HMS Cleopatra (F28)

HMS Cleopatra (F28) was a Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy (RN). Cleopatra was built at HMNB Devonport. She was launched on 21 March 1964, commissioned on 1 March 1966 and decommissioned on 31 January 1992.

Construction
Cleopatra was ordered during 1962 as the 10th ship of the Leander-class. The ship was laid down at Devonport Dockyard on 19 June 1963, was launched on 21 March 1964 and completed on 4 January 1966. She commissioned with the Pennant number F28 and International Callsign 'GMLU' on 1 March 1966.

Cleopatra was 372 ft long overall and 360 ft at the waterline, with a beam of 41 ft and a maximum draught of 18 ft. Displacement was 2380 LT standard and 2860 LT full load. The ship was fitted with Y-100 machinery, built by Cammell Laird. Two oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers fed steam at 550 psi and 850 F to a pair of double reduction geared steam turbines that in turn drove two propeller shafts, with the machinery rated at 30000 shp, giving a speed of 28 kn.

A twin 4.5-inch (113 mm) Mark 6 gun mount was fitted forward. Anti-aircraft defence was provided by a quadruple Sea Cat surface-to-air missile launcher on the hangar roof, while two Oerlikon 20 mm cannon for close-in defence against surface targets. A Limbo anti-submarine mortar was fitted aft to provide a short-range anti-submarine capability, while a hangar and helicopter deck allowed a single Westland Wasp helicopter to be operated, for longer range anti-submarine and anti-surface operations.

As built, Cleopatra was fitted with a large Type 965 long range air search radar on the ship's mainmast, with a Type 993 short range air/surface target indicating radar and Type 974 navigation radar carried on the ship's foremast. An MRS3 fire control system was carried over the ship's bridge to direct the 4.5-inch guns, while a GWS22 director for Seacat was mounted on the hangar roof. The ship had a sonar suite of Type 177 medium range search sonar, Type 162 bottom search and Type 170 attack sonar, together with a Type 199 variable depth sonar (VDS).

Operational Service
Upon Cleopatra commissioning, she was deployed to the Far East Fleet, joining the 2nd Destroyer Squadron, then returned Britain in 1967 where she served as a training ship at Portland for several months before returning to the Far East. Duties included participation in the Beira Patrol, which was designed to prevent oil reaching the landlocked Rhodesia via Lorenzo Marques (now Maputo) in the then Portuguese colony of Mozambique.

In 1969, Cleopatra was present at the Evans-Melbourne collision.

Cleopatra was refitted at Devonport from May to September 1970.

Following work up at Portland in 1971, CLEOPATRA visited the West Indies and USA with HMS ARK ROYAL and RFAs OLMEDA and REGENT. In August 1971 CLEOPATRA deployed to the Far East via South Africa and joined the Singapore-based ANZUK force in December.

In February/March 1972, Cleopatra took part in escort duties during the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh's South East Asia tour.

In 1972, on passage from Singapore to undertake Beira Patrol, HMS Cleopatra helicopter crash landed into the sea. The helo was hoisted and secured on the ship's starboard side, taken to RAF Gan in the Maldives, and loaded on to a raft before transport to UK by the RAF. Cleopatra relieved HMS Lowestoft on Beira Patrol and 'borrowed' her Wasp helicopter for the remainder of her deployment.

In 1973, Cleopatra was dispatched to protect British trawlers against the Icelandic Coast Guard in the Second Cod War.

In May 1973 Cleopatra began a major modernisation at Devonport, becoming the first Leander-class ship to undergo the Batch 2 conversion. The conversion included the removal and replacement of all the ship's armament. The Mark 6 4.5-in gun mount was replaced by four Exocet anti-ship missiles. The Limbo anti-submarine mortar was removed to give a larger flight deck and the ship's hangar was enlarged to allow a Westland Lynx helicopter to be operated, while two triple STWS torpedo tubes provided short range anti-submarine capability. Anti-aircraft armament consisted of one Seacat launcher mounted forward of the Exocet containers and two more mounted aft on the hangar roof, backed up by two Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns on the bridge wings. Type 1006 navigation radar replaced the old Type 974 radar, while the MRS3 gun control director as replaced by a GWS22 director for the forward Seacat launcher, with a second Seacat director mounted aft. Type 184M sonar replaced the main hull sonar, while the VDS was removed and its well plated over. Displacement rose to 2700 LT standard and 3200 LT, with speed falling by two knots.

Cleopatra recommissioned after her reconstruction in late 1975 and joined the 4th Frigate Squadron as leader. In 1977, Cleopatra, like many other Leanders, took part in the Fleet Review of the RN in celebration of HM the Queen's Silver Jubilee. Cleopatra was positioned in the middle of HM ships Zulu and Arethusa.

The National Archives records that the Ministry of Defence has a file of details of intelligence collection by Cleopatra in January to March 1978. She was refitted again at Devonport in 1978. In 1981, Cleopatra deployed to the Mediterranean, which still had a large RN presence at the time.

In 1982 Cleopatra returned to Devonport to be converted to carry the new Type 1031 towed array sonar. To accommodate the new sonar changes were made to reduce topweight. The forward Seacat launcher and director was removed, as was the long-range Type 965 radar, allowing the ship's mainmast to be replaced by a smaller mast. The Bofors guns were replaced by lighter Oerlikon 20 mm guns while the ship's boats were removed and the Exocet launchers and torpedo tubes lowered. A large cable reel was fitted to the aft end of the flight deck, while the Type 2031 I towed array sonar consisted of an acoustic array of passive hydrophones which were towed on the end of a 1000 - 1500 m cable. The electronics needed to extract and display the sonar data was installed in the ship's hangar, which meant that Cleopatra was no longer able to operate a helicopter. Cleopatra completed her refit on 10 June 1983, the first Leander-class frigate to be fitted with a towed array.

The ship visited America in January–March 1984, and in 1985 was leader of the 7th Frigate Squadron. Further duties were undertaken but by the late 1980s, Cleopatra's age was beginning to show and her time was coming to an end. On 31 January 1992, Cleopatra was decommissioned. The following year, Cleopatra was sold for scrap.

Commanding officers


Notable commanding officers include J M Webster (1977-1978), PK Haddacks (1981-1982), R T Newman (1984-1985) and James Rupert Fanshawe (1990-1992).