WORLD OF WARSHIPS HMS ASHANTI TRIBAL CLASS TYPE 81 GP FRIGATE

Wallpaper Description:

The Type 81, or Tribal class, were ordered and built as Sloops to carry out similar duties to the immediate post war Improved Black Swan Sloops and Loch class frigates in the Gulf. In the mid 1960s the seven Tribals were reclassified as second class general-purpose frigates to maintain frigate numbers. After the British withdrawal from East of Suez in 1971 the Tribals operated in the Nato North Atlantic sphere with the only update the fitting of Seacat missiles to all by 1977, limited by their single propeller and low speed of 24 knots. In 1979-80 age and crew and fuel shortages, saw them transferred to the stand by squadrons, three being reactivated in 1982 in the Falklands crisis for training and West Indian guardship duties.

Armament:
2 single 4.5 in (114 mm) Mark 5 Mod 1 guns
2 single 40 mm Mark 7 Bofors guns, later;
2 four-rail GWS-20 Sea Cat missile systems
2 single 20 mm Oerlikon guns
1 Mark 10 Limbo ASW mortar
Aircraft carried: 1 Westland Wasp helicopter