HMS Puma

HMS Puma (F34) at night in Kiel harbour, Germany
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Puma (F34)
Ordered	28 June 1951
Builder	Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Co Ltd
Laid down	16 November 1953
Launched	30 June 1954
Commissioned	27 April 1957
Decommissioned	1972
Fate	Scrapped 1976
General characteristics
Class and type	Template:Sclass-
Length	101 metres (331 ft)
Beam	10.6 metres (35 ft)
Draught	3 metres (9.8 ft)
Propulsion	2 × type 12 E 390V diesels; 14,400 hp (m) (10.6MW) sustained 2 shafts
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Range	2,200 miles (3,500 km) at 18 kts
Complement	200 (22 officers)
Sensors and processing systems	Radar System: Surface/Air search: Type 960 Air search: Type 965 AKE-1 Type 293/993 target indication radar Navigation: Type 974 /978 Fire control: Type 275 on director Mark 6M Sonar system: Type 174 search sonar Type 164 attack sonar
Armament	2 × twin 4.5 in guns Mark 6 1 × twin 40 mm Bofors gun STAAG Mark 2 1 × single 40 mm Bofors gun Mark 9 1 × Squid A/S mortar

HMS Puma (F34), was a Leopard-class Type 41 anti aircraft frigate of the British Royal Navy, named after the puma (Puma concolor).

Operational Service

In 1958 Puma began her third commission from Portland. During this commission she visited many foreign ports including Gibraltar, Las Palmas, Dakar, Bathurst, Freetown, Monrovia, Abidjan, Port Harcourt, Takoradi, Simonstown, Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island, East London, Diego Suarez, Durban, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Ascension Isles, Port Elizabeth, St. Helena, Copenhagen, and Gdynia. She was paid off at Plymouth in 1961. During this commission she took part in naval exercises and served in the Iceland Patrol.

A major refit of Puma took place in Portsmouth Dockyard between 1963 and 1964 and the ship eventually re-commissioned for service in 1965, where she spent the year touring the UK recruiting. In 1966 she sailed for a foreign leg of her commission travelling to West and South Africa, as well as the South Atlantic, and South America, before returning to Plymouth in 1967. In 1971 she undertook a Fishery Protection patrol in the Arctic and Barents Seas, using the northern Norwegian town of Honingsvag as a base, before paying off in Chatham in early 1972.

Commanding officers

From	To	Captain
1957	1958	Commander M F Fell DSO DSC RN
1958	1960	Captain Richard Clayton RN
1961	1963	Captain D B N Mellis DSC RN.
1964	1966	Captain M N Lucey RN
1966	1967	Captain C J Cunningham DSC RN
1967	1969	Commander John De Winton RN

Publications

• 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.
• Marriott, Leo, 1983. Royal Navy Frigates 1945-1983, Ian Allen Ltd. ISBN 07110 1322 5