The Type 22 frigate also known as the Broadsword class was a class of frigates built for the British Royal Navy. Fourteen were built in total, with production divided into three batches. Initially intended to be anti-submarine warfare frigates as part of NATO contribution, the ships became general purpose warships.
Five Type 22s were scrapped and two more were sunk as targets. The seven other vessels were sold to the Brazilian , Romanian and Chilean navies; four of these remain in service, one was sunk as a target, one laid up, and one sold for scrap. It was originally envisaged that all Type 22s would have names beginning with 'B' Broadsword , 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. The Royal Navy's latest escort class β the Type 45 or Daring class β have re-introduced the alphabetical progression , using destroyer names from the s and s.
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 Monmouth -class armoured cruisers , and by Second World War-era County-class heavy cruisers.
The other Batch 3s, Chatham and Campbeltown , were Town names, the former reviving a Town-class light cruiser name, and the latter commemorating HMS Campbeltown famous for participation in the St Nazaire Raid in ; the name for HMS Chatham was selected as a salute to the Medway town, where the Chatham Dockyard , established in , had closed in During Royal Navy service the ships evolved into general purpose frigates with weapons for use against other surface ships, aircraft and submarines.
