HMS Zulu

At least three ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Zulu, in honor of the African Zulu tribe.

• The first was a First World War destroyer
• The second was a Second World War destroyer.
• The third was a Cold War frigate.

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The first HMS Zulu was an F-Class destroyer launched September 16, 1909 at Hawthorn Leslie Shipyard and commissioned in March, 1910.

She was mined during the First World War, on October 27, 1916 off Dover, England. The stern was blown off and sank, but the forward section remained afloat. It was towed into port and attached to the stern of HMS Nubian, which had been torpedoed, to form a new destroyer named HMS Zubian.

Table of contents

1 General Characteristics 2 General Characteristics 3 General Characteristics

General Characteristics

• Displacement: 1027 tons
• Length: 270 feet
• Beam: 26 feet
• Draft: 8.5 feet
• Engines: 4 boilers feeding steam turbines driving three screws
• Speed: 33 knots maximum
• Complement: 70
• Armament: two 4 inch guns, two 18-inch torpedo tubes

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The second HMS Zulu was a Tribal-class destroyer. Her keel was laid down on August 10, 1936. She was launched on September 23, 1937, and commissioned on September 7, 1938.

General Characteristics

• Displacement: 1870 tons
• Length: 344 feet
• Beam: 36.5 feet
• Engines: Parsons geared turbines of 44,000 shp
• Speed 26.5 knots
• Complement: 190
• Armament: eight 4.7 inch guns, seven smaller guns, four 21-inch torpedo tubes

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The third HMS Zulu was a Tribal-class frigate. Her keel was laid down by Alex Stephens and Sons of Govan on December 13, 1960. She was launched on July 3, 1962, and commissioned on April 17, 1964.

Zulu was the only Tribal built with Seacat missiles; her six sister frigates were built with two 40mm Bofor guns and fitted with Seacat during later refits.

General Characteristics

• Displacement: 2300 tons
• Length 360 feet
• Beam: 45.2 feet
• Draught: 17.5 feet
• Complement: 13 officers, 240 ratings, including Royal Marines detachment
• Armament
  • two single 4.5-inch guns (fore and aft) taken from scrapped C-class destroyers
  • two quadruple Seacat Surface-to-Air (SAM) missile launchers
  • 20mm Orelikon guns
  • one three-barrelled Limbo depth-charge mortar
• Aircraft: Westland Wasp helicopter