Type 23 Duke Class - Redundancy & Sale to Chile
The paper Delivering Security in a Changing World - Future Capabilities was presented to Parliament by The Secretary of State for Defence By Command of Her Majesty on 22 July 2004. The details followed Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon 's white paper Security in a Changing World, presented to the Commons in December 2003. It noted that "Co-operative Engagement Capability to link sensors and weapons systems of the Type 45 destroyers will provide much more effective maritime air defence, and on the Type 23 frigates will improve their point defence and situational awareness. In the light of the reduced conventional threat, our revised concurrency assumptions and improved networked capability, we assess that we need fewer of these platforms. Consequently we have a requirement for 8 Type 45 destroyers and will need 25 destroyers and frigates overall. This will be achieved by paying-off our oldest Type 42 destroyers HMS CARDIFF, NEWCASTLE and GLASGOW, and reducing the number of Type 23 frigates by paying-off HMS NORFOLK, MARLBOROUGH and GRAFTON earlier than currently planned by March 2006."
"I do not instinctively welcome the early disposal of good ships and these have been most difficult decisions," Admiral Sir Alan West, chief of the naval staff, said in a statement to naval personnel. But he added: "They are essential if we are to ensure that the finite resources available to defence are targeted at the requirements of the 21st century."
By mid-2005 Belgium, Chile and Pakistan were vying to acquire three UK Royal Navy (RN) Type 23 frigates being offered for sale overseas as a result of force reductions announced in 2004. All three nations were pursuing negotiations with the UK Ministry of Defence's Disposals Services Agency (DSA), now part of the Defence Logistics Organisation, with a final decision on the ships' sale expected within months. Chile had long been viewed as the most likely buyer for the Type 23s, having expressed a strong interest in acquiring all three ships being paid off by the RN and being first to the negotiating table. On 07 September 2005 the MoD concluded the sale of type 23 frigates to Chile. The agreement, signed by Lord Drayson, Minister for Defence Procurement and Chilean Minister of Defence Ravinet, followed the sale of HMS Sheffield (now the FMG Almirante WILLIAMS) in 2003, and paved the way for delivery of the three ships to the Chilean Navy around the end of 2008. Chile closed the deal for the purchase of three Type 23 frigates from the British Royal Navy for $250 million.
In September 2005 Defence group BAE Systems PLC won a 134 mln stg contract from Britain's Ministry of Defence to prepare and transfer three former Royal Navy Type 23 frigates to the Chilean Navy. BAE said its customer solutions and support (CS&S) division would work with the UK Defence Logistics Organisation and UK industry to prepare HMS Norfolk, HMS Marlborough and HMS Grafton for transfer. Preparation of each ship and crew training was expected to take about eight months and the last vessel was to be delivered in 2008. Opposition MPs called for a parliamentary investigation into alleged links between BAe Systems, Britain's biggest arms firm, and the former Chilean dictator Gen Augusto Pinochet. The move follows claims in The Guardian that BAe had been identified in US banking records as secretly making payments to Gen Pinochet totalling more than £1 million.
The Type 23 frigates were certified in class by Lloyd's Register survey and comply with maritime regulations. Following the relevant Inclining Experiment (stability test) and subsequent stability calculations each ship was demonstrated to meet MOD Type 23 Stability Standard for the following 10 years. Certificates of Safety-Stability were issued for each ship with the following expiry dates: HMS Norfolk valid until 6 August 2006, HMS Marlborough 6 August 2006 and HMS Grafton 7 November 2006. As part of their reactivation for sale to the Republic of Chile the prime contractor, BAE Systems, intend to contract Lloyd's Register to survey each ship (between January 2006 and July 2007) and recommend any repair work required to maintain certification to meet maritime regulations. The prime contractor will also conduct Inclining Experiments on HM Ships Norfolk (July 2006) and Grafton (December 2006) and stability calculations to confirm that all three ships continue to meet the Type 23 Stability Standard. HMS Marlborough being of the same stability batch as HMS Norfolk will not require to undergo an Inclining Experiment. Certification of class will be issued by Lloyd's Register to support the transfer to the Republic of Chile.
