Featured in Ships of the Royal Navy June
1979 - No. 283
| Facts and Figures |
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| Displacement: |
4,000 tonnes |
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| Length: |
131m. (430ft.) |
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| Beam: |
14.75m. (48ft.) |
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| Draught: |
6.2m (21ft.) |
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| Armament: |
four Exocet SSM; two sextuple Seawolf SA/SSM; two triple
torpedo tubes; two 40mm Bofors; two chaff launchers |
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| Power: |
COGOG arrangement of two Rolls-Royce Olympus gas turbines,
56,000 bhp; two Rolls-Royce Tyne gas turbines for cruising,
8,500 bhp; two controllable pitch propellers. |
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| Speed: |
30 Knots; 18 knots on Tynes |
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| Range: |
4,500 nautical miles at 18 knots |
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| Complement: |
25 officers and 225 ratings |
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| Aircraft: |
two Lynx helicopters |
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Sword Of The Sea
Text from Ships Of The Royal Navy No. 283
Britain's first all-missile, all-metric ship. HMS Broadsword,
was given a personal good luck message from Princess Alexandra
when she attended the Type 22's commissioning ceremony at
Devonport on May 4.
Three years to the month that the Princess had launched the
frigate at Scotstoun, Glasgow, she arrived at Devonport to
a Royal fanfare.
The fanfare was played by the State trumpeters of the Blues
and Royals Regiment, to which the ship is affiliated.
After the ceremony the Broadsword's commanding officer, Capt
Tony Norman, welcomed the 750 guests and presented the Princess
with a model of the ship.
Princess Alexandra thanked the ship's company and wished them
"all good luck and God's blessing."
The frigate's ceremonial broadsword was used by the captain's
wife, Mrs Judy Norman, and the youngest rating, JS Gordon
Jardine, to cut the commissioning cake.
Among the other guests were Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Janvrin,
who commanded the previous Broadsword, Lady Janvrin, and the
Mayor and Mayoress of Chester, which has a link with the ship.
Built by Yarrows, the Broadsword was making naval history
even before she left the slipway; she was the first British
warship built without guns - apart from two Bofors policing
weapons - and the first built to metric specifications.
Her continuing trials programme will take her to the Western
Isles and the Mediterranean before the end of the year - but
not before she calls at Chester, which she plans to visit
in early July.
Appropriately, HMS Broadsword has her very own sword of honour
- the replica of a crusader's broadsword displayed in the
Doges Palace, Venice.
The weapon was seen in the 1960's by the first lieutenant
of the previous Broadsword, Lieut-Cdr R B Jones, while on
a visit to Venice. He took measurements and when he returned
to Malta, HMS Assonia, a destroyer depot ship, manned by FMG
engineers, produced a scale copy for the Broadsword.
He wrote the following inscription for the sword:
When fashioned me in other days
To cleave the casques of warring knights
Two-handed engine, lord of fights,
The arbiter of many frays.
Grey namesake now to you I yield
My place in battles panoply,
Stain not my honour: keep the sea
As in times past I kept the field
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