Shipbucket

First off a little background fluff.

The Type 23 frigate is by far and away one of my all time favourite warships and as such any schemes of improvement or modifications to them I follow with great interest. I've been looking at the early 1990s proposals for "super" versions of the class ranging from sticking ASTER and SAMPSON (or what was to become ASTER and SAMPSON) onto a lengthened Type 23 hull to more modest proposals. (See Secret Projects forums).
I finally settled on a medley of the various concepts in the same vein but to my own ends. As such the following illustration belongs firmly here and not in the NW section...

The existing proposals to 'improve' the class seem to have all lengthened the ships without altering any of the other dimensions, to me a 10m plug in something like the T23 is quite a hefty plug to just add in without modifying any other dimensions... RP1 I believe was sceptical of the idea in the first place?
So on these I've taken it upon myself to increase both the overall beam and draught slightly by my (completely un-mathematical) method of going from the length:beam ratio and dividing by 3. With the lengthened hull that gives me 17.310m oa. beam and 5.77m depth (to the prop tips).

With regards to combat systems and sensors I'm pretty rusty on British systems despite being one... The proposals for NAAWS and FAAMS were the base for my set up. I decided upon the then tried and tested RIM-66 over NAAWS and FAAMS with RIM-7 standing in for Sea Wolf in the point defence role. The exact mix of missiles I'm not sure on. Suffice to say there is a 32 cell tactical-length Mk41 sitting in the hull (I'm guesstimating here on NAAWS/FAAMS requirements)
The gun as in the proposals is an FMC 5" Mk.45 capable of firing the laser-guided "Deadeye" round (before its cancellation). The existing 4.5" Mk.VIII is there as an option.

Medium-calibre weaponry is covered by a pair of DS30 mounts with 30mm x173 Mauser MK30s in them. Small-calibre weaponry that is actually permanently mounted consists of a pair of .50 HMGs amidships. There are however spigots for further .50 and smaller calibre weapons as the need arises.

CIWS, which is a first for the T23 comes in the form of a pair of (rather expensive and bulky) Goalkeepers amidships P&S.

SSMs are currently RGM-84s though as the proposals mention could be swapped for MM39/40s

Aviation facilities may from the extra beam with a slightly wider hangar but nothing much. Embarked helicopters would either be WG.13s or AW101s.

The sensor fit is as the actual T23s with the exception of fire control which replaces the existing Marconi Sea Wolf directors with Signaal / Thales STIR 2.4 / 240s for SM guidance.

Propulsion wise I've been wondering to myself about the notion of a regenerative-cycle Spey derivative as the WR-21 only earlier if that is there's actually room for the RC gear above the turbines. I'd be hoping to get >20MW out of them rather than the ~18MW they currently provide.
New diesel sets would be replace the Valentas, namely Ruston 6KR270 series sets. Rated at ~1900kW ea.

All things considered, although slightly beamier with greater installed power would it be unreasonable to look for 30 knots sustained out of them?

Type 22 Batch 4 - Improved Broadsword

Type 23 Batch 2 - Large Duke

Type 23 Batch 3 - Quiet Duke


Tol Galen Models



New England Models
MLU + SLEP A
To Be Revised
MLU + SLEP B
To Be Revised
Proposed LCS Modification
To Be Revised

~Regards, Mark.

And very nice too Blackbuck.

Awesome job!

Top shelf sir!

Oh god please yes!

I've always wondered why the Type 23's don't carry any type of CIWS, but maybe to save costs (and weight), just one Goalkeeper on top of the hangar is sufficient?
Also, why have you gone for the US 5''? I suppose this would be 5"/54 (12.7 cm) Mark 45 Mod 2, but it has an inferior firing rate (20 vs 26rpm) to the 4.5"/55 (11.4 cm) Mark 8 Mod 0. Also, it would be more ''realistic'' to equip it with as many British ordnance as possible

I'm guessing one GK on the hangar roof would foul the STIR and cut down on hangar space hence the amidships placement. Though as I said, the things are damned expensive so another illustration with Phalanx might be in order?

Well the Mk.45 was what was actually proposed for it because of the laser guided round. But seeing as that went by the way and died off I'd imagine that they'd either get retrofitted with or indeed be built with the Mk.8 So either is realistic it would seem.

Thanks for the kind words people!

OK, no words about the main gun then, but still I am thinking about that Goalkeeper on top of the hangar. I don't know if you've went with a double hangar, but if that's not the case I think there is actually some room for a Goalkeeper mounting without losing any hangar space. The picture below shows that on the original Type 23 the hangar is dead in the middle of the ship.


But when you look at this image, if you would widen the hangar to the point were it almost blends with the hull (such as on the M-frigates) you can easily fit a GK on that spot. Also, interference with the STIR would be minimal.


Besides that, the Goalkeeper is a better system than the Phalanx (proven! ) and it would be in line with the Type 22 Batch III and other RN that carry the Goalkeeper. Also, the Dutchies will be very happy...

Rumor has it that as the real frigates are modified to carry CAMM from 2016 and the Artisan 3d search radar the STIR will give way to phalanx. Most likely a single mount on the hanger roof.

shippy2013 wrote:Rumor has it that as the real frigates are modified to carry CAMM from 2016 and the Artisan 3d search radar the STIR will give way to phalanx. Most likely a single mount on the hanger roof.

AFAIK Artisan is already being fitted / tested on them. What you're forgetting with regards to CAMM is that there would still be RIM-66 in there which needs designation still.

I'll mock up some alternative variants to see what people think then.

ETA:

Click the spoiler to see what I'm going off of for this to get a better idea.



Credit to RP1 for the original posting on secret projects

I'm looking forward to them!