Commissioned 50 years ago today on 16 February 1974, California was the lead of her two-ship class of nuclear-powered guided-missile destroyer leaders (redubbed as cruisers in June 1975 to counter the rise in Soviet destroyer-sized “cruisers”).
In her late career configuration, seen above in the image from the CGN-38 Veterans Assoc, California is seen with twin Phalanx 20mm CIWS and twin Mk141 quad Harpoon cans installed. This was added to her original pair of twin Mk.13 Standard (MR) “one-armed bandit” launchers, ASROC matchbox launcher, and Mk.46 ASW torpedo tubes.
The “Golden Grizzly” led a happy life and was present at a myriad of Cold War crises including two circumnavigations of the globe. Despite the fact that she had received a New Threat Upgrade package in a 1993 overhaul, she, and the rest of the Navy’s nuclear-powered cruisers, were axed as part of the Clinton-era cruiser slaughter to skimp on the cost of a mid-life refuel that would have added 20 years to her lifespan.
USS California was deactivated on 1 October 1998, just 24 years after being accepted, then decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 9 July 1999. She was disposed of in the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear-Powered Ship-Submarine recycling program at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Her recycling and scrapping was completed on 12 May 2000.
AWM Caption: AN AERIAL VIEW OF SEAPLANE CARRIER HMAS ALBATROSS WITH ONE OF HER SEAGULL AMPHIBIAN AIRCRAFT FROM 101 FLEET COOPERATION FLIGHT, RAAF, OVERHEAD. NOTE THE HATCH COVERING THE HANGAR ENTRANCE JUST FORWARD OF THE SUPERSTRUCTURE AND THE MOUNTING FOR THE UNFITTED CATAPULT TOWARDS THE BOWS.
S Albatross) was a seaplane tender of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), which was later transferred to the Royal Navy and used as a repair ship. Albatross was built by Cockatoo Island Dockyard during the mid-1920s and entered service at the start of 1929. The ship experienced problems with the aircraft assigned to her during her career: the amphibious aircraft she had been designed for were retired just before the ship entered service, the replacement aircraft could not be catapult-launched from the ship, and a new plane designed specifically to work with the ship began operations after Albatross was demoted from seagoing status in 1933.
DURING HER SERVICE WITH THE ROYAL NAVY, AS HMS ALBATROSS, THE SHIP RECEIVED BATTLE DAMAGE WHICH WAS NOT COMPLETELY REPAIRED BY THE END OF THE WAR. SHE PAID OFF IN 1945-06 AND WAS SOLD OUT OF SERVICE. IN 1947 SHE BECAME THE PRIDE OF TORQUAY AND WAS TO BE A FLOATING CABARET BUT THE PLAN FAILED. IN 1948 THE VESSEL WAS ACQUIRED BY GRAECO-BRITISH INTERESTS, CONVERTED TO A PASSENGER SHIP BEING SUBSEQUENTLY USED AS A MIGRANT SHIP TO AUSTRALIA, UNDER THE NAME HELLENIC PRINCE. DURING 1953 SHE WAS CHARTERED AS A BRITISH TROOP TRANSPORT. FINALLY IN 1953-11, THE SHIP WAS SOLD FOR SCRAPPING IN HONG KONG. (NAVAL HISTORICAL COLLECTION).
The ship was sold to the Victorian Public Works Department at the end of the war, who renamed her Rip and used her as a maintenance ship.[1] In 1984, she was purchased by Whyalla City Council, who put her on display as a landlocked museum ship in 1987.
End in sight for the Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigate LIFEX programme
Here we provide an update on the complex support programme that is being undertaken to keep the Type 23 frigates in service.
The programme of life extension refits to upgrade and repair the ageing Type 23 frigates to serve beyond their 30th birthdays is almost complete. The last ship to undergo this process, HMS Sutherland is still in the Frigate Support Centre (FSC) shed at Devonport but will undock in late February and should be ready to be handed back to the RN in June.
Each frigate undergoing life extension (LIFEX) refit has a hull survey and repairs, the Sea Wolf missile system replaced with Sea Ceptor, new Artisan radar (if not already fitted) and a wide range of other upgrades and refurbishments. While delivering an important capability boost, the work has mostly taken longer than expected and the work on each vessel has often been a unique project. As each ship was stripped down and surveyed, different levels of hull corrosion, structural problems and equipment deterioration were revealed. This partly explains why the time taken for each ship has varied significantly between vessels.
Frigate*
PGMU status
LIFEX refit start
LIFEX refit end
LIFEX duration (months)
First post-LIFEX refit start
HMS Westminster
N
Oct 2014
Mar 2017
30
To be decommissioned
HMS Argyll
N
May 2015
Apr 2017
24
May 2022
HMS Montrose
N
Mar 2014
July 2015
17
Decommissioned
HMS Northumberland
Future?
May 2016
Apr 2018
23
Due Mar 2024
HMS Kent
Future?
Oct 2016
Oct 2018
25
Due June 2024
HMS Lancaster
N
May 2017
Mar 2020
36
HMS Richmond
Y
Sept 2017
Mar 2020
30
HMS Portland
Future?
Apr 2018
May 2021
37
First to have new S2150 Bow Mounted Sonar
HMS Somerset
Future?
Oct 2018
May 2022
43
Post-refit issues delayed return to service until late 2023
HMS Iron Duke
N
May 2019
Jun 2023
49
HMS St Albans
Y
Mid 2019
Mar 2024
58
HMS Sutherland
Y
Dec 2020
Jun 2024
42
(HMS Monmouth decommissioned in 2021 without undergoing life extension.)
The original cost estimate for each LIFEX project was around £35M (excluding the engine upgrades) but this has been exceeded in most cases. HMS Iron Duke was the most extreme example, She did not receive new engines and required 2,000 steel inserts to make her seaworthy in a package that eventually cost £103M. The official figure for HMS Somerset was £60.7M, although she continued to suffer from defects well after the refit was complete. The cost of the LIFEX for every ship has not been released into the public domain, with the MoD citing “commercial sensitivity”.
The impacts of the pandemic clearly did not help but progress was slower than expected. Against expectation, the trend has been that LIFEX projects are taking longer for the later ships. Babcock says they have never delivered a ship late back to the customer and work with the RN to coordinate handover to dovetail with the build-up of the ship’s company (Something the RN is increasingly finding harder to manage). Despite being the youngest of the frigates, HMS St Albans has endured the longest time in LIFEX. The work involved 1.2 million man-hours including some 350 structural enhancements, PGMU and the complete removal of her two electric propulsion motors for a major overhaul. Her ship staff moved onboard in November 2023 but she is not expected to be ready for sea until March.
PGMU ambition scaled back
Originally it was intended that 11 of the 13 ships would receive the Power Generation Machinery Upgrade (PGMU) but only HMS Richmond, St Albans and Sutherland will benefit from this. Essentially the upgrade involves replacing the four diesel generator sets with modern equivalents to provide much greater fuel efficiency and performance, especially in hotter climates. (More technical details here). It is unclear if some of the other frigates that have previously completed LIFEX will return to have PGMU at a later date.
(Left) Before and (right) after PGMU. The only external difference that indicates HMS Richmond has had new engines – re-shaped FAMR diesel generator uptake shroud on the after side of the mainmast. The shroud covers the hot exhaust pipes and the new shape is designed to direct the hot gas flow away from the mast to prevent it heating up. Many anti-ship missiles utilise infra-red heat-seeking guidance and modern warships are designed to reduce their heat signature as much as possible. (Photo: RFA Nostalgia)
The PGMU project presented considerable engineering challenges and attendant costs that were somewhat underestimated at the start. New equipment had to fit within the existing structural and compartment constraints and integrate with the ship’s legacy services and systems. The first frigate to have the PGMU, HMS Richmond went back to sea in March 2020. Her refit employed 350 Babcock staff working a total of 1 million man-hours. 8 km of new cable and 600m of new pipework and were installed. The new diesel-generator sets have to be placed into the Forward Auxiliary Machinery Room (FAMR) below decks. The Upper Auxiliary Machinery Room (UAMR) is on the main deck level and is more easily accessible via deckhead soft patches but was also completely stripped and much equipment re-sited. Richmond has now sailed for thousands of miles and the upgrade has proven to be a success.
HMS Argyll in the basin outside the Frigate Support Centre, Feb 2024 (Photo: Tom Leach).
Back for more
Following the end of the LIFEX project, ships are now returning for their next upkeep period. HMS Argyll was dry-docked in the Summer of 2022 and is part-way through the project. She was undocked in January but soon after the Daily Telegraph reported HMS Argyll would not be returned to service, essentially due to a lack of sailors with crewing Type 31 and Type 26 being prioritised. However, Babcock say the upkeep is continuing and she is now undergoing ‘post dock-dependent work’. The MoD refuses to confirm that HMS Westminster will be scrapped or comment on plans for HMS Argyll.
Having been run extremely hard since completing LIFEX in 2018, HMS Northumberland will go into the FSC dry dock for a badly needed upkeep period in March. HMS Kent will begin similar maintenance package in June. Under Lloyds certification rules now applied to most RN vessels, ships must be dry docked at least every six years and Babcock will be kept busy with a rolling programme of Type 23 frigate maintenance into the 2030s.
An interesting comparison – the Chilean Navy’s three ex-RN Type 23 frigates have undergone similar upgrades with the addition of Sea Ceptor missiles, Hensoldt TRS-40 AESA 4D Radar and a new Lockheed Martin CMS 330 combat management system. (CNS Almirante Condell, ex-HMS Marlborough, July 2022. Photo: US Navy)
The ship served on two tours of duty during the Korean War, and attempts to distinguish herself from British ships led to the practice of red kangaroo symbols on Australian warships. During 1956, Anzac served during the Malayan Emergency. In 1960, a malfunction in the destroyer’s gun direction equipment caused Anzac to fire directly on sister ship HMAS Tobruk during a gunnery exercise, with Tobruk left unrepairable. In 1961, the destroyer was reclassified as a training vessel. Anzac remained in service until 1974, and was sold for breaking a year later.
This photo was probably taken during the 1908 Rose Festival when the “Mosquito Squadron” visited Portland. The destroyers Preble, Perry and Farragut, and the torpedo boats Fox and Davis were among the ships in attendance. This photo shows two destroyers (larger ships in the background) and two torpedo boats. Coincidentally, the Fox and Davis, along with a third torpedo boat Goldsborough, were built in 1898-99 at Wolff & Zwicker Iron Works at the foot of Hawthorne on Portland’s east side.
SOUDA BAY, Greece (Oct. 13, 2010) The guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf (CG 72) arrives for a routine port visit. The Norfolk-based Ticonderoga-class Aegis cruiser is on a scheduled six-month deployment and operating in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Paul Farley/Released)
Designed as a multi-mission ship, Vella Gulf was capable of sustained combat operations in Anti-Air, Anti-Submarine, Anti-Surface, and Strike warfare environments. She supported of carrier battle groups, amphibious assault groups, ballistic missile defense, as well as interdiction and escort missions. Her diverse combat capability was orchestrated by the Aegis Combat System, a fully integrated electronic detection, engagement, and fire-control system. Aegis enabled Vella Gulf to detect, evaluate, and engage an enemy with great firepower and accuracy.
The US Army has not followed suit and personnel are not allowed hands in their pockets.
Sailors in the United States Navy are now allowed to place their hands in their pockets after the service implemented sweeping changes to its uniform policy.
The policy update, which was sent out to all US Navy personnel, rescinds the decades-old restrictions barring sailors from putting their hands in their pockets, which the Navy previously claimed was “inappropriate and detracts from a professional military appearance”.
Sailors are now “authorised to have hands in their pockets when doing so does not compromise safety nor prohibit the proper rendering of honours and courtesies”, the latest guidance said.
While the US Navy has relaxed its rules, current US Army policy still states that “while in uniform, personnel will not place their hands in their pockets, except momentarily to place or retrieve objects.”
No such regulation exists for UK military personnel. However, having hands in pockets is widely considered a sign of poor discipline and it has been known for ‘repeat offenders’ to have to sew up their pockets as a punishment.
Watch: US Army solves recruitment crisis with fat camp.
Since the policy update was released, female sailors are now able to wear t-shirts designed for women, if the garment conforms with the navy’s current colour, fabric, and neck configuration standards.
“The intent of this policy update is to address expressed dissatisfaction regarding the required wear of male or unisex t-shirts that are not designed to fit female bodies,” the latest regulation said.
Sailors may also wear false eyelashes or eyelash extensions in uniform – provided they are no more than “14 millimetres in length as measured from the eyelid to the tip of the eyelash.”
The false eyelash colour must match the colour of the natural eyelash, however, and “eyelash extensions cannot hinder wear of protective eyewear”.
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