HMS Westminster – British rocket frigate with extended visit to Gdynia

HMS Westminister is one of 16 Type 23 rocket frigates that were built in British shipyards to order the Royal Navy from 1985 to 2002. They are currently operating in the UK and Chile – this South American country has redeemed three ships from the equipment surplus, withdrawn from the Royal Navy for budgetary reasons in 2004. The remaining thirteen are extensively exploited during operations in the globe area, as well as numerous exercises. Among others, the presence of HMS Westminister in Gdynia was an element of a working cruise after completed exercises Trident Juncture 2018 in Norwegian waters. This was seen, among others, after a full fire unit of missile systems, the lack of a Leonardo AW101 Merlin helicopter, as well as spare parts for the rotor, which were not removed after the helicopter was searched.

As has already been mentioned, the British are systematically upgrading their frigates. In the case of a Gdynia guest, works were carried out at the shipyard in Portsmouth between November 2014 and January 2017 as a result of the new electronic systems and weapons. So far, the primary air defense system was the Sea Wolf GWS 26 set, which included a vertical launcher for 32 missiles of this type. Due to the ageing of the system, as well as technological development, the British decided to turn all ships into new weapons – the Sea Ceptor system of MBDA production. Its installation on Type 23 frigates significantly increased operational capabilities, as long as Sea Wolf could fight targets about 10 km from the ship, so Sea Ceptor has a range of at least 25 km. Interestingly, the rearrangement did not force a significant redevelopment of the existing vertical launcher. It is now known that the same system will also enter the Type 26 rocket frigates to replace Type 23. Crew members stated that the unit had already conducted missile firing exercises, without revealing the number of Sea Ceptors used, as well as fire activities.

What is even more interesting, like Britain, the Chileans decided on a similar solution (the US-European consortium defeated Raytheon's offer of ESSM missiles). Indonesia is also offered, which wants to implement the programme of modernization and reinforcement of three Bung Tomo Corvettes, redeemed from BAE Systems after the resignation of their acquisition by Brunei – according to part of the publication, despite the fact of preparing ship installations for Sea Wolf missiles, Indonesians never bought missiles alone. In addition, Sea Ceptor will also board both New Zealand frigates of ANZAC type. The presence of HMS Westminister in Gdynia was also an opportunity to present solutions to the Polish side – it is no secret that the MBDA promotes the Sea Ceptor system as an option to arm the ORP Ślązak patrol vessel, which started naval trials, as well as (futurely) as a weapon of warships built under the Sword Program. In addition, the terrestrial version of the system is offered in the Narew project, which assumes the purchase of about 27 rocket batteries for the Polish Army.

In addition to arms, the changes also included electronic equipment – they received a multi-function BAE Systems Type 997 Artisan radio station. At the same time, Type 911 fire control stations designed to indicate targets for the Sea Wolf system were removed. Their dismantling also allowed the removal of protective shields of part of the stations to affect the impact of electromagnetic waves. Another change was the size of electronic systems – the whole system necessary for the efficient operation of the Sea Ceptor system is located in two small cabinets. This, in turn, caused that the former room for the Sea Wolf devices remained almost empty – it now serves as a space for meetings, meetings and rest during the service with about 12 square meters of space. In addition, there were two electrooptic observation and target heads designed to work with unmanned DM30M stations. Mk.2 equipped with 30 mm automatic cannons. Another novelty that was presented to invited journalists was the towed Thales Type 2087 hydrolocation station, whose characteristic feature is small dimensions (compared to the previous generation of devices of this type).

According to plans, the ship was to leave Gdynia on December 4. Probably for technical reasons, the stay in Poland will extend to at least 8 December.

Signature: LP