WORLD OF WARSHIPS HMS MERMAID PATROL FRIGATE F 76

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HMS Mermaid was a singleton vessel, originally built for Ghana. It was to have been named the Black Star and to have functioned as the flagship of Ghana's navy as well as the presidential yacht for Kwame Nkrumah. After Nkrumah was ousted in 1966, the new government cancelled the order due to the excessive cost (around GBP 5 million at that time, equivalent to $83,183,000 today).

As the vessel was not completely finished, it was kept at anchor for several years and eventually transferred from the Firth of Clyde to Portsmouth Dockyard in April 1972 and then to Chatham Dockyard to be refitted to bring her up to Royal Navy standards.

The basic design of the ship was based on the Royal Navy Type 41/Type 61 hull and machinery, but modified to suit the requirements of the Ghana Navy. The hull was flush decked, and the exhausts streamlined into a single funnel.

There were extra accommodation areas in the superstructure and the armament was kept relatively simple to keep the cost down. Mounted forward of the bridge was a Mark 19 mounting with twin 4 inch guns, there were four single Bofors 40 mm guns around the upper superstructure, and a Squid A/S mortar mounted aft. Sonar Types 170 and 176 were carried as was a Plessey AWS-1 radar on the foremast and a navigational radar forward of this on a platform.

The ship had a displacement of 2,300 tons as standard, had a maximum speed of 24 knots and a complement of 177 officers and men in Royal Navy service.