Editing Leander-class frigate (section)

==Royal Navy service==
{{more citations needed section|date=August 2018}}
During their lengthy service with the Royal Navy ''Leander''s were employed during the [[Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation]] in 1963–1966. The 1973 and 1975–1976 [[Cod Wars]] in the latter of which HMS ''Diomede'' suffered severe damage with a 30 feet gash in its hull after being rammed by an [[Icelandic Coast Guard]] gunboat. The frigates with their thin hulls being much less suited to this duty than the later offshore patrol vessels.

Four members of the class saw action during the 1982 Falklands War, three Batch Two conversions, HMS ''Argonaut'', HMS ''Minerva'' and HMS ''Penelope'' <ref name=MarriotFrigates90>L. Marriot. ''Royal Navy Frigates 1945–1983''.Ian Allan. 1983. London, p. 90.</ref> ''Argonaut'' experienced 15 air attacks in San Carlos Sound and was hit by a number of bombs and cannon fire; it was stranded for six days, with two bombs lodged in the forward Seacat magazine and boiler room.<ref name=MarriotFrigates90/> The first Seawolf conversion HMS ''Andromeda'', was one of only three Seawolf fitted frigates available with the Royal Navy's newest missile in the war and served during the war as the critical "goalkeeper"- the last line of defence for the carrier HMS ''Invincible'' during the war.<ref>Marriot. ''Royal Navy Frigates 1945–1983'', pp. 90–91</ref> The five unconverted, gun-armed, broad-beam ''Leanders'', arrived in the war zone in the last week of the conflict and immediately after it to serve with the post-war task force led by the brand new carrier HMS ''Illustrious''. An Argentine naval dive team planned to place limpet mines on HMS ''Ariadne'' at [[Gibraltar]] during the conflict ([[Operation Algeciras]]). The last ''Leander'' commissioned in 1973,  like the two built for Chile, carried special electronic warfare systems, for countering{{Clarify|date=August 2018}} Exocet missiles, and the Argentine services may have anticipated the ''Ariadne'' was scheduled for service in the [[Total Exclusion Zone]], which in fact did not happen until after the end of the war.{{citation needed|date=August 2018}}

The ships performed excellently in Royal Navy service, with relatively low noise levels giving the 2031(I) towed sonar a range of more than 100 miles, better than that of the more advanced 2031(Z) sonar when fitted in the [[Type 22 frigate]]s. However, all ''Leander''s in Royal Navy service were decommissioned by the early 1990s due to the ships' ageing design and the high number of crew.{{Citation needed|date=May 2009}} ''Scylla'' was sunk on 27 March 2004 as an artificial reef off [[Cornwall]], eleven years after her decommissioning in 1993.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shipsproject.org/Wrecks/Wk_Scylla.html|title=HMS Scylla|website=shipsproject.org|access-date=2 October 2021}}</ref>

===Running costs===
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!  Period
!  Running cost
!  What is included
|-
|  {{nowrap|1972–1973}}
| £250,000<ref>[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1974/dec/16/ships-refits#S5CV0883P0_19741216_CWA_104 "Ships (Refits)] Hansard HC Deb 16 December 1974 vol 883 c316W] <!--Question to the Secretary of State for Defence about the approximate annual average refit cost per vessel for (a) a County class destroyer and (b) a Leander class frigate, 16 December 1974. --></ref>
|  Average annual maintenance cost per vessel
|-
|  1980–1981 
|  £6 million<ref>[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1981/jun/09/leander-class-frigates#S6CV0006P0_19810609_CWA_441 "Leander Class Frigates"] Hansard HC Deb 9 June 1981 vol 6 c121W <!-- Question to the Secretary of State for Defence about the cost of (a) a mid-life and (b) a normal refit for a Leander class frigate, 9 June 1981.--></ref>
| Average current cost for a "normal refit".
|-
|   1981–1982
| £6.8 million <ref>[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1982/jul/16/naval-vessels-operating-costs#S6CV0027P0-09171 "Naval Vessels (Operating Costs)"] Hansard HC Deb 16 July 1982 vol 27 cc485-6W <!-- Question to the Secretary of State for Defence, 16 July 1982.--></ref>
| "at average 1981–1982 prices and including associated aircraft costs but excluding the costs of major refits."
|-
| 1985–1986
|  £6.5 million<ref>[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1987/jan/22/ships-operating-costs#S6CV0108P0-10356 "Ships (Operating Costs)"] Hansard HC Deb 22 January 1987 vol 108 c730W <!-- Question to the Secretary of State for Defence, 22 January 1987.--></ref>
|  "the average cost of running and maintaining a ''Leander''-class frigate for one year".
|-
|  1987–1988
| £3.8 million<ref>[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1989/mar/10/warships#S6CV0148P0-04574 "Warships"] Hansard HC Deb 10 March 1989 vol 148 c44W <!-- Question to the Secretary of State for Defence, 10 March 1989.--></ref>
|  "average annual operating costs, at financial year 1987–88 prices"..."These costs include personnel, fuel, spares and so on, and administrative support services, but exclude new construction, capital equipment, and refit-repair costs".
|-
|}