Castle class Patrol Vessel OPV

United Kingdom - Royal Navy
Castle class Patrol Vessel

castle class patrol vessel royal navy leeds dumbarton hms 02x

01/23

Ships:

P258 HMS Leeds Castle
P265 HMS Dumbarton Castle

Specifications:

Builder: Hall, Russell & Company, Aberdeen, Scotland

Length: 75 meters (246 feet)
Beam: 11.5 meters (37 ft 9 in)
Draft: 3.43 meters (11 ft 3 in)
Displacement: 1724 tons (full load)
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h)
Range: 10000 NM (18500 km) at 10 knots (18.5 km/h)
Complement: 40

Propulsion:
2 x Paxman diesel engines (2820 hp / 2100 kW)
2 shafts / 2 propellers

Armament (as built):
1 x Bofors Mark III 40mm/L60 gun

Aviation:
flight deck for 1 helicopter (Sea King size) / no hangar

Boats & landing craft:
2 x small boats on crane

Systems:
Kelvin Hughes Type 1006 navigation radar
Simrad RU sidescan sonar

The Castle class was a class of British offshore patrol vessels of the Royal Navy. Two ships were constructed and after nearly 30 years service were sold to the Bangladesh Navy in 2010. The Bangladesh Navy upgraded these with more armaments including C-704 anti-ship missiles and sensors. These ships are now reclassified as corvettes by the Bangladesh Navy.

Design:
The Castle class was designed by David K. Brown and was intended as a series of six offshore patrol vessels for the Royal Navy, designed in response to criticism of the previous Island class for insufficient speed, sub-optimal sea-keeping and lack of a flight deck for rescue helicopters.

In the event, only two ships were built, HMS Leeds Castle and HMS Dumbarton Castle. Both vessels were built by Hall Russell in Aberdeen, Scotland. These had significant improvements over the Island-class - they were 300 tonnes larger, more stable in heavy seas, 3 knots faster and fitted with a large flight deck capable of supporting a Sea King helicopter. For brief periods, the ships could accommodate up to 120 troops.

Their primary mission was to serve with the Fishery Protection Squadron, protecting both the fishing fleets and the oil and gas fields of the North Sea. They could also serve as minelayers, and had detergent spraying facilities on board for dispersing oil slicks.

Operations:
After the Falklands War, one ship was kept long-term in the Falkland Islands as a guard ship. Leeds Castle and Dumbarton Castle rotated the role on a three-yearly basis, although the ship's crew usually did a six-month rotation.

source: wikipedia / CC

units:

P258 HMS Leeds Castle
Laid down: October 18, 1979
Launched: October 29, 1980
Commissioned: August 27, 1981
Decommissioned: August 8, 2005

Fate: sold to Bangladesh Navy in 2010 / renamed BNS Dhaleshwari (F-36)

P265 HMS Dumbarton Castle
Laid down: June 25, 1980
Launched: June 3, 1981
Commissioned: March 12, 1982
Decommissioned: 2008

Fate: sold to Bangladesh Navy in 2010 / renamed BNS Bijoy (F-35)

images:

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