SHEFFIELD CLASS
TYPE 42 (BATCH 3) DESTROYER

RPG Stats by DANIEL HENWOOD
Background info provided by the Naval Technology Website & Royal Navy Website

BACKGROUND

The principle role of the Royal Navy's Sheffield Class Destroyers is to provide area Air-Defence for a Task Force, and since their introduction into service they have constituted the Royal Navy Fleet's principle Anti-Air Warfare capability. The secondary roles of the Destroyers are those of Anti-Surface and Anti-Submarine warfare. A total of sixteen ships were built between 1972 and 1985, although two were lost during the Falklands War. These losses resulted in the Batch 3 Upgrade which included a 16.1 metre extension to ships superstructure, upgraded weapons and sensors and the problems of fire sweeping through the ship which caused the sinking of the first Type 42 Destroyer, (HMS Sheffield,) were fixed.

The first ship of the class, HMS Sheffield, was launched in 1971. She was followed by 13 sisterships. Two ships of the class were also built for the Argentine Navy. The first Argentine ship, Hercules (D28), was built by Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness and commissioned in July 1976. The second ship, named Santisima Trinidad (D29), was built in Argentina by AFNE naval yard and launched in 1974 but not commissioned until 1981. The Royal Navy plans to replace the Type-42 Destroyers with Type-45 Destroyers which are expected to be cheaper to operate and support than the Type-42's. All of the Type-42 Destroyers are based at the Naval Dockyards in Portsmouth, the home of the Royal Navy and of the Admiralty.

RPG STATS

Crew: 253 total (229 Ratings, 24 Officers)

Notable Ships of Class:

HMS Edinburgh

HMS Gloucester

HMS Manchester

HMS York

MDC BY LOCATION:

(1) Main Body                                   2,850
(2) Command Tower                                 600
(2) Sensor Array (behind Command Tower)           180
(3) Helicopter Landing Deck                       800
(4) Propellors (2)                                300 each

    MK8 4.5 Inch Gun                              275 each
    Sea Dart Missile System                       200 each
    30mm Vulcan CIWS (2)                          150 each
    Torpedo Launcher Tubes (4)                    200 each 

    Outer Hull (per 40ft area)                    100
    Interior walls (per 20ft)                      10

NOTES:

1. Depleting the MDC of the main body will put the Destroyer out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, the ship itself will be an unsalvageable sinking wreck.
2. Destroying the command tower will instantly kill the command staff and deprive the ship of all forms of long range communications, radar and targeting. Destroying the main sensory array behind the command tower will have the same effect, but the command staff will not be killed instantly.
3. Destroying the flight deck will greatly impair the Destroyers ability to deploy and recover Helicopter.
4. Depleting the MDC of the propellors will leave the ship adrift until such time as they are repaired or the ship is towed back to port.

SPEEDS:

Speed: 30 knots

Maximum Range: 6,500 miles

STATISTICAL DATA:

Length: 141 m
Width: 14.9 m
Weight: 3,880 tons (Standard,) 5,350 tons (Fully Loaded)

Engines:

Rolls-Royce Tyne Engines RM1A Gas Turbines Delivering 8,500 shp (2)

Rolls-Royce Olympus engines TM3B Gas Turbines Delivering 56,000 shp (2)

Radar Systems:

Type 1007 & 1008 Navigational Radar

Type 996 Surveillance and Target Indication Radar

Type 909 Sea Dart Tracking Radars (2)

UAT Electronic Surveillance System

Sonar Systems:

Type 2050 active sonar

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

1. 4.5 INCH (114MM) MK8 VICKERS CANNON (1): The Royal Navy decided to re-introduce Cannons to their Surface Fleet Vessels after the hard learnt lessons of the 1981 Falklands War. Instead of a cumbersome 6 inch Gun with a slow rate of fire the Royal Navy chose a slightly smaller Gun with a higher rate of fire as their main defensive weapon. With its loading system the MK8 Gun is capable of firing up to 25 rounds per minute.
   • PRIMARY PURPOSE: Anti-Ship/Surface targets
   • SECONDARY PURPOSE: Anti-Aircraft
   • RANGE: 14 miles Versus Surface targets / 5 miles Versus Airborne targets
   • DAMAGE: 3D8 x 10 M.D.
   • RATE OF FIRE: 12 rounds per melee
   • PAYLOAD: 16 rounds on a ready rack with more stored below.
   • NOTE: Several other types of ammo can be selected: Chaff, illuminating, and practice rounds
2. BRITISH AEROSPACE SURFACE-TO-AIR/SURFACE TO SURFACE SEA DART MISSILE SYSTEM(2): The primary Anti-Aircraft weapon of the Type-42 Destroyers are two Sea Dart Missile Launchers situated on the Fore Deck just behind the MK8 4.5 Inch Gun. Much larger than the Sea Wolf Vertical Launch Missiles carried by other Royal Navy vessels. The inclusion of the anti-air defences were due to the Royal Navy's losses to Exocet Missiles during the Falklands War.
   • PRIMARY PURPOSE: Anti-Aircraft
   • SECONDARY PURPOSE: Anti-Missile
   • RANGE: 50 miles (80 km) / 1.7 miles (28 Km) against Surface targets
   • SPEED: Mach 2
   • DAMAGE: 1D6 x 100
   • BLAST RADIUS: 50 feet.
   • RATE OF FIRE: Volleys of 1-2 missiles. (Takes 5 minutes to change both missiles)
   • PAYLOAD: Each launcher holds 1 missile. Once the rockets are expended the launcher is empty and must be replenished. 22 missiles are held in reserve
3. 30MM VULCAN PHALANX (CIWS) (2): The Primary Close in defensive weapon of the Destroyers are the primary defence against inner range aircraft and missiles. The 30mm Cannons are manned by gun crews and are very effective against low flying aircraft.

   • PRIMARY PURPOSE: Anti-Missile
   • SECONDARY PURPOSE: Anti-Aircraft
   • RANGE: 1 Mile (1.6 KM)
   • DAMAGE: 3D6 M.D. per 10 round short burst
   • RATE OF FIRE: Equal to the controller's number of hand-to-hand attacks. If set on automatic by the Principal Weapons Officer it can fire up to 4 bursts per round.
   • PAYLOAD: 500 rounds
4. 20MM OERLIKON CLOSE RANGE GUNS (2): Complementing the 30mm Vulcan Cannons the 20mm Close Range Guns are manually operated deck mounted weapons designed to engage aircraft, missiles, and close in small vessels.

   • PRIMARY PURPOSE: Anti-Missile
   • SECONDARY PURPOSE: Anti-Aircraft
   • RANGE: 2 miles (3.2 KM)
   • DAMAGE: 2D6 M.D. per 10 round short burst
   • RATE OF FIRE: Equal to the controller's number of hand-to-hand attacks. If set on automatic by the Principal Weapons Officer it can fire up to 4 bursts per round.
   • PAYLOAD: 300 rounds
5. 324 MM STINGRAY TORPEDO LAUNCHER TUBES (4): The primary Anti-Submersible weapon of the Type-42 Destroyer. The torpedo launcher tubes fire heavy warhead torpedo's designed to destroy submarines, and/or sea based installations with a single torpedo.
   • PRIMARY PURPOSE: Anti-Submarine
   • SECONDARY PURPOSE: Assault
   • RANGE: 5 miles
   • DAMAGE: 1D4x100 M.D.
   • BLAST RADIUS: 50 feet.
   • RATE OF FIRE: 1 per torpedo per launcher per round. Volleys of 1 to 4 torpedo's per volley.
   • PAYLOAD: Each torpedo tube holds 1 torpedo. Once a torpedo has been launched the automated loading system reloads the tube. The reload system holds 5 torpedo's per launcher.
6. THALES DEFENCE'S SCORPION ECM/UAF-1 ESM JAMMER Used to defeat hostile radar and Sonar, the ECM/ESM, (Electronic Counter Measures,) jammers will confuse all radar and sonar so that the ships is much harder to be detected or locked onto with radar/sonar guided weapons. This does not give away the position of the ship but it does let the enemy know that they are there. The only way that it can be defeated is with ECCM, (Electronic Counter-Counter Measures.)
   • PRIMARY PURPOSE: Block Enemy Radar/Sonar
   • RANGE: 30 miles
   • RULES: Confuses all radar/sonar within 30 miles, but can be defeated by ECCM, if the ECCM operator gets a higher Sensory Instruments percentage roll against the ECM operator.
7. HUNTING ENGINEERING SEA GNAT CHAFF/FLARE DECOY DISPENSORS (4): The Destroyers Counter-measures dispensors consist of four six-barrelled 130mm Chaff/Flare launchers. Triggered by the Principal Weapons Officer, (PWO,) they will release either a chaff cloud or single flare depending on what the PWO chooses. They are used to confuse enemy missiles attacking the ship. Smart missiles get a 20% bonus when rolling on the below chart.
   01-50 Missile/s detonated by Chaff/Flare
   51-75 Missile/s loses track of target and veers away in wrong direction, (may lock onto another target)
   76-00 No effect, missile is still on target
   • Payload: Three of each type (per launcher) Reloads are automatic with 3 reloads per launcher before a manual reload is required. Stores hold 10 full reloads of the system.

SYSTEMS OF NOTE:

• LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS: The Destroyers have sufficient Food, water, fuel and amenities to support up to 350 people for up to 6 months. In an emergency the Frigate can support up to 800 people at one time, though living conditions onboard will get extremely cramped at that point.
• LONG-RANGE LASER/SATELLITE RELAY COMMUNICATIONS: The impressive communications array of the Type-42 Destroyer can communicate with up to 500 craft simultaneously at ranges of up to 900 miles (1,440 km). This range can be boosted indefinitely by using satellites or other spacecraft as to relay communications.
• LONG-RANGE RADAR: The radar array of the Destroyer is equally as impressive as the communication system, and can track and identify up to 500 craft simultaneously. The radar system has a 2,000 mile/3,200 km range.
• ENGINES: The Type-42 features four engines, consisting of two Rolls-Royce Tyne Engines RM1A Gas Turbines Delivering 8,500 shp, and two Rolls-Royce Olympus engines TM3B Gas Turbines Delivering 56,000 shp
• DECOYS: Sea Gnat (Outfit DLB) decoys and a Type 182 towed torpedo decoy. The Sea Gnats are mounted on Hunting Engineering 130mm six-barrel launchers for Anti-Torpedo defence.

AIRCRAFT COMPLEMENT (STANDARD):

• Lynx or Merlin Helicopter: 1

REFERENCES USED IN THIS DESIGN

• "Doe's All The Worlds' Warships Guide: Royal Navy Type-42 Destroyer Entry"