HMS St Albans returns to service after upgrade
The UK Royal Navy’s HMS St Albans has returned to service. (Photo: Babcock)
Of the 16 Type 23s built, 12 are still in service with the Royal Navy and will be replaced by the Type 26 frigates, while the other three have been sold to the Chilean Navy and are in service as the Cochrane-class.
The UK Royal Navy’s HMS St Albans Duke-class Type 23 frigate has returned to service after a major refit by Babcock, an effort which included a significant number of updates and upgrades to keep the platform at the leading edge of warfighting capability.
The updates and upgrades included a substantial power generation and machinery upgrade, the removal, overhaul and replacement of both propulsion motors, and stripping and repainting the ship’s hull.
The company described the refitted ship as the most “capable Type 23 frigate in the Royal Navy’s fleet, boasting next-generation weapons systems and radar”.
Under the refit programme for the Type 23s, the ships receive the Type 997 Artisan 3D radar to replace the existing Type 996 Mod 1 radar, and the Type 2150 bow sonar to replace the Type 2050. The equipment will go alongside the Type 911 fire control radar and 2087 towed array sonar that was fitted during an earlier refit.
Shephard Defence Insight noted that the planned out of service date for St Albans was 2035 and all of the Type 23 class ships would be replaced by Type 26 frigates.
Type 23 HMS Westminster has been scheduled for decommissioning in 2028, and the remaining six will be due to leave service in 2029 (Northumberland), 2030 (Richmond), 2031 (Somerset), 2032 (Sutherland), 2033 (Kent) and 2034 (Portland).
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