Pallas-class destroyer
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Pallas Class Destroyer |
| Builders: | Vickers Armstrong Arthurista |
| Operators: | Commonwealth Navy |
| Preceded by: | Paladin-class destroyer |
| Completed: | 8 |
| Active: | 3 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Destroyer |
| Displacement: | 9,600 tonnes full load |
| Length: | 161m waterline, 172m overall |
| Beam: | 16.8m |
| Draught: | 8.8m |
| Propulsion: | 4x Rollers Engineering Olympus TM3 (21,000 kW each), 2-shaft |
| Speed: | In excess of 30kn |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
list error: mixed text and list (help)
|
| Armament: |
list error: mixed text and list (help)
As of 2015:
|
| Armour: | steel shrapnel sheets, kevlar spall liners |
| Aircraft carried: | 2 x light helicopters |
The Pallas-class is an Arthuristan class of destroyers. They were first accepted into service by the Commonwealth Navy in 1975. Eight vessels of the class remain in service as of 2017.
Design and development
The Pallas were intended as first-line fast anti-submarine vessels to protect carrier battle groups from hostile nuclear-powered attack submarines, as well as provide command and control facilities as flotilla flagships for smaller frigates comprising an anti-submarine task groups. To that end, they were built as very large vessels for the time, significantly heavier than the aging 1940s-era Paladin-class destroyers they were intended to replace.
Anti-submarine warfare systems
The heart of the vessel was the Type 053 hull-mounted sonar. This is a solid-state system, which can operate in a variety of active and passive modes, including direct path, bottom bounce and convergence zone. It proved so successful when first introduced that the class did not receive a towed sonar until the mid-80s, and it remains a highly competitive system to this day with the appropriate upgrades. Once a submarine was identified, it could be attacked by the ship's two on-board Lynx helicopters, or the Ikara anti-submarine missile system.
Anti-surface and anti-air systems
By contrast with its sophisticated anti-submarine systems, anti-air capabilities were austere. Equipped with two manually-reloaded six-shot box launchers for Sea Wolf, it was barely capable of self-defence against aerial threats at short range. Similarly, surface-attack capabilities were an afterthought. Initially, it was armed with nothing more than a 4.5 inch Mark 8 naval gun for maritime targets. Later, eight ACM-2 Renove anti-ship missiles were added in the mid-80s.
Early service
The ship was initially criticised by some commentators as over-large and under-armed, but quickly proved to be a success. It was one of the first classes of Arthuristan warships to utilise modular construction methodology and as a result the shipbuilding process was relatively efficient and cost-effective. With broad beam and high freeboard, these were excellent sea-boats with long-endurance. Together with its generous command facilities, they were often used in the 'flag-showing' and independent long endurance patrol roles which 1940s-era cruisers were often tasked with, at least in areas with relatively low air-threat. While not 'armoured' in the sense that 40s-era ships were, with its extensive compartmentalisation, automated damage-control systems and tough steel construction, the Pallas would prove to be a very survivable design. Finally, the class's modular design was intended to be able to easily accomodate upgrades, a prescient decision by the naval architects responsible.
Strike upgrade
In the late-1980s, the Ikara system was deemed to be reaching obsolescence. At the same time, the V90 vertical launch system had just been declared operational. Accordingly, the Ikara was removed and between 1987 and 1990 three ships of the Pallas class had two missile batteries installed in fore and aft, each with 61-cells and a fold-up crane which would allow the launchers to be re-loaded in calm sea-states outside of combat. Thus upgraded, the ships were redesignated as 'strike destroyers', or 'DD(S)', tasked with providing deep interdiction and fire support for Arthuristan land operations with the ACM-1 Cerberus cruise missiles. They also retain their considerable anti-submarine capabilities, having been upgraded with a towed sonar system and the ability to fire the RUM-139 VL-ASROC. Anti-air defence was improved with the substitution of the Sea Wolf with Rolling Airframe Missiles.
Another round of upgrades in the early-2010s equipped the ships with modern sensors - the Type 997 Artisan 3D medium range air/surface search radar and Type 2087 towed sonar. The ship's anti-air capabilities remain modest, as it still lacks the ability to provide long-range air search and fire control support for surface-to-air missiles with sufficient range for the area defence role. As the ACM-1 Cerberus gained moving target interdiction capability and reduced RCS, the Pallas also became formidable anti-ship platforms.
These three upgraded Pallas-class vessels remain in good condition despite their age, and there are no current plans for their replacement.