Development of the Leander frigate

[uk 75]

One of the joys of old copies of reference books like Janes Fighting Ships are the artists' impressions of ships before they are built.
I had always assumed the Leander frigate was a fairly simple evolution fron the Rothesay class but a drawing in the 1963 edition of Weyers Flottentaschenbuch shows a very different looking ship. It has the hull of the Leander as built and the same gun turret but the superstructure is more cumbersome and the funnel looks like a lift from the County class. Instead of the single bedstead radar it has a double bedstead like the Battle class fleet pickets. There is no helicopter hangar and two seacat launchers are located on the deck with a Wasp helicopter shown aft of them.
How this drawing was.arrived it I dont know but Weyers normally used official sources.

 

[TomS]

One of the joys of old copies of reference books like Janes Fighting Ships are the artists' impressions of ships before they are built.
I had always assumed the Leander frigate was a fairly simple evolution fron the Rothesay class but a drawing in the 1963 edition of Weyers Flottentaschenbuch shows a very different looking ship. It has the hull of the Leander as built and the same gun turret but the superstructure is more cumbersome and the funnel looks like a lift from the County class. Instead of the single bedstead radar it has a double bedstead like the Battle class fleet pickets. There is no helicopter hangar and two seacat launchers are located on the deck with a Wasp helicopter shown aft of them.
How this drawing was.arrived it I dont know but Weyers normally used official sources.

Very odd, especially since the Leanders were actually almost complete in 1962/3 and the actual shape should have been known. As far as I can tell, neither DK Brown's Rebuilding the Royal Navy nor Friedman's British Destroyers and Frigates mention a configuration like that on the way to the Leander.

Any chance you can post the picture? I'm curious what it looks like.

 

[uk 75]

My copy is squirreled away in a box. If I can find it in the next day or two I will try and photo it on my phone and post.

 

[uk 75]

My copy is squirreled away in a box. If I can find it in the next day or two I will try and photo it on my phone and post.

 

[Hood]

I agree it does seem odd given that the hangar-equipped Rothesays were already in service and the first Leanders already launched and fitting out at that time.

I would put this down to artistic licence by the Flottentaschenbuch artist. He may have only seen a forward angle and used a Whitby to fill in the aft details?
Note that the text seems to indicate 2x 40mm guns and Sea Cat but the 40mm are not visible on the drawing. In reality the early ships never completed with Sea Cat.

 

[NOMISYRRUC]

I agree it does seem odd given that the hangar-equipped Rothesays were already in service and the first Leanders already launched and fitting out at that time.

Is that correct? I was under the impression that the Rothesays were fitted with a hangar and flight deck in refits between 1966 and 1972?

 

[Hood]

I agree it does seem odd given that the hangar-equipped Rothesays were already in service and the first Leanders already launched and fitting out at that time.

Is that correct? I was under the impression that the Rothesays were fitted with a hangar and flight deck in refits between 1966 and 1972?

Yes you are correct, my mistake on that.