BAP Palacios (DM-73)

BAP Palacios (DM-73)
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Diana
Builder	Yarrow and Co. Ltd, Glasgow
Laid down	April 3, 1947
Launched	May 8, 1952
Commissioned	March 29, 1954
Fate	Sold to Peruvian Navy on 1969
Peru
Name	Palacios
Commissioned	April 1973
Decommissioned	1993
Homeport	Callao
General characteristics
Displacement	2,819 tonnes standard 3,592 tonnes full load
Length	121.60 m (399.0 ft)
Beam	13.10 m (43.0 ft)
Draught	5.50 m (18.0 ft)
Draft	4.60 m (15.1 ft)
Propulsion	2 Babcock & Wilcox boilers 2 English Electric geared steam turbines 2 shafts; 54,800 shp (40,900 kW)
Speed	32 knots (59 km/h)
Range	3,500 nm at 15 knots (28 km/h)
Complement	205 (17 officers)
Sensors and processing systems	1 Plessey AWS-1 early warning 1 Thomson-CSF Triton surface search 1 RTN-10X fire control 1 Decca 1226 navigation
Electronic warfare & decoys	F0417-501 intercept
Armament	8 Exocet MM-38 SSM 2 Vickers 114 mm/45 Mk V twin guns 2 OTO Melara Twin 40L70 DARDO compact gun
Aircraft carried	1 AB-212ASW helicopter
Aviation facilities	Telescopic hangar for 1 medium helicopter.

BAP Palacios (DM-73) was a Daring class destroyer in service with the Peruvian Navy. She was completed for the Royal Navy in 1954 as HMS Diana. After being decommissioned she was sold to Peru in 1969 together with her sistership HMS Decoy. She was renamed after Enrique Palacios, a war hero who fought at the Battle of Angamos during the War of the Pacific.

Prior to entering service with the Peruvian Navy she underwent a major refit by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead between 1970 and 1973. Work done during this refit included the following:

• Rebuilding of the foremast for installation of the Plessey AWS-1 air-search radar
• Installation of eight Exocet MM-38 SSMs in place of the Close Range Blind Fire Director forward of X turret

After its rebuild, Palacios was commissioned into the Peruvian Navy in April 1973. Further work was done on the ship by SIMA dockyards in Callao as follows:

• In 1975-76 the Squid ASW mortar was removed and a helicopter landing deck fitted.
• In 1977-1978 two OTO Melara Twin 40L70 DARDO compact gun mountings were installed as was an AESN NA-10 gun fire-control system and an AESN RTN-10X fire-control radar. The aft 114 mm turret was replaced with a telescopic hangar.

After serving in two navies for 39 years, Palacios was decommissioned in 1993.

Sources

• Baker III, Arthur D., The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World 2002-2003. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2002.
• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Couhat, Jean. Combat Fleets of the World 1982/83. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1982.