VL Sea Wolf on the Leander class

[PMN1]

The design that ended up as Sea Wolf was originally vertical launch.

Any guesses as to how many VL tubes could be mounted down the side of the hanger on the modified Leanders in the same way as the Dutch M and Canadian Halifax's?

DK Browns Rebuilding the Royal Navy shows an image of a patrol vessel looking like a cut down T21, with VL Seawolf down each side of the hanger (Patrol vessel Study 919

 

[RP1]

This would depend on how heavy the launchers are - superstructure mounting essentially raises the whole magazine. I suspect it would not be that many, considering the existing stability issues with the Leanders.

 

[PMN1]

The drawing of the Patrol vessel study 919 seems to show 8 tubes down each side of a Wasp hanger.

The design had a max beam of 33ft while the Leanders had a max beam of 41ft or 43ft depending on batch.

Anyone know what kind of reload capacity the actual Sea Wolf Leanders had?

 

[RP1]

Remember that beam alone is not an indicator of stability. DKB remarks on the stability of the Leanders and the amount of lightening of the upperworks that was neccessary to carry the conventional SW should tell its own story. I will check a coulple of references this evening to see if I can find the magazine capacity of the Leanders. My "representative" data puts an 8 round VLSW launcher at 3.6te loaded, whilst the 6 round SW launcher is between at least 6te loaded. Remember that the whole SW system put on a *lot* of weight compared with the original intention (practically a 1 for 1 swap with SeaCat).

This means that 2*8 round launchers could probably be accommodated, with some ballasting. I'm not sure what it would do to trim, however. The director would probably have to stay forward, as VLSW puts out a fair amount of debris when it launches.

RP1

 

[RP1]

I checked and I can't find any published comment on Leander magazine capacity, allthough I rather suspect it might be a multiple of 6...

RP1

 

[PMN1]

Wonder what you could do with a County class destroyer?

 

[starviking]

Wonder what you could do with a County class destroyer?

Didn't the Chileans fit the Barak VLS in the 'B' gun position in their Counties?

Starviking

 

[RP1]

Didn't the Chileans fit the Barak VLS in the 'B' gun position in their Counties?

Not quite. A and B positions remained as 2*4.5 inch and 4* Exocet, Sea Slug was removed and a large flight deck created. An 8-round Barak launcher (which is smaller and lighter than VLSW) was placed on either side of the superstructure, roughly where the old Sea Cat directors used to be. Two of Baraks directors were shipped, one on the fwd superstructure and one on top of a new hangar. (Note that these are also smaller and lighter than their VLSW equivalents)

Wonder what you could do with a County class destroyer?

If you are willing to part with Sea Slug, then do the same as the Chileans and turn them into helicopter cruisers. Allthough it would be heavier, it should be possible to fit 16*VLSW and 2 911 directors in a similar fashion to the Barak installation.

If you want to keep Sea Slug, then some kind of LWSW installation using the Dutch director and Sea Cat derived 4-round launcher should be possible.

RP1