Type 22 frigate

HMS Cornwall transiting the Persian Gulf in 2007
Class overview
Builders:	Yarrow (Shipbuilders) Ltd, Cammell Laird, Swan Hunter
Operators:	Royal Navy (former operator)  Brazilian Navy  Romanian Naval Forces  Chilean Navy
Preceded by:	Type 21
Succeeded by:	Type 23
Subclasses:	Batch 1 Broadsword Batch 2 Boxer Batch 3 Cornwall
In commission:	3 May 1979 – 30 June 2011
Completed:	14
Active:	6 (with Brazil, Romania and Chile)
Retired:	8 (2 sunk as targets)
General characteristics
Displacement:	Batch 1: 4,500 tonnes, standard Batch 2: 4,800 tonnes, standard Batch 3: 5,300 tonnes, standard
Length:	Batch 1: 131.2 m (430 feet) Batch 2: 146.5 m (480 feet) Batch 3: 148.1 m (486 feet)
Beam:	14.8 m (48 feet)
Draft:	Batch 1: 6.1 m (20 feet) Batch 2 & 3: 6.4 m (21 feet)
Propulsion:	Batch 1 & 2: 2-shaft COGOG 2 Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B high-speed gas turbines (54,000 shp / 40 MW) 2 Rolls-Royce Tyne RM1C cruise gas turbines (9,700 shp / 7.2 MW) Batch 3 & Brave: 2-shaft COGAG 2 Rolls-Royce Spey SM1A boost gas turbines (37,540 shp / 28 MW) 2 Rolls-Royce Tyne RM3C cruise gas turbines (9,700 shp/ 7.2 MW)
Speed:	30 knots (56 km/h (full)) 18 knots (33.3 km/h (cruise))
Complement:	Batch 1: 222 Batch 2: 273 Batch 3: 250
Electronic warfare & decoys:	NATO Seagnat Decoy Launchers
Armament:	Royal Navy Batch 3 were armed with; 2 × Sea Wolf anti-air missile launchers 2× Quad Harpoon missile launchers 2× triple Magazine launched anti-submarine torpedo tubes 1× 4.5-inch (114 mm) Mk.8 gun 2× 20 mm GAM-BO1 guns 1× Goalkeeper CIWS L7A2 GPMGs M134 Minigun
Aircraft carried:	1–2× Lynx Mk.8, armed with; 2 × machine guns, and 4 × Sea Skua anti-ships missiles, or 2 × Sting Ray anti-submarine torpedoes
Aviation facilities:	Flight deck and hangar

The Type 22 Broadsword class was a class of frigate built for the British Royal Navy. Fourteen of the class were built in total, with production divided into three batches. HMS Cornwall was the last Royal Navy Type 22 frigate, retired from service on 30 June 2011.

Seven ships of the earlier batches have been sold to Brazil, Romania and Chile. Six of these remain in service and one was sold for scrap. Of the decommissioned vessels, two were sunk as targets, and five sold for scrap.

It was originally envisaged that all Type 22s would have names beginning with 'B' (Broadsword, etc.), following the 'A' names used for Type 21s (Amazon, etc.). This changed after the Falklands War when two replacement ships were ordered for the destroyers sunk (Sheffield and Coventry) and were named to commemorate them. Another vessel ordered earlier but not yet started, which was to be named "Bloodhound" was renamed "London".

The alphabetical progression was re-established with the Batch 3 ships (Cornwall, etc.) before being temporarily abandoned with the Type 23 class, named after Dukedoms (Norfolk, Lancaster, etc.). The Royal Navy's latest escort class (the Type 45 or Daring class) have re-introduced the alphabetical progression, using destroyer names from the 1930s and 1950s.

The names selected for the four Batch 3 ships were a mixture: two, Cornwall and Cumberland, revived County-class names previously carried both by First World War-era armoured cruisers, and by Second World War-era heavy cruisers. The other Batch 3s, Chatham and Campbeltown, were Town names, the former reviving a 1911 light cruiser name, and the latter commemorating the most famous of the US destroyers transferred to the Royal Navy in 1940; the name for HMS Chatham was selected as a salute to the Medway town, where the naval dockyard, established in 1570, had closed in 1984.