Monday 29 November 2010

Ship Spotting


Something monochrome.


What is it?

10 comments:

D. E. Reddick said...

Well, whatever it may be it has an ASW mortar aft of the helipad and what looks like an older dual 4-inch gun mount (of RN origins) forward.

Saturn 5 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Saturn 5 said...

She is either HMS Marmaid (if the photo is prior to 1977) or KD Hang Tuah

D. E. Reddick said...

Saturn 5 is correct, except for his spelling - HMS Mermaid. She had a Squid ASW mortar aft and a twin 4 or 4.5 inch gun mount forward.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KD_Hang_Tuah

Chuck Hill said...

In this possibly more modern photo it appears the twin 4" were replaced by a single early Bofors 57. Looks like the ASW mortar may have been removed.

DER, my Janes says the ASW mortar was a limbo. Note the relatively long barrels. Its definely a twin 4" in the first picture.

Chuck Hill said...

Just found some indication she is still in service as a training vessel after an extensive refit in 1995-97 when she was re-engined, rearmed.

D. E. Reddick said...

Chuck,

Now that you've mentioned it, those barrels are -too- long to belong to a Squid system - so it's a Limbo ASW mortar system. Wikipedia simply has that wrong regarding the original configuration of HMS Mermaid.

D. E. Reddick said...

Chuck,

Yeah, she appears to be presently in active service in a training role.

From Wikipedia: "in active service, as of 2010[update] as training ship in Frigate Squadron 21".

GrandLogistics said...

Hello Saturn 5,

she was H.M.S.Mermaid when the picture was taken.
An unusual vessel with an unusual and rather tragic history:

http://www.tca2000.co.uk/inmemoriam.htm


GrandLogistics.

Chuck Hill said...

Interesting story.