HMS Achilles (F12)

Achilles at Chatham on 3 May 1981
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Achilles
BuilderYarrow Shipbuilders
Laid down1 December 1967
Launched21 November 1968
Commissioned9 July 1970
DecommissionedJanuary 1990
IdentificationPennant number: F12
FateSold to Chilean Navy
Chile
NameMinistro Zenteno
NamesakeJosé Ignacio Zenteno
Commissioned8 January 1991
DecommissionedAugust 2006
Fate
  • Washed away by tsunami, February 2010
  • Scuttled March 2010
General characteristics
Class and typeLeander-class frigate
Displacement3,200 long tons (3,251 t) full load
Length113.4 m (372 ft)
Beam12.5 m (41 ft)
Draught5.8 m (19 ft)
Propulsion2 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers supplying steam to two sets of White-English Electric double-reduction geared turbines to two shafts
Speed28 knots (52 km/h)
Range4,600 nautical miles (8,500 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h)
Complement223
Armament;As built:
1 × twin 4.5 inch (114 mm) guns
1 × quadruple Sea Cat anti-aircraft missile launchers
1 × Limbo anti-submarine mortar
From 1980
1 x twin 4.5 inch (114 mm) guns
2 × quadruple Seacat anti-aircraft missile launchers
2 × single 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns
2 × triple torpedo tubes
Aircraft carried;As built:
1 × Westland Wasp helicopter
From 1980
1 × Lynx helicopter

HMS Achilles was a Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy.[1] She was built by Yarrow at Glasgow. She was launched on 21 November 1968 and commissioned on 9 July 1970.[2] She was sold to Chile in 1991 and served in the Chilean Navy as Ministro Zenteno. She was washed away from her berth at Talcahuano by a tsunami following the February 2010 Chile earthquake, and ran aground on the coast a few kilometres to the north. She was scuttled the following month by the Chilean Navy as a danger to navigation.

  1. ^ Carr, Richard. "Paxman and the Royal Navy". paxmanhistory.org.uk. Paxman History Pages. Archived from the original on 27 May 2011. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  2. ^ "Missile Frigate Ministro Zenteno (3rd)". armada.cl/. Armarda De Chile. Archived from the original on 17 February 2006.