NAVY NEWS, JULY 1992
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Ships of the Royal Navy
No. 440
Andromeda Leander ref itt JUST out of a 17 month, £25m refit at Rosyth Royal Dockyard, HMS Andromeda will, from June next year, be maintained in a state of reduced readiness, it has been announced. The move comes in the light of the reduced threat on the international scene.
FACTS & FIGURES
Motto: Unfettered. Pennant no: F57. Laid down: May 25 1966. Launched: May 24 1967. Commissioned: December 2 1968. Displacement: 3,200 tons. Length: 372 ft. Beam: 43 ft. Ship's company: 20 officers, 200 ratings. Range: 4,000 miles at 15 knots.
But the Andromeda, which will be berthed at Portsmouth, will be kept ready to be reactivated in time of tension or conflict. In the meantime, she has a busy programme ahead. Since her rededication the ship has been engaged on trials and Basic Operational Sea Training at Portland; these successfully completed, she is to join the Standing Naval Force Atlantic for a five month deployment to the Baltic and the Mediterranean. HMS Andromeda is the last Leander frigate to be refitted and was the last Leander to be built at Portsmouth in 1967. She played a significant part in the Cod War and in the evacuation of Britons caught up in the troubles in Cyprus. In 1978 she underwent a major weapon upgrade in Devqnport, when she was fitted with the Seawolf anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapon system. In May 1982 the Andromeda formed part of the Task Force sent to retake the Falkland Islands. She was to play a vital role, providing close-in weapon support for the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible and for the resupply groups operating in San Carlos Water. HMS Andromeda was the first warship into Port Stanley
BATTLESHIP CLAIMED BY CARIBBEAN HURRICANE THE present HMS Andromeda, first of the Batch 3 broad beam Leanders to be built, is the latest in a line of Royal Navy ships to bear the name of the daughter of Cepheus, King of Ethiopia. Greek legend has it that Andromeda was chained to a rock as a sacrifice to a sea monster. At the last moment she was saved by Perseus, whom she married. When she died, Perseus turned her into a brilliant star. The first HMS Andromeda, a sixth rate, was launched in 1777 and saw action a year later in the Battle of Ushant. She also served at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent. She was lost with all hands in a hurricane off Martinique in 1780. A fifth rate of 32 guns followed in 1784 and an American sixth rate, the Hannibal, was captured in 1812 and renamed. Another fifth rate, this time of 46 guns, was built in Bombay Dockyard and
launched in 1829. She was sold in 1863. While this ship had been under construction, a sixth rate was laid down in Deptford. She was to have named Andromeda but the Admiralty changed this to Nimrod in 1827. Three other Andromedas were a trawler hired 1917-19, a tug in service 1942-45 and another tug, requisitioned in 1941 for minesweeping duties and sunk in an air attack on Malta in 1942. The largest HMS Andromeda was an 11,000 ton first class protected cruiser built at Pembroke Dock and launched in 1897. She carried 16 six inch guns and numerous smaller ones. The ship saw service in the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and on the China Station, and served as a depot ship from 1910 to 1955.
• Battle honours: St Vincent 1780 and Falkland Islands 1982.
Harbour after the fall of the Argentine garrison. Primarily intended as an anti-submarine frigate, HMS Andromeda is fitted with two triple, deck-mounted torpedo tubes which deliver anti-submarine homing torpedoes at relatively close range. Her Lynx helicopter can also carry homing torpedoes or depth charges for long range attacks. The aircraft is also able to undertake anti-surface, reconnaissance and search and rescue work. As well as the Seawolf system, the frigate is armed with Exocet surface-to-surface guided missiles, four light anti-aircraft cannons and various chaff decoy systems. An advanced, integrated system of radar, sonar, communications and electronic countermeasures equipment supplies continuous data on targets to the ship's action information organisation. Capable of nearly 30 knots, HMS Andromeda is powered by two controlled superheated boilers, which drive turbines to two shafts, each producing 30,000 shp. Her two diesel generators and two turbo alternators together provide power for all her weapon, radar and domestic systems. POSTCARDS of Ships of the Royal Navy are obtainable at 60p aaeh (minimum order £1.80) from Navy Newe, HMS Nalaon, Portamouth PO1 3HH. An order for 12 cards i» priced at £6.50 and a standing order for the aupply of ,eaeh of 12 cards on publication can be arranged on receipt of :E10/for»lgn £11.50. Prices Include postage and packing, and postIcarda will be despatched on receipt of stamps, postal order or ,cheque. No postcards are (stock»d of ships which paid off 'before 1956.
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Built as a standard Leander class frigate in 1967, HMS Andromeda (above) entered Devonport Dockyard in October 1977 for a major conversion, the principal feature of which was a completely new outfit of weapons and electronics. Completed in 1980, this task saw the Andromeda emerge as one of the most complex and powerful ships of her class, bristling with weaponry and packed with electronic equipment.
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