HMS Llandaff (F61)

HMS Llandaff was a Salisbury-class or Type 61 aircraft direction frigate of the British Royal Navy, named after the district of Llandaff in Cardiff, Wales. She was built by Hawthorn Leslie and Company at Hebburn on the River Tyne, being laid down on 27 August 1953 and launched on 30 November 1955.[4]

History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Llandaff
Namesake: Llandaff
Ordered: 28 June 1951
Builder: Hawthorn Leslie and Company
Laid down: 27 August 1953
Launched: 30 November 1955
Commissioned: 11 April 1958
Identification: Pennant number F61
Fate: Transferred to the Bangladeshi Navy 10 December 1976 as BNS Umar Farooq
Bangladesh
Name: BNS Umar Farooq
Acquired: 1976
Commissioned: 10 December 1976
Identification: Pennant number F-16
Fate: Scrapped 2016
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: Salisbury-class frigate
Displacement:
  • 2,170 tons standard
  • 2,400 tons full load
Length:
  • 340 ft (103.6 m) o/a
  • 330 ft (100.6 m) pp[2]
Beam: 40 ft (12.2 m)
Draught: 15 ft 6 in (4.72 m)
Propulsion: 8 × ASR1 diesels, 12,400 shp (9,200 kW), 2 shafts
Speed: 24 kn (28 mph; 44 km/h)
Range: 7,500 nmi (8,600 mi; 13,900 km) at 16 kn (18 mph; 30 km/h)[2]
Complement: 207
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • [2][3]
  • Type 960 air search radar, later Type 965 AKE-2
  • Type 293Q target indication radar, later Type 993
  • Type 982 aircraft direction radar
  • Type 277Q height finding radar, later Type 278
  • Type 974 navigation radarlater Type 978
  • Type 285 fire control radar on director Mark 6M
  • Type 262 fire control on STAAG mount
  • Type 1010 Cossor Mark 10 IFF
  • Type 174 search sonar
  • Type 170 attack sonar
Armament:
  • 1 × twin 4.5 in gun Mark 6
  • 1 × twin 40 mm Bofors gun STAAG Mark 2, later 1 × twin 40 mm Bofors gun Mk.5
  • 1 × Squid A/S mortar

Royal Navy service

Llandaff broke away from her moorings in a storm on 1 March 1956 and was damaged by collisions with the cruiser Bermuda, the frigate Russell and a merchant ship before she could be brought under control.[5] Despite this damage, she completed on 11 April 1958,[4] when she was the first ship to be trained by the newly established Flag Officer Sea Training organisation at Portland.[6]

She re-commissioned for the 5th time at Singapore in 1967 and returned to UK waters in September 1968, completing the commission at Devonport in 1970.

Between June and September 1968, Llandaff was in transit from Singapore to the United Kingdom. Her trip home was a 'showing the flag' voyage via the Solomon Islands, Cairns (Australia), Auckland (New Zealand), Fiji, Rotuma, the Gilbert Islands, Honolulu, Monterey (USA), Long Beach for refuelling, transit through the Panama Canal then Barbados with a short stop in Azores for refuelling, then home to Devonport.

Bangladesh Navy service
Main article: BNS Umar Farooq (1976)

Llandaff transferred to the Bangladeshi Navy at Royal Albert Dock, London 10 December 1976 and was renamed Umar Farooq. Umar Farooq was converted into a training ship where officers under-training and sailors get sea time. During her long refit, a female officers' gunroom and heads were installed so that female officers under-training can also be accommodated. In the Bangladesh Navy she undertook flag-showing and training visits abroad, notable among them the goodwill visit to India, Pakistan and Maldives in 1989, participation in the Korean International Fleet Review in 1998 and the 2014 search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. With three other frigates she formed the 7th Frigate Squadron and was stationed in Chittagong, Bangladesh.[7] In 2016 she was sold for scrapping.[8][9]

References
  1. Marriott 1983, p. 51.
  2. Gardiner and Chumbley 1995, pp. 516–517.
  3. Marriott 1983, pp. 47, 50.
  4. Marriott 1983, p. 50.
  5. Critchley 1986, p. 52.
  7. "Bangladesh Navy ship docks in city". Deccan Chronicle. 19 December 2010.
  8. "Auction of Bangladesh Navy ship ex-BNS Umar Farooq" (PDF). Dakha: Ministry of Defence. 27 June 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  9. GMS Weekly, 2 December 2016 Volume 172, Issue 751, Week 49

Publications
  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
  • Critchley, Mike (1986). British Warships Since 1945: Part 5: Frigates. Liskeard, UK: Maritime Books. ISBN 0-907771-13-0.
  • Gardiner, Robert; Chumbley, Stephen (1995). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-132-7.
  • Marriott, Leo (1983). Royal Navy Frigates 1945–1983. Shepperton, UK: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-1322-5.
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