- Yes - In the Tech Tree.
- Yes - Event/BP.
- Yes - Premium.
- No - I would not like to see HMAS Quadrant in game.
Description:
HMAS Quadrant was one of four Type 15 frigates in service with the Royal Australian Navy during the cold war. Like her sisters she was originally a Q-class destroyer modified and converted to Type 15 standards.
She was originally built for the Royal Navy, and would serve during the Second World War in that Navy before her transfer to the Royal Australian Navy post war, in which she would operate unmodified for a number of years before her conversion. This suggestion is for her converted fit as a Type 15 ASW Frigate.
She and her sisters were converted to the Type 15 from their standard configuration, as to provide a cheap stop-gap solution, using older, but not worn out hulls, to the advancing submarine threat while purpose designed ASW vessels were being constructed. The Type 15s were designed to be built upon older British War Emergency Destroyer hulls, and would be used by many nations who operated those vessels.
History:
Royal Navy:
Laid down as HMS Quadrant on the 24th of September 1940, by R. and W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company Ltd at Hebburn-on-Tyne, England as a Q-class Destroyer, she would launch on the 28th of February 1942, commissioning into the Royal Navy on the 26th of November 1942.
Upon commissioning she would sail to Scapa Flow as an escort for the Arctic Convoys in December, sailing with convoy JW51A as part of the Distant cover force. This would not last long, and in January 1943 she would join convoy escort for the Mediterranean and Indian Oceans, with convoys WS26 and KMF8. She would return to Scapa Flow from WS26 on the 6th of February.
In March she would sail to Gibraltar, then onto Gambia for local defense and patrol. During her time here she would serve as escort to convoys in the Indian and Atlantic oceans, visiting South Africa and India. She would undergo refit from December 1943 through to March 1944. Upon refit she would join formally the Eastern Fleet, later the British Pacific Fleet, serving fleet and escort operations through to the end of the war. She would partake in the bombardment of the Japanese home islands, actions off Formosa, and the invasion of Okinawa.
In October 1945 she would ‘temporarily’ transfer to the Royal Australian Navy in exchange for one of the N-class Destroyers then in service with the RAN. She was chosen as the RAN already operated two of the Q-class.
Royal Australian Navy:
She would recommission as the HMAS Quadrant on the 18th of October 1945, and she would act as a troop carrier from New Guinea to Australia. From this she would serve in patrol duties around Australia, then later visiting the SEA region, including Hong Kong and Japan. Due to her outdated design she would be paid off into reserve at Sydney on the 20th of June 1947.
On the 15th of February, the Heavy Cruiser HMAS Australia II took the Quadrant in tow from Sydney to Melbourne. This was for her conversion to Type 15 ASW Frigate, the first of the conversions for the RAN Q-class ships. Her extensive refit would begin April 1950 in Williamstown Naval Dockyard. Her transfer to the RAN was made permanent in June.
This refit to Type 15 included cutting down and extending the Superstructure, as to limit the effects of Nuclear explosions, and was CBRN sealed. Her armament was also heavily modified, with all her 4.7" guns removed, she had a twin 40mm Bofors mounted fore on the superstructure, and a twin 4" mount placed astern. She also had her ASW armament replaced with 2x3 Squid Mortars. Her sensors were also modernised, with Type 293Q, 277Q, 974, 262, and 1010 Radars, and Type 174, 162, and 170 Sonars.
This work would finish, and she would recommission into the RAN on the 16th of July 1953 as the leader of the 1st Frigate Squadron. This Squadron comprised all of the RAN’s Type 15s, HMAS Quadrant, Queen borough, Quiberon, and Quickmatch. It also had the unconverted Q-Class HMAS Quality, which was ironically not converted due to her poor hull quality.
She would mainly see service around Australia, serving as escort to the Royal Yacht in 1954, visiting New Guinea, Manus, New Britain, and New Zealand, and would exercise in Malaysian waters. In June 1956 she would serve as a surveillance vessel with the Japanese Pearling Fleet in the Arafura Sea, before exercising with the Far Eastern Fleet in October. She would again visit NZ in February 1957.
She would pay off into the operational reserve in Sydney on the 16th of August 1957, this was due to the first pair of River-class Destroyer Escorts coming online. She would be sold for scrap on the 15th of February 1963.
| General Characteristics: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name: HMAS Quadrant | |||||
| Country: Australia | |||||
| Type: ASW Frigate | |||||
| Class name: Type 15 | |||||
| Year of commission: 1945 | |||||
| Refit: 1953 | |||||
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |||||
| Dimensions: | |||||
| Length: 361 ft 1.5 in (110.071 m) | |||||
| Beam: 35 ft 8 in (10.87 m) | |||||
| Draught: 15.5ft (4.7m) | |||||
| Displacement: 2,300t | |||||
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |||||
| Propulsion: | |||||
| Powerplant: Powerplant: 2x Oil fired boilers, 2x turbines, creating 40,000 shp (30,000 kW) across two shafts | |||||
| Speed: 31kt | |||||
| Endurance: 4,040nmi @ 16kt | |||||
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |||||
| Armament & sensors: | |||||
| Compliment: 174 | |||||
| Primary armament: 1x2 QF 4-inch Mk XVI on mount CP Mk.XIX | |||||
| Secondary armament: 1x2 40mm Bofors | |||||
| Tertiary armament: 2x3 Squid ASW mortars | |||||
| Radars: Type 293Q, 277Q, 974, 262, 1010 | |||||
| Sonars: Type 174, Type 162, Type 170 |
Sources
N. Friedman (2006). British Destroyers and Frigates, The Second World War and After. (pp.219-225)
L. Marriott (1983) Royal Navy Frigates 1945-1983.(pp 33-40)
Rapid (Type 15) class Frigate (1951)
HMAS Quadrant - Wikipedia
Type 15 frigate - Wikipedia
HMS Quadrant, destroyer
British Electronics "Type" Designations | Secret Projects Forum