Historic Warships, Wallasey - HMS Plymouth

Introduction

The photograph on this page of Historic Warships, Wallasey - HMS Plymouth by Chris Allen as part of the Geograph project.

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Historic Warships, Wallasey - HMS Plymouth

Image: © Chris Allen Taken: 4 Jan 1997

HMS Plymouth is a Falklands War veteran that was apparently sold for scrap in March 2012. When this photograph was taken she was in use as a museum ship but redevelopment forced closure and relocation. She was a Rothesay class frigate commissioned in 1961 and retired in 1988. My main interest is the steam turbine propulsion. She was powered by the standard post-war RN steam plant with two Y100 turbines turning twin screws. The Y100 was a single casing turbine in the large white cylinder in the centre. The silver projections at the top are the admission valves operated sequentially by a camshaft. The plumbing on the top closest is for the astern turbine in the after end of the casing. The big blue grey box closest is the double reduction gear. The starboard turbine is seen dimly in the right background and between the two are the steam jet air extractors for the condensers. The Y100 was good for 15,000 horsepower/shaft and Plymouth had a top speed of 30 knots. To the best of my knowledge this was the last example of its type in situ in the UK. I've seen a set on dry land at Chatham and the Royal Naval Engineering College used to have one.

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Image Location

coordinates on a map icon
Latitude
53.40463
Longitude
-3.028808