Belgian frigate Westhinder

Westhinder was a Wielingen-class frigate of the Belgian Navy.

History
Belgium
Name	Westhinder
Builder	Cockerill Yards, Hoboken, Antwerp[1]
Laid down	5 March 1974[1]
Launched	30 March 1976[1]
Christened	20 January 1978[1]
Decommissioned	1993[1]
Homeport	Zeebrugge Naval Base
Fate	Scrapped[1]
General characteristics [2]
Class & type	Wielingen-class frigate
Displacement	2,390 t (2,350 long tons) full load
Length	106.38 m (349.0 ft)
Beam	12.30 m (40.4 ft)
Draught	5.30 m (17.4 ft)
Propulsion	Combined diesel or gas turbine 2 × ABC type DZC diesel engines providing 4,200 hp (3,100 kW) each 1 × Rolls-Royce Olympus T M - 3 B gasturbine providing 27.575 hp 2 Inverted screws with variable pitch
Speed	28 knots (52 km/h)
Range	6,000 mi (9,700 km) at 16 knots (30 km/h)
Complement	14 officers, 71 NCOs and 74 sailors
Sensors & processing systems	Holland Signaal DA 05
Armament	1 100 mm Creusot-Loire automatic cannon 1 RIM-7 Sea Sparrow launcher with 8 missiles 1 MM-38 Exocet launcher with 4 missiles 1 375mm Bofors depth charge launcher 2 Ecan Type L5 torpedo tubes with 10 torpedoes

Construction and career

Westhinder was launched on 30 March 1976 at the Cockerill Yards in Hoboken, Antwerp, and christened by Queen Fabiola of Belgium, on 20 January 1978. The patronage of the Westhinder was accepted by the city of Malmedy. Westhinder was the last ship in the Wielingen-class, and had pennant number F913.

It sustained damage during a NATO exercise off the coast of Norway.^[1]