HMS Murray (F91) was one of a dozen Blackwood-class frigate (also known as the Type 14 class) of second-rate anti-submarine frigates built for the Royal Navy in the 1950s. She was named for George Murray, who served during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Description

The Blackwood class displaced 1180 LT at standard load and 1456 LT at deep load. They had an overall length of 310 ft, a beam of 33 ft and a draught of 15 ft. The ships were powered by one English Electric geared steam turbine that drove the single propeller shaft, using steam provided by two Babcock & Wilcox boilers. The turbine developed a total of 15000 shp and gave a maximum speed of 27 kn. The Blackwoods had a range of 4500 nmi at 12 kn. Their complement was 140 officers and ratings. The ships were armed with three Bofors 40 mm guns in single mounts. The mount on the quarterdeck was later removed as it was unusable in heavy seas. They were equipped with two triple-barrelled Limbo Mark 10 anti-submarine mortars. The Blackwood-class ships had the same sonar suite as the larger Whitby-class frigates where the Limbo mortars were controlled by three sonars, the Type 174 search set, Type 162 target-classification set and the Type 170 'pencil beam' targeting set to determine the bearing and depth of the target.

Construction and career

Murray was laid down by Alexander Stephen and Sons at their Govan shipyard on 30 November 1953, launched on 25 February 1954 and completed on 5 June 1956. The ship is featured with other Type 14 frigates in the 1960 Norman Wisdom film The Bulldog Breed. The ship was also shown working with coastal command, practicing submarine hunting, in a coastal command training film from the 1950s.