According to information published by the Royal Navy on March 25, 2022, the Type 23 frigate HMS Somerset headed out to sea for the first time in nearly four years as the frigate emerged from refit.
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Type 23 frigate HMS Somerset (Picture source: Royal Navy)
After more than one million hours of work by skilled engineers, technicians and shipwrights, the warship left Plymouth today as the latest ship in her 12-strong class to complete a massive overhaul – known as LIFEX (life extension).
She has undergone maintenance, received updates and structural improvements to her hull and living spaces, and enhanced sensors and weapon systems led by the latest Sea Ceptor air defence missile system, replacing the obsolete Sea Wolf.
Additional upgrades to key electronic equipment, including communications, navigation and computer systems have been undertaken, ensuring the ship can operate against the latest threats well into the next decade.
Diesel generators have been replaced and the remainder of the propulsion system received an enhanced clean. Other key ancillary systems have been overhauled and updated.
The work allows these workhorses of the Fleet – designed in the 1980s and originally intended to serve for around 18 years – to remain in the vanguard of naval warfare until their successor Type 26 and 31 frigates begin entering service later this decade and into the mid-2030s.
HMS Somerset is a Type 23 frigate of the Royal Navy. She is the eleventh ship of the class to join the fleet since 1989. She was built by Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd on the River Clyde, in Scotland and was launched in June 1994.
The ship is armed with 32-cell Sea Wolf GWS.35 VLS canisters for 32 Sea Ceptor missiles, two quad Harpoon launchers anti-ship missiles, two twins 12.75 in (324 mm) Sting Ray torpedo tubes, one BAE 4.5 inch Mk 8 naval gun, two 30 mm DS30M Mk2 automatic cannons, two miniguns and four General-purpose machine guns.
