PNS Babur

Pakistani Navy Cruiser 1957-1985

The Ex-British BELLONA class cruiser Babur (بابر) had been originally launched at Hawthom Leslie on 29.2.56 as HMS Diadem. Before being sold to Pakistan and renamed (pennant C84), she had been refitted at HM Dockyard in Portsmouth. Her bridge was modified as well as her radar upgraded and lattice masts reinforced. Babur was the funder Mogul emperor. She was recommissioned on 5 July 1957 and adapted as a training ship after her 1961 refit, then reduced to harbour service until replaced in 1982 by the new Babur (ex County class missile destroyer), and renamed Jahangir. The C prefix dropped from her pennant number in 1963. She was decommissioned and stricken in 1982 and BU in 1985.

PNS Babur berthed alongside PNS Ghazi (Gato/Guppy II class)

Origin

As HMS Diadem (1944-1950)

Thus is the second Dido class we see with a consistent Cold War career. The first one was the flagship of the Royal New Zealand Navy, HMNZS Royalist (1954). She was acquired earlier and shared the fact of being an ex-Bellona class, the improved version of the prewar Dido, but unlike Babur, she had been completely transformed, modernized to the point of being her own class. Babur on the other hand was very much “stock” and never went so far in modernization.
Anyway, she started her first live as HMS Diadem (84), a modified Dido with four turrets and improved AA armament of the “Dido Group 2”, built by Hawthorn Leslie and Co. Hebburn-on-Tyne, laid down on 15 December 1939, launched on 26 August 1942, completed on 6 January 1944.
She took part of the Arctic convoys and could have been involved in a fight with the German battleship Tirpitz in early 1944, but it never happened. She also covered D-Day in Force G, Juno Beach and preyed later on German shipping off the Brittany coast, notably sinking Sperrbrecher 7, then covered Russian convoys and carrier raids along the Norwegian coast and later damaged Z31. Furthermore, she was still in the 10th Cruiser Squadron, Home Fleet when the war ended and until 1950. She was then in reserve between 1950 and 1956, her fate uncertain.

Modernization Plans and sell

In fact the admiralty had plans for her, notably a more extensive modernization than HMS Royalist we saw above, refitted in 1953-56. It was planned to have her fitted with new boilers and anti-nuclear wash down to convert her as a NATO flagship and AA/AD escort. But in the postwar budget-constrained context this was cancelled in 1954. Some observed her main artillery with manual handling of 82lb shells was antiquated, as her lack of space for the crew and plus her use in non-military functions including disaster relief resources was perhaps not the best use of a massive maintenance and crew budget. Eventually the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan in 1948-49 justified the transfer of Diadem to Pakistan, on the pretext she would serve as a training ship, but it was mostly to balance the purchase of HMS Nigeria by India as INS Mysore arranged by First Lord Mountbatten in 1955 to make the two navies equal in some way, create a naval balance and mutual deterrence. However, PNS Babur was she was later renamed, was in no way equivalent to Mysore, due to her initial design, with only eight QF 5.25-inch (133 mm) dual guns versus twelve 6 in (152 mm) guns and a tonnage of 5,950 tons standard versus 8,530 long tons. They just did not play in the same category, but in a sense reflected the financial capabilities and assets of each partition at the time. Plus, India soon received also the cruiser INS Delhi.

However, she still was modernized to make the sell easier. She was announced to be sold to the Pakistan Navy on, 29 February 1956 and then after an agreement was reached, her refit started at Portsmouth Dockyard before being handed over to the Pakistan Navy. Her name in between was chosen as “Babur” the Emperor of Hindustan and founder of the Mogul empire in 1483-1530. And she was commissioned on 5 July 1957 after more than a year of refit.

Design of the class

This refit was substantial, with the following points:
-The Light armament was standardised to fourteen new L60 40mm guns in three twin Mk 5 mounts, eight single Mk 7 mounts (as on INS Mysore).
-Radars were updated with the installation of the Type 974 navigation radar, Type 293 target indicator, Type 281B for air warning, for capabilities close to the Type 960 capability.
-The control system was similar to HMS Euralyus, last operational RN Dido in November 1954.
-A new bridge was fitted, albeit not as pushed as for HMS Royalist
-The ship was tropicalised.
-Surface and long range AA for her main turrets remained to WW2 standard Type 984/985 guidance as on INS Delhi.

Hull and general design

Being essentially a Dido Series 2 she was identical for her hull to the Series 1 which itself was based on the Arethusa class light cruiser hull. The base ship displaced 5,950 tons standard
and 7,200 tons fully loaded for a length between perpendicular of 485 ft (148 m) and overall length of 512 ft (156 m) oa for a beam of 50.5 ft (15.4 m) and a draught of 14 ft (4.3 m). The new radars and AA guns meant the crew also went from 530 to 588 in a ship that was already considered cramped, so not overly popular with her crews… She still had four boats, including two powered cutters under davits and two whalers.

Powerplant

No change on that chapter too. The NBC system was never installed, her machinery was kept unchanged apart an overhaul of her turbines put apart for inspection, and boilers cleaned and scrapped anew. The whole electrical system was replaced as the intercom modernized, new generators installed for the extra electric consumption of the radars, but the machinery remained the same: Four Parsons geared steam turbines (each with an HP and LP stage) on four shafts, same 3-bladed propellers, and these turbines were fed by four Admiralty 3-drum boilers for a total output of 62,000 shp (46,000 kW). This provided them with a top speed of 32.25 knots (59.73 km/h; 37.11 mph) and a range of 2,414 km (1,303 nmi; 1,500 mi) at 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) in high speed runs, and
a normal cruise range of 6,824 km (3,685 nmi; 4,240 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph). It seems these performances were degraded still after refit, with new to be cross-sourced, such an endurance of 4,000 nautical miles at 18 knots apparently, based on an oil capacity of 1,100 tonnes and a probable final top speed of 30 knots on average.

Protection

It was unchanged. The Dido class were originally light cruisers, so protection was minimal and intended against destroyer fire only. The Armour scheme comprised a belt that was 3 in (76 mm) thic, a deck that was 1 inches (25 mm) thick, magazines 2 in (51 mm) thick, bulkheads 1 in (25 mm).

Armament

QF 5.25-inch (133 mm) dual guns

This dual-purpose gun long in development was plagued by issues starting with early jamming and other mishaps that were partly corrected with the Remote Power Control RP10 Mk II mounting adopted for the Series 2 or Bellona class cruisers. The only problem remaining was the weight of the rounds, that were hand-loaded, tiring the gunners in sustained fire. It was a separate shell, but still weighting 80 pounds (36.29 kg). Plus, the crew for each turret was rather large even for 1950s standards.
Specs:
Mass barrel & breech 9,616 lb (4,362 kg), 22 ft 11.5 in (7 m), bore 21 ft 10.5 in (6.67 m) 50 calibres
Shell: 133×782 mm R separate QF, 80 pounds (36.29 kg) 5.25-inch (133 mm)
Elevation: -5 to +70 degrees for 7-8 rpm sustained fire, 2,672 ft/s (814 m/s)
Effective range 23,400 yd (21,400 m) at 45° HE and AA 36,000 ft (11,000 m)

Bofors 40mm/60 Mark 5 & Mark 7

The previous armament comprised six 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns and three 2-pounder (40-mm) pom-poms quad guns. The refit saw the replacement of all these by the efficient and always reliable Bofors, in the Mark 5 twin mounts which replaced the pompoms, one forward in a raised positions super firing over “B” turret and two on the upper deck bandstands abaft the aft funnel, for a pompom replacement in a one for one basis. Next came the eight single Mark 7, one forward in a raised platform overlooking the Mark 5 twin mount (4 levels super firing there), two on the bridge’s lower wings, two amidship on bandstands, and four in various positions aft, overlooking X-Y turrets. The Mark V was unstabilized, but the single Mark VII was a hydraulically-powered mounting. It’s unclear if its was equipped with its own tachymetric (i.e. predictive) fire control system.

533 mm Torpedo Tubes

As an additional A/S capabilities, her original two triple 533 mm or 21 inches torpedo tubes located abaft the aft funnel on either sides were kept. They fired the same stock WW2 torpedoes, such as the Mark VIII double star.

Sensors

As said above, PNS Babur was modernized with the latest in british Radars, the type 293, type 281B, type 974, type 284, and two type 285 radars for AA guidance.

Career of PNS Babur

Babur as we saw above was sold to the Pakistan Navy on 29 February 1956 when the announcement was made after discussions with representatives of the young Pakistani Navy, created on 14 August 1947. The ship was under refit at Portsmouth Dockyard for one year and a half before being handed over to a Pakistani crew, commissioned as “Babur” on 5 July 1957. After her retirement, she was replaced by a guided missile destroyer of the same name, and the tradition is maintained today.
The refit out her technologically on par with INS Mysore, HMS Euralyus and INS Delhi. The cost of the refit however far exceeded the £400,000 allocated by the Pakistan Government, even when supplemented with a 0.25 million dollar from US MDAP as an aid grant. But the refit by the Royal Navy dockyard was charged below cost as a political gesture. It is likely compensations were paid to the yard by the British Government, though.

Pakistan still had to meet the difference in the bill and the fact it was way over budget was known already in 1956. However, the driving force of this transfer and refit has been the new First Sea Lord, Mountbatten, also last Viceroy of India. He was determined Pakistan would have a cruiser, and this was also the will of the first head of Pakistan’s navy, Choudri. This was even against his own government at Karachi, which in fact attempted at first to cancel the deal in mid-1957. Then it was asked to decommissioned, represented as an “extravagance” when she arrived in 1958. Still the British Government demanded payment, even though the British Far East Command wanted to avoid conflict and avoid at all cost a political crisis. Indeed, defence cuts in Pakistan meant the newly arrived cruiser was temporarily laid up, albeit as fully manned static training ship, used to train cadets in 1961.

However, the presence of a cruiser in the Pakistani Navy grew until she was properly funded and back in full operational service by 1963. She then took part in Operation Dwarka after India invaded Pakistan as part of the war of 1965. Babur sortied for a high profile shore bombardment of Dwarka in September 1965 indeed. Results were mixed. In 1968 the cruiser started to feel her age, and it was considered a new modernization to make her relevant, fitting her with Soviet P15 Termit (SSN-2 Styx) antiship missiles was considered, notably to counter India’s own recently purchased missiles. However, the USSR only wanted to offer these missiles as part of a package with their fast attack craft, and not willing to see them installed on larger warships.

PNS Babur and PNS Ghazi (Gato/Guppy II class) berthed alongside

In the third Indo-Pakistani India from December 1971, Babur acted as HQ ship and was deployed some 70 miles west of Karachi, her outer patrol zone, to protect major ports of West Pakistan, and oil tankers from the Gulf. Karachi itself and other ports saw their AA reinforced, with light 37mm AA and 40mm/60 Bofors and this was enough to deter low level Indian Air Force bombing raids, below 2 miles high. This spared Pakistan from IAF Canberra raids on Karachi. India then develop a plan to use its Osa-class missile fast attack crafts squadron for a major strike against the Pakistan Navy and Karachi, intended to destroy installations and oil refineries.

They eventually managed in a series to sink a Battle class destroyer with 2 Styx missiles, and another destroyer of the C class was massively damaged by a missile and later written off. The cruiser Babur was missed, and the naval staff attributed this to the recent installation of the standard USN ESM/ECM provided as aid, similar to HMAS Yarram. It seems she was able to successfully jammed the 1st gen. Soviet Antiship missiles electronically. Later during the night Indian air force air strikes the Karachi oil storage facilities, OSA boats close din and launched their Styx missiles on the same installation, using fixed path coordinated and set them ablaze. PNS Babur at the time lacked the ability to identify air and surface unit attacks and was eventually recalled to Karachi as static flagship. In 1982, she was renamed PNS Jahangir as the Pakistani Navy acquired the County-class destroyer HMS London, which took her names. Being a far more capable vessel, it means Jahanqir saw no longer sortied and her career ended when she was decommissioned and stricken in 1982, then broken up in 1985. The third Babur was the former frigate HMS Amazon.

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Links

web.archive.org navypedia.org/ships/pakistan babur
wikipedia.org HMS_Diadem_(84)
shipspotting.com/photos/3445237
flickr.com/photos/pimu/5299649884