pennant number (F107) to read 007. Sean Connery and Claudine Auger came on board.

Between 1966 and 1968 Rothesay was refitted in Rosyth, Among the improvements the 40 mm gun was replaced with Seacat missile system, radar and communication equipment was updated, accommodation improved and perhaps most significantly a helicopter flight deck and hangar were added. Although this required the removal of one of the two triple barrelled anti-submarine mortars, it allowed the Rothesay class to carry the Westland Wasp helicopter which was a huge asset for anti-submarine operations. This modernisation was a vast improvement over the Whitby class and brought the Rothesay class up to the standard of the succeeding Leander-class frigate.

With a Whiskey class submarine in 1987

On 19 March 1969, together with Minerva, they landed 315 men of The Parachute Regiment on Anguilla to restore order after the islanders objected to being placed under the government of Saint Kitts. In 1971 she was present at Portsmouth Navy Days.[2]

In April 1970 "Rothsay" was one of several Royal Navy vessels that were stationed for a possible tertiary splashdown recovery of Apollo XIII in a position just south of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.[3]

In 1973 Rothesay undertook Cod War fishery protection patrols.

She attended the 1977 Silver Jubilee Fleet Review with sister ships Plymouth, Berwick and Brighton. At this time she was part of the 8th Frigate Squadron.[4]

At the start of the Falklands War, Rothesay was in Rosyth under repair after she hit a sea wall in Esjberg, Denmark. During the 1982 conflict, Rothesay was stationed in the Caribbean.

There were plans to withdraw the ship from service in 1983 but these were abandoned and instead in 1985 she underwent a refit in preparation for her new role in the Dartmouth Training Squadron. She served in this role until she was paid off on 13 March 1988. During her many years of service she clocked up over 800,000 miles. She was sold to Spain and was broken up at Santander in 1988.

Commanding officers

FromToCaptain
19621963Captain B C Godfrey Place RN
19691971Commander S A C Cassels RN
19711971Commander D N O'Sullivan RN
19711972Commander A A Waugh RN[5]
19771977Commander N C H James RN
1981UnknownCommander GASC Wilson RN
19851987Commander W Benbow RN

References

  1. ↑ Newton, Matthew. "Bond and the Navy". Retrieved 2016. HMS Rothesay (Thunderball) This real frigate (which is not named on-screen but can be identified by its penant number, F107) leads the attack on the Disco Volante. It was the first of the Type 12 Rothesay class ship. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  2. ↑ Programme, Navy Days Portsmouth, 29th-31st August 1971, p17.
  3. ↑ Helicopter History Site http://www.helis.com/database/ops/41/
  4. ↑ Official Souvenir Programme, 1977. Silver Jubilee Fleet Review, HMSO
  5. ↑ The Navy List 1971-1972

Publications

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