Type 23 Frigate

HMS Sutherland (F81), December 2012
Class overview
Name:	Type 23 frigate
Builders:	Yarrow Shipbuilders and Swan Hunter
Operators:	Royal Navy  Chilean Navy
Preceded by:	Type 22 frigate
Succeeded by:	Type 26 frigate Type 31 frigate
Cost:	£130M per ship
In commission:	24 November 1987
Planned:	16
Completed:	16
Active:	13 Royal Navy, 3 Chilean Navy
General characteristics
Type:	Anti-submarine warfare
Displacement:	4,900 t (4,800 long tons; 5,400 short tons)
Length:	133 m (436 ft 4 in)
Beam:	16.1 m (52 ft 10 in)
Draught:	7.3 m (23 ft 9 in)
Propulsion:	CODLAG: 4 x 1,510 kW (2,025 shp) Paxman Valenta 12CM diesel generators 2 x GEC electric motors delivering 2,980 kW (4,000 shp) each 2 x Rolls-Royce Marine Spey SM1C delivering 19,500 kW (26,150 shp)
Speed:	In excess of 28 kn (52 km/h; 32 mph) (HMS Sutherland achieved 34.4 knots during high-speed trials in November 2008)
Range:	7,500 nautical miles (14,000 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h)
Complement:	185 (accommodation for up to 205)
Electronic warfare & decoys:	UAF-1 ESM or UAT Mod 1 Seagnat (no longer in RN service) Type 182 towed torpedo decoy Surface Ship Torpedo Defence
Armament:	Anti-air missiles: 1 × 32-cell Sea Wolf GWS.26 VLS canisters for 32: Sea Wolf missiles (range 1-10 km) Anti-ship missiles: 2 × quad Harpoon launchers Anti-submarine torpedoes: 2 × Twin 12.75 in (324 mm) Sting Ray torpedo tubes Guns: 1 × BAE 4.5 inch Mk 8 naval gun 2 × 30mm DS30M Mk2 guns, or, 2× 30mm DS30B guns 2 × Miniguns 4 × General purpose machine guns
Aircraft carried:	1 × Lynx HMA8, armed with; 4 × Sea Skua anti ship missiles, or 2 × anti submarine torpedoes or 1 × Westland Merlin HM1, armed with; 4 × anti submarine torpedoes
Aviation facilities:	Flight deck Enclosed hangar

The Type 23 frigate or Duke-class is a class of frigate built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The ships are named after British Dukes, thus leading to the class being commonly known as the Duke-class. The first Type 23 was commissioned in 1989, and the sixteenth, HMS St Albans was commissioned in June 2002. They form the core of the Royal Navy's destroyer and frigate fleet and serve alongside the Type 45 destroyers. Originally designed for anti-submarine warfare in the North Atlantic, the Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigates have proven their versatility in warfighting, peace-keeping and maritime security operations around the globe. Thirteen Type 23 frigates remain in service with the Royal Navy, with three vessels having been sold to Chile and handed over to the Chilean Navy.

The Royal Navy’s current Type 23 frigates will be replaced by the Type 26 Global Combat Ship starting from 2021, and later the proposed Type 31 frigate. As of 2012^[update] it is planned that HMS Argyll will be the first Type 23 to retire from the Royal Navy in 2023 while HMS St Albans will be the last, in 2036.

When first conceived in the late 1970s, the Type 23 was intended to be a light anti-submarine frigate to counter Soviet nuclear submarines operating in the North Atlantic. The Type 23 would be replacing the Leander class frigates (which had entered service in the 1960s) and the Type 21 frigate (a general purpose design that recently entered service) as "the backbone of the Royal Navy's surface ship anti-submarine force". Although not intended to replace the Type 22 frigate, reductions in the size of the Navy due to the 1998 Strategic Defence Review led to HMS St Albans replacing HMS Coventry, a Type 22 frigate.