The turbine developed a total of 15,000 shaft horsepower (11,000 kW) and gave a maximum speed of 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph).

[1] The Blackwoods had a range of 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph).

[2] The ships were armed with three Bofors 40 mm guns in single mounts.

The first four ships to be completed, including Blackwood, were fitted with two above-water twin mounts for 21-inch (533 mm) anti-submarine homing torpedoes, but these were removed in the early 1960s.

The Blackwood-class ships had the same sonar suite as the larger Whitby-class frigates where the Limbo mortars were controlled by three sonars, the Type 174 search set, Type 162 target-classification set and the Type 170 'pencil beam' targeting set to determine the bearing and depth of the target.