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FRIGATE
Displacement 2,300 Tons
Shipyard Scotts
Launched 30/06/1954
Commissioned
Paid Off
Scrapped 1976 - Blyth

HMS Puma (F34), was a Leopard-class Type 41 anti aircraft frigate of the British Royal Navy, named for the puma (Puma concolor).
HANSARD
H.M.S. "Puma" (Damage)
HC Deb 15 July 1964 vol 698 c236W 236W

§ Commander Kerans

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what was the cost of the damage to H.M.S. "Puma" on 11th June; what was the cause; and when the ship will now recommission.

§ Mr. Hay

The cost of repairing the damage is expected to be about £40,000. Consideration of the evidence regarding the cause of the fire has not yet been completed, but it appears to have been caused by molten metal from a welding rod igniting waste material. The new completion and recommissioning dates have not yet been fixed.

Various web sites.
Tristan da Cunha SG

Built by the yard of Scotts Shipbuilding and Eng. Co., Greenock for the Royal Navy.
16 Nov. 1953, laid down.
30 June 1954, launched under the name HMS PUMA (F34), one of the Leopard Class (Type 41)
Displacement 2.300 ton standard, 2.520 tons full. Dim. 340 x 40 x 16ft. (draught).
Powered by eight 16-cyl. Admiralty Standard Range (ASR1) diesels, driving two shafts, total 12.400 shp. speed 24 knots. Bunker capacity 220 tons. The diesel engines were manufactured in the Chatham Dockyard.
Armament: 4 – 4.5 inch. 2 – 40mm AA. 1 – Squid triple-barreled mortar.
Crew 205.
27 April 1957, commissioned.

She was built for providing AA convoys defenses. The class had an unusual appearance with their diesel exhaust taken up into the lattice masts.
After commissioning first mostly used in the South America station. Later used around the world.
Between 1962/63 based at South Africa, and after the volcanic eruption on Tristan da Cunha, she visited the island twice. The first so far I can remember for shooting the wandering cattle and dogs on the island, the second time to blast a roadway through the lava stream from the volcano, that blocked off the only good landing beach from the village.

1963 Modernization and refitted.
Early 1970 by the lack of any missile armament, she became obsolescent.
1974 Withdrawn from service.
1976 Sold for scrap, arrived at Blyth for scrapping on 10 Dec. 1976.

Tristan da Cunha 2002 sg?.
Tristan da Cunha 2013 25p sg?, scott? (By the issue is given:)
The 25p stamp shows HMS PUMA. After considerable pressure from islanders and their supporters, a Resettlement Survey expedition was mounted to Tristan to consider the viability of repatriating the islanders. The six islander members of the expedition set about repairing and maintaining the homes and infrastructure of the settlement. Government representative, Gerry Stableford, landed with the others on 8th September 1962, to consider conditions on the island, and the potential for a successful repatriation. HMS PUMA visited Tristan in early October 1962 to provide a passage to Gerry Stableford and the ship’s crew blasted a new access road (still known as "Puma Road") from Garden Gate Beach to the village.
Tristan da Cunha 2013 25p sg?, scott?


Royal Navy Frigates since 1945 by Leo Marriott. Some web-sites.