HMS Tartar (F133)

HMS Tartar was a Tribal-class frigate of the Royal Navy (RN). She was named after the Tartar people, most of whom were located in Asia and Eastern Europe. She was sold to the Indonesian Navy in 1984.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Tartar.

Aerial view of the Tribal-class frigate HMS Tartar in 1971
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Tartar
Builder:	Devonport Dockyard
Laid down:	22 October 1959
Launched:	19 September 1960
Commissioned:	26 February 1962
Decommissioned:	29 March 1984
Identification:	Pennant number: F133
Motto:	Without Fear
Fate:	Sold to Indonesia, 1984
Indonesia
Name:	KRI Hasanuddin
Acquired:	1984
Identification:	Pennant number: 333
Status:	Decommissioned; awaiting disposal
General characteristics
Class and type:	Tribal-class frigate
Displacement:	2,300 long tons (2,300 t) standard 2,700 long tons (2,700 t) full load
Length:	360 ft (109.7 m) oa 350 ft (106.7 m) pp
Beam:	42 ft 3 in (12.9 m)
Draught:	13 ft 3 in (4.0 m) 17 ft 6 in (5.3 m) (propellers)[1]
Propulsion:	Single-shaft COSAG 1 Steam turbine 12,500 shp (9,300 kW) 1 Metrovick G-6 gas turbine 7,500 shp (5,600 kW)
Speed:	27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Range:	4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement:	253
Sensors and processing systems:	Radar type 965 air-search Radar type 993 low-angle search Radar type 978 navigation Radar type 903 gunnery fire-control Radar type 262 GWS-21 fire-control Sonar type 177 search Sonar type 170 attack Sonar type 162 bottom profiling
Armament:	2 × single 4.5 inch (114 mm) Mark 5* Mod 1 guns 2 × single 40 mm Mark 7 Bofors guns, later; 2 × four-rail GWS-20 Sea Cat missile systems 2 × single 20 mm Oerlikon guns 1 × Mark 10 Limbo ASW mortar
Aircraft carried:	1 × Westland Wasp helicopter
Service record
Operations:	Third Cod War

Tartar in Portsmouth, July 1977

Tartar was built by Devonport Dockyard,[2] at a cost of £4,140,000.[3] She was launched on 19 September 1960 and commissioned on 26 February 1962.[2]

Service history

Royal Navy

While in the West Indies in 1963, Tartar provided support to Trinidad after Hurricane Flora struck the Caribbean.[4][5] In early December, Tartar's crew apprehended nine armed Cuban on board a ship off Cay Sal, Bahamas, where an arms cache was discovered by a ship's party.[6]

Tartar was recommissioned on 12 January 1967 and attended Portsmouth Navy Days later that year.[7] The frigate arrived in the Persian Gulf in 1968 via Simonstown, Mombasa and the Seychelles. Between 1969 and 1971 she was commanded by Captain Cameron Rusby. On the voyage to the Seychelles the fleet auxiliary vessel RFA Ennerdale was lost, having struck a submerged object. Service in the Gulf was followed by a homeward journey via the Beira Patrol lasting six weeks and Cape Town thence to Gibraltar arriving during the talks between Harold Wilson, Prime Minister and Ian Smith from Rhodesia on board the cruiser Tiger.

In 1975, Tartar undertook fishery protection duties in the Barents Sea. She supported operations during the Third Cod War with Iceland. During the dispute, Tartar was rammed by the patrol vessel ICGV Týr on 1 April,[8] and by ICGV Ægir on 6 May.[9] Later that year, in the West Indies, Tartar searched for and located the wreckage of Cubana Flight 455. She was present at the Spithead Fleet Review in 1977, held in honour of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee. At this time she was part of the 1st Frigate Squadron.[10]

Tartar was reduced to reserve in 1980, being placed in the Standby Squadron.[11] She was taken out of reserve during the Falklands War and restored for active service.[12] The frigate did not deploy to the South Atlantic, however, instead operating in home waters in the absence of other warships. She did deploy to the West Indies as a guardship in 1982/1983 for 3 months, spending Christmas and New Year in St Petersburg, Florida. In June 1983, Tartar's Westland Wasp helicopter evacuated the six-man crew of the supply ship MV Spearfish, which had collided with an oil rig in the English Channel. As a potential hazard to navigation, Spearfish had to be sunk by the guns of Tartar.[13]

Indonesian Navy

Tartar was decommissioned in 1984 and sold to Indonesia. She was commissioned into the Indonesian Navy as Hasanuddin,[14] so named after a sultan who fought the Dutch. The frigate has since been decommissioned and her name was given to a Dutch-built Sigma-class corvette.

References

1. Blackman 1971, p. 356.
2. Gardiner, Robert & Chesneau, Roger (1995), p. 518.
3. "A-Submarine Cost Revised". The Times (56304): Col F, p 8. 24 April 1965.
4. "Hurricane Kills More Than 400". The Times (55825): Col F, p 10. 7 October 1963.
5. "Tobago Prepares To Rebuild". The Times (55827): Col B, p 10. 9 October 1963.
6. "British Patrol Arrests Nine Cubans". The Times (55873): Col E, p 10. 2 December 1963.
7. Programme, Navy Days Portsmouth, 26–28 August 1967, HMSO, p17.
8. "Rammings damage cod war frigates". The Times (59670): Col A, p. 4. 3 April 1976.
9. "Mr Crosland stands by for cod war message". The Times (59714): Col D, p. 4. 27 May 1976.
10. Winton, John (July 1977) "Spithead – 28 June 1977". The Naval Review: Vol. 65, No. 3, p. 203.
11. Hansard (26 April 1982), hansard.millbanksystems.com. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
12. Hansard (27 May 1982), hansard.millbanksystems.com. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
13. "Ship's crew saved after oil rig collision". The Times (61572): Col D, p. 1. 30 June 1983.
14. Colledge, J. J. & Warlow, Ben (2010), p. 397

Publications

• Blackman, Raymond V. B., ed. (1971). Jane's Fighting Ships 1971–72. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Ltd. ISBN 0-354-00096-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Colledge, J. J. & Warlow, Ben (2010) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (4th Rev. ed.). London: Chatham. ISBN 978-1-935149-07-1.
• Gardiner, Robert & Chesneau, Roger (1995), Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1947–1995, Conway Maritime Press, London, ISBN 978-0-8517-7605-7.
• Marriott, Leo, 1983. Royal Navy Frigates 1945–1983, Ian Allan Ltd. ISBN 07110 1322 5