text:
HMS Brilliant (F90)

HMS Brilliant was a Type 22 frigate of the Royal Navy.

Brilliant took part in the only ship-to-ship engagement of the Falklands War, when she and HMS Yarmouth (F101) chased the Argentine coaster Monsunen, in the Battle of Seal Cove.

Falklands War
Brilliant was part of the task force that took part in the Falklands War, with Captain John Coward in command.

During the war, her two helicopters were involved in successfully attacking the Argentine submarine Santa Fe, and she was the first Royal Navy warship to fire the Sea Wolf missile in action when, on 12 May 1982, she shot down three A-4 Skyhawks.

On 21 May 1982 HMS Brilliant came under Argentine air attack outside San Carlos Water and was slightly damaged by cannon fire. On 23 May she joined HMS Yarmouth in the chase of the Argentinian supply ship ARA Monsunen.

She rescued 24 survivors from Atlantic Conveyor on 25 May. Brilliant had sailed south with a pair of WE.177A nuclear depth charges on board. To avoid complications arising from the Treaty of Tlatelolco, these were unloaded to RFA Fort Austin on 16 April 1982.

1983–1996
In 1987 she became leader of the 2nd Frigate Squadron. On 14 May 1989, the ship's helicopter, a Lynx HAS3, XZ244, crashed near Mombasa, Kenya, while en route to the city's airport for a period of shore leave. A door had detached when opened inflight and collided with the tail rotor, resulting in the aircraft splitting in half and the death of all nine personnel on board.

In October 1990 she saw the first members of the Women's Royal Naval Service to serve officially on an operational warship. In January 1991, Brilliant deployed to the Persian Gulf as part of the Operation Granby Task Force, in the First Gulf War. Brilliant starred in a BBC documentary series called HMS Brilliant – In a Ship's Company by the journalist Chris Terrill in 1994, while she was undertaking an operational tour off the coast of former Yugoslavia enforcing a United Nations arms embargo in the Adriatic sea.

Brazilian Navy service
She was decommissioned from Royal Navy service in 1996 and sold to the Brazilian Navy on 31 August 1996 and renamed Dodsworth.

F47 Dodsworth was sold for scrap and broken up at Aliağa, Turkey, during July 2012.

The silhouette of HMS Brilliant is painted, with the date 21 May, on the side of Argentine Air Force IAI Finger serial number C-412. Also painted on C-412 is the silhouette of HMS Arrow and the date 1 May. These kill markings (without crossing) have to do with damage to both ships in the Falklands War, HMS Arrow being slightly damaged by cannon fire 1 May 1982 and HMS Brilliant also being slightly damaged by cannon fire on 21 May. C-412's markings were painted soon after the war; they were seen during the November 2005 multi-national Exercise Ceibo in Argentina.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: HMS Brilliant (F90)


text:
Forebrain

In the anatomy of the brain of vertebrates, the forebrain or prosencephalon is the rostral (forward-most) portion of the brain. The forebrain controls body temperature, reproductive functions, eating, sleeping, and the display of emotions.

Vesicles of the forebrain (prosencephalon), the midbrain (mesencephalon), and hindbrain (rhombencephalon) are the three primary brain vesicles during the early development of the nervous system. At the five-vesicle stage, the forebrain separates into the diencephalon (thalamus, hypothalamus, subthalamus, and epithalamus) and the telencephalon which develops into the cerebrum. The cerebrum consists of the cerebral cortex, underlying white matter, and the basal ganglia.

In humans, by 5 weeks in utero it is visible as a single portion toward the front of the fetus. At 8 weeks in utero, the forebrain splits into the left and right cerebral hemispheres.

When the embryonic forebrain fails to divide the brain into two lobes, it results in a condition known as holoprosencephaly. The parts present in the forebain are cerebrum, thalamus and hypothalamus.

title: Forebrain


text:
HMS Brazen (F91)

HMS Brazen was a Type 22 frigate of the Royal Navy. She was completed three months ahead of schedule due to the Falklands War.

Royal Navy service
Brazen served on the Armilla Patrol which became a task force during the Gulf War as part of Operation Granby. For this she received the battle honour "Kuwait 1991". On 24 January 1991, Brazen would screen the British Casualty Receiving ship RFAUX Argus when a pair of Iraqi Mirage F1 aircraft made a run for the vessel, armed with AM39 Exocet anti-ship missiles. The Iraqi aircraft were shot down by Saudi F-15C fighter aircraft before they could fire their anti-ship missiles. During the war, her Lynx helicopter attacked fast patrol boats.

Following a patrol in the South Atlantic Brazen ran aground in the Patagonian Canal on 11 September 1994. The ship was refloated four days later and taken to Talcahuano for repairs, which lasted a month. She then returned to the UK under her own power for reinstatement of combat system equipment damaged in the incident at Devonport royal dockyard.

By late 1995, Brazen was back in active service, operating in the Adriatic Sea as part of a Royal Navy task group led by the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (R07) for Operation Sharp Guard. In early 1996, Brazen rescued 30 Albanians from a sinking vessel. In May 1996, she returned to Devonport for the final time before being officially handed over to the Brazilian Navy in August 1996.

Brazilian service
She was purchased from the United Kingdom by the Brazilian Navy on 18 November 1994, and renamed Bosísio. The ship was commissioned into the Brazilian Navy on 30 August 1996.

In June 2009, Bosísio participated in the recovery mission for the wreckage of Air France Flight 447.

She was decommissioned from Brazilian Navy service on 23 September 2015. The ship was sunk as a target in July 2017 during the Brazilian Navy operation 'MISSILEX 2017'.

title: HMS Brazen (F91)


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HMS Boxer (F92)

HMS Boxer was the first of the Batch 2 Type 22 frigates of the Royal Navy. She was decommissioned on 4 August 1999 and expended as a target in August 2004.

Service
She was one of only two Batch 2s (the other being Beaver) fitted with the lower-height hangar of the Batch 1s, so she could only accommodate Lynx helicopters. On coming out of refit in 1990, with a clean bottom she achieved close to 34 kn.

During 1996 and 1997 she was leader of the 1st Frigate Squadron.

Commanding officers
Notable commanding officers include James Perowne (1986-1988), Timothy Laurence (1990-1992) and Richard Ibbotson (1991-1993 and 1998-1999).

title: HMS Boxer (F92)


text:
User talk:Frencheigh

Frencheigh, is that you? If so, get on msn.

Hello, welcome to Wikipedia. Here are some useful links in case you haven't already found them:

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Dersonlwd Talk 04:19, 24 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Gates Pictures
Heyas, thanks for the tip. I didn't know about that subtlety before, but will keep it in mind in the future and perhaps redesign those gates. Anyway: thanks for your advice. -SocratesJedi | Talk 22:31, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Box-Muller Transform
That was awesome; I hit "edit" to change the [ to ( and had to do a double-take because you'd already fixed it. :) Lunkwill 02:20, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

Moose
Is it my fault what a moose does? - LD

Jimmy Wales
What's wrong with Jimmy Wales saying "Eeeexcellent..."? He looks just like Montgomery Burns in that picture. — J I P  | Talk 08:30, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

Powerball article change
Hello! I've seen that you've made some fixes after the user who changed Powerball page. It seems to me that this user who changed it after me (all three names) is wrong, since the Dynabee is not the modern device, it's using same patents as Powerball do and the user tries to tell that the Powerball is just a following imitation for this. Can you please tell me what should I do in such situations? -Dmitrek 09:32, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Deus Ex Revert
I would just like to mention that "incorrection" is the most awesome made up word I've seen in quite a while. +2 points for using it.

Erm... that's all I got - Y|yukichigai 09:41, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for fixing QDB.us
Peaceduck 21:07, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Vandalism
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My sincere apologies - it was my first time using VandalProof, and I managed to read the diff the wrong way. Thanks for fixing the article again. --MrBoo (talk, contribs) 00:01, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

March 2007
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title: User talk:Frencheigh


text:
HMS Beaver (F93)

HMS Beaver was one of 10 Type 22 missile frigates of the Broadsword class ordered by the Royal Navy.

The ship was laid down at the Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd., Scotstoun, on 20 June 1980 and finally commissioned on 13 December 1984. Originally 22 ships of the class were planned to be built, but after the Falklands War, it was decided 10 was enough.

Power & Complement
With a maximum displacement of 4800 tons and a crew complement of 273 hands, HMS Beaver had a propulsion of 54,000HP from 2 Rolls-Royce gas turbine Olympus TM3B and 2 Rolls-Royce gas turbine Tyne RM1C engines, a maximum speed of 30 knots and a range of 4,500 nautical miles.

Armaments & Equipment
Armaments included:
 * 4 × Exocet MM38 missiles
 * 2 Seawolf SAM missile launchers – 6 missiles per launcher
 * 4 30 mm GCM-A03 guns
 * 2 20 mm GAM-B01 guns
 * 6 × 324 mm ASW torpedo tubes

On top of this HMS Beaver could carry 2 Lynx HMA 8 helicopters.

Other equipment included:
 * Radar Type 1006 for navigation
 * Radar Type 967 / 968 for searching at air level
 * Radar Type 911 for weapons guidance
 * Sonar type 2016 for the bow
 * Sonar type 2031 for towing from the stern

Bolton's Adoption
HMS Beaver was the adopted ship of the town of Bolton. Despite being many miles inland the town has a proud naval tradition based on the fact that during one week in the Second World War it raised one million pounds for the Royal Navy. The sixth HMS Dido (37) was officially adopted by the town during the war to mark this honour.

Prior to decommissioning, it was possible for Beaver Scouts to become honorary members of the crew.

Decommissioning and fate
On 1 May 1999, HMS Beaver was decommissioned and then sold for scrap on 21 February 2001.

title: HMS Beaver (F93)


text:
HMS Brave (F94)

HMS Brave was a Type 22 frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built by Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd, Glasgow, Scotland and launched on 19 November 1983. Brave was decommissioned on 23 March 1999 and was expended as a target in August 2004 by the submarine HMS Sceptre (S104) and frigate HMS Argyll (F231).

First commission and trials
Brave cost some £250m to build and spent most of her first commission (1985–1987) as a trials ship. She achieved various firsts in her weapons and communications fit. Thus, from 1985–1987, Brave had a number of civilian military contractors' personnel embarked and Commander Coyote, the Seawolf trials mascot, became a familiar figure on board. She had a reputation as a "happy ship". It was not until the autumn of 1987 that she undertook Basic Operational Sea Training at Portland and joined the fleet as a fully worked-up unit and she became leader of the 9th Frigate Squadron.

Programme
Her programme from 1986 to 1987 included visits to Lowestoft, Gibraltar, Funchal, Madeira, Porto, London – alongside HMS Belfast in December 1986, Newcastle upon Tyne, Alicante and Torquay. In 1989 the ship was deployed to SE Asia and participated in exercises in the Gulf of Thailand with the navies of Australia (HMAS Darwin FFG04), Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore. In January 1991 she was deployed to active service in the Gulf war. Whilst there she acted as the flagship for the Senior Naval Officer Middle East (SNOMI) commander of the sea-based task force. Her duties included providing anti-missile defense for US aircraft carriers and battleships, sonar tasks and mine watching. On a couple of occasions she came close to mines which had been dispatched by the Iraq military. Her main task during normal service was sonar patrols and between 1990 and 1992 carried out many successful patrols of the waters around the UK.

Affiliations
She was at first affiliated to Waveney District and the port of Lowestoft, Suffolk; this followed from the last ship of the name's Second World War association with the Suffolk town of Beccles. Other associations included the Royal Irish Rangers, the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, the Algerines Association, and Sea Cadet and Combined Cadet Force units. She had also forged a liaison with the Mohawk Indians in Canada. TS Mohawk. Her final affiliation was with the town of Dover in 1996.

title: HMS Brave (F94)


text:
Romanian frigate Regina Maria (F222)

Regina Maria (F222) is a Type 22 frigate of the Romanian Naval Forces, formerly a Royal Navy ship named HMS London (F95). It is named after Queen Marie of Romania, wife of King Ferdinand I of Romania.

Service
HMS London was a Type 22 frigate of the Royal Navy, originally named Bloodhound but renamed London at the request of the Lord Mayor of London.

She was flagship of the Royal Navy task force during the 1991 Gulf War.

She was decommissioned on 14 January 1999 and sold to the Romanian Navy on 14 January 2003, being commissioned as Regina Maria on 21 April 2005. Before the sale the Sea Wolf and Exocet missile systems were removed, and the only armament the ship had when delivered was two 30 mm BMARC cannons and two three-tube anti-submarine torpedo launchers. The Romanian Navy had a 76 mm OTO-Melara gun system fitted forward where the Exocets had been mounted, but no missile systems or additional weapons have been fitted. There has since been some controversy over the price for which Romania purchased the ship.

Romanian authorities are currently working in collaboration with the Romanian COMOTI institute to replace two of the Rolls-Royce gas turbine engines with two ST40M turbine engines designed at COMOTI.

Commanding officers
Notable commanding officers include Iain Henderson (1990-1991), Mark Stanhope (1991-1992) and Timothy McClement (1992-1994).

title: Romanian frigate Regina Maria (F222)


text:
User talk:Bobson

Hello, welcome to Wikipedia. Here are some useful links in case you haven't already found them:

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Dersonlwd Talk 04:19, 24 Feb 2004 (UTC)

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title: User talk:Bobson


text:
Chilean frigate Almirante Williams (FF-19)

Almirante Williams is a Type 22 frigate in service with the Chilean Navy. It entered service with the British Royal Navy in 1988 with the name HMS Sheffield, and served with the Royal Navy until 2002. Initially it was meant to be called Bruiser, but was named Sheffield in honour of the previous HMS Sheffield (D80), a Type 42 destroyer sunk in the Falklands War. In 2003, the vessel was acquired by the Chilean Navy and renamed Almirante Williams.

History
Sheffield was launched on 26 March 1986, by Swan Hunter, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom, and named by Mrs Susan Stanley, wife of the then Armed Forces Minister. The ship was commissioned at Hull on 26 July 1988. Several crewmen of the previous Sheffield were at the launch. A specially minted Sheffield coin was placed in the keel at the keel-laying ceremony on 29 March 1984.

In late 1998, Sheffield provided assistance after Hurricane Georges, visiting the island of St Kitts and also saved a Honduran woman who had been swept out to sea from her home by the force of Hurricane Mitch.

Sheffield attended the August Bank Holiday 28–30 August 1999 Navy Days at HMNB Devonport, berthed with HMS Sutherland (F81), HMS Somerset (F82), HMS Monmouth (F235), HMS Montrose (F236), HMS Manchester (D95), HMS Illustrious (R06), HMS Campbeltown (F86), HMS Trafalgar (S107), HMS Triumph (S93) and RFA Argus.

May 2000 saw Sheffield deployed on an eight-week deployment into the Baltic Sea, which included a two-week BALTOPS 2000 – France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, United States, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and the Netherlands all contributed ships to the exercise, which involved aspects of search and rescue as well as military joint exercises. Sheffield later visited Kiel, then Gdynia, the Twin city of Plymouth, with the Lord Mayor of Plymouth before visiting St. Petersburg in Russia. Sheffield visited Kotka in Finland before Klaipėda in Lithuania, as the first major British warship to visit the city. Sheffield returned home on 26 July.

8 February 2001 saw Sheffield, under Commander Simon Williams, deployed to the Caribbean for a six-month deployment. Sheffield was deployed to assist the United States Coast Guard, Dutch, French and Venezuelan navies in anti-drug operations and exercises. There were visits to the US as well as Barbados, Trinidad, Antigua, St Lucia, Curaçao and the Bahamas. Sheffield took part in Exercise Tradewinds, which promoted interoperability between coastguards and law enforcement agencies in the area. Other ships in the exercise included TTS Nelson and RFA Gold Rover.

5 February 2002 saw Sheffield deployed to the Standing Naval Force Mediterranean to replace HMS Chatham (F87). The mission was anti-terrorism by monitoring merchant shipping. There were also visits to Turkey, Sicily, Crete, Spain and Algiers. Sheffield was the flagship of Commodore Angus Somerville. Tuesday 26 February saw Sheffield assist the Spanish submarine SPANISH SUBMARINE Siroco, whilst participating in the exercise DOGFISH 2002. The submarine needed medicines for a sailor whilst in the Ionian Sea.

On 11 October 2002 Sheffield visited Kingston upon Hull one last time so that she could be visited by the people of her namesake city of Sheffield.

Sheffield was decommissioned on 4 November 2002. After 14 years service, which included providing humanitarian assistance to Nicaragua and Honduras after Hurricane Mitch (which earned her the Wilkinson Sword of Peace along with HMS Ocean (L12)), the Strategic Defence Review of 1998 (updated 2001) saw the end of her career with the Royal Navy.

Chilean service
Sheffield was acquired by Chile on 5 September 2003 and renamed Almirante Williams in honour of Vice Admiral Juan Williams Rebolledo, who was Commander of the Chilean Fleet at the beginning of the War of the Pacific.

Since its commissioning, Williams has served as part of the Chilean Fleet, where after various modernization projects carried out in the country, it serves as the flagship of this naval force.

She received a major refit in 2008, which saw her weapons fit change to:
 * 1 x 76mm gun
 * 2 x 20mm Oerlikon cannon
 * 8 x Harpoon anti-ship missiles
 * 2 x Barak 1 point defence systems
 * 2 x triple 324mm ASW torpedo tubes
 * Embarkation of 1 x SH-32 Cougar ASW helicopter

The new equipment was retrieved from decommissioned County-class destroyers.

The main roles of this unit, with its base port in Valparaíso, are the search and attack of submarines, surface combat and support in the event of catastrophes and emergencies. It also has the capacity to transport a Cougar helicopter.


text:
Romanian frigate Regele Ferdinand (F221)

Regele Ferdinand (F221) is a Type 22 frigate of the Romanian Naval Forces, formerly a Royal Navy ship named HMS Coventry (F98). She was originally intended to be named Boadicea but was named Coventry in honour of the previous Coventry, a Type 42 destroyer sunk in the Falklands War. Following service in the Royal Navy she was sold to the Romanian Navy in 2003.

Royal Navy
Between 1990 and 1996 Coventry was the leader of the 1st Frigate Squadron. The ship received the freedom of the city of Coventry in 1988.

Romanian Navy

She was purchased from the United Kingdom by the Romanian Navy on 14 January 2003, and renamed Regele Ferdinand (King Ferdinand) after Ferdinand I of Romania. The ship was handed over to Romania on 19 August 2004, and underwent sea trials at the same time. Regele Ferdinand was commissioned into the Romanian Navy on 9 September 2004 with the pennant number F221, and is the current flagship of the Romanian Navy. There has since been some controversy over the price at which she was bought.

On 22 March 2011, President of Romania Traian Băsescu said, after a CSAT meeting, that Romania will send the frigate Regele Ferdinand with 205 mariners and two officers on board to enforce an arms embargo in the Mediterranean Sea, as part of the 2011 military intervention in Libya - Operation Unified Protector. During their run in the NATO naval group acting on Operation Unified Protector - 2011, the frigate has traveled over 17400 nmi and carried out around 770 specific tasks.

Since entry into service of the Romanian Navy, Regele Ferdinand has performed a series of tasks among which the most important are deployments to Operation Active Endeavour in 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010 in the Mediterranean Sea, the exercise in Bulgaria "Breeze -CertExam" 2007, 2008, the exercise "Noble Midas" in Croatia in 2007 and 2008 in Italy.

Since 13 September 2012 Regele Ferdinand has participated in Operation Atalanta. The ship embarked naval commandos of Grupul Naval de Forțe pentru Operații Speciale (GNFOS).

In August 2014, Regele Ferdinand sailed alongside Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 Task Unit 2 which operated in the Black Sea as part of Exercise Sea Breeze.

In July 2019, the Romanian authorities announced the selection of Naval Group and its partner Santierul Naval Constanta (SNC) for the programme to build four new Gowind multi-mission corvettes and to modernise the T22 frigates.

Romanian authorities are currently working in collaboration with the Romanian COMOTI institute to replace two of the Rolls-Royce gas turbine engines with two ST40M turbine engines designed at COMOTI.


text:
HMS Cumberland (F85)

HMS Cumberland was a Batch 3 Type 22 frigate of the British Royal Navy. She was launched in 1986 and commissioned on 10 June 1989. The frigate was on station during the First Gulf War and was part of the Devonport Flotilla based at Devonport Dockyard. Cumberland was decommissioned on 23 June 2011.

History
On commissioning she became part of the 8th Frigate Squadron. Her first commanding officer was Captain Mike Gregory. Captain Gregory, a submariner, was previously awarded the OBE for the longest continuously submerged patrol in Royal Navy history.

The ship's first two deployments were to the US and Canada, in 1989 and 1990 respectively. The first in 1989 called at both Fort Lauderdale and Baltimore where the ship became the focus of an anti-nuclear protest over suspicions that the ship carried nuclear weapons. In 1990, she again crossed the Atlantic to visit New York, before sailing North to the St Lawrence Seaway with a brief stop in Montreal followed by a 10-day visit to Toronto. This was followed by an unscheduled 24-hour stop in Halifax, Nova Scotia to repair some ship equipment damaged in bad weather, and then a visit to St. John's, Newfoundland.

She spent the winter of 1990–91 as the Royal Navy surface vessel patrolling the Falkland Islands. She sailed to South Georgia just before Christmas arriving at Grytviken on 22 December. She sailed along the coast of South Georgia and returned to Grytviken on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day she hosted the soldiers of the South Georgia garrison aboard for Christmas Day lunch of venison. The stag had been shot the day before by a sniper from the garrison; part of the garrison's duties being to control the deer population on the Island. While in South Georgia the ship manoeuvred into Cumberland Bay where a glacier sweeps into the sea. A photograph of the ship with the glacier as a back-drop was taken from the ship's Lynx helicopter. Ice was collected from the glacier and kept in the ship's freezers for use at cocktail parties during the return leg of her patrol.

On 26 September 2000, Cumberland worked with local fishermen to aid the rescue of survivors of the Greek ferry Express Samina which ran aground two miles off the island of Paros.

In 2003 Cumberland embarked two teams from M Squadron, Special Boat Service (SBS) and (in partnership with RFA Wave Knight) seized 3.6 tonnes of cocaine in the mid-Atlantic as part of an anti-drug operation. In October 2005 she intercepted and boarded a speedboat in the Caribbean Sea off Nicaragua from which they seized two tonnes of cocaine, and detained four suspects. The cocaine was estimated to have a street value of £200 million.

During this time Chris Cranmer, the first registered Satanist serving in the Royal Navy, was a technician on board the vessel. On 18 May 2006 Cumberland escorted Dee Caffari, sailing Aviva, across the finish-line (at Lizard Point) as she became the first woman to sail single-handedly non-stop around the world "the wrong way" (against the prevailing wind and tide).

Cumberland completed an 18-month refit in 2008.

In October 2008, Cumberland was assigned to anti-piracy duties along with 6 other ships as part of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2). As part of her duties in SNMG2, on 11 November 2008, Cumberland went to the aid of a Danish vessel that had come under attack from pirates. The pirates opened fire on two of Cumberland's launches; 3 pirates died when the Royal Marines returned fire on the dhow.

During her 2010 deployment to the Persian Gulf, Cumberland rotated between maritime security patrol duty and escort duty with the French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in support of coalition military operations in Afghanistan. This represented an example of interoperability pursuant to the recently ratified Franco-British defence co-operation treaty.

In February 2011, it was announced that the ship would be scrapped in April 2011 in a government spending review to meet UK government cuts to the MOD.

Libya operations
On 22 February 2011, British Foreign Secretary William Hague announced that Cumberland, while transiting the Mediterranean on her return to the UK for decommissioning, would be redeployed to Libyan waters to assist in Operation Deference, the evacuation of British citizens and other nationals affected by the 2011 Libyan civil war. Cumberland entered the Port of Benghazi on 24 February. The ship left the same day with an international collection of 454 passengers that included 129 British nationals plus European and American nationals, and transferred them to safety in Malta. All European Union citizens were entitled to rescue by the Cumberland, but needed to carry a passport or other document that could serve as proof of nationality; would-be passengers were advised to telephone the British embassy in Malta.

In March 2011, Cumberland took part in Operation Ellamy, the British role in the coalition action during the 2011 Libyan civil war by enforcing a naval blockade. The life of the Cumberland has been extended so that the UK "armed forces remain equipped to protect in this conflict."

Since frigates HMS Westminster and Cumberland began enforcing the United Nations Resolution with other Allied naval forces on Friday [18 March 2011], the dictator's ships had shown "a very marked reluctance" to leave their bases... As well as ensuring arms do not slip through the naval cordon drawn across the Gulf of Sirte, both ships are using their surveillance suites to monitor activities along the Libyan coast, providing vital intelligence for the overall mission. Both frigates remain on station off the Libyan coast in full defence posture – defence watches, anti-flash, upper deck guns manned.

Cumberland was transferred to Operation Unified Protector under NATO command at the end of March.

Decommissioning and disposal
On 18 April 2011 Cumberland made her final entry into her base-port of Devonport from an intense and successful patrol involving oil production protection in the Gulf, counter-piracy operations, evacuating refugees from Libya and enforcing an arms embargo against the country's ruler. The ship was decommissioned under the Strategic Defence and Security Review, with a decommissioning ceremony taking place on 23 June. She was laid up at Portsmouth and in July 2013 sold to Turkish company Leyal for demolition.

Affiliations
Cumberland was affiliated with a number of military and civic bodies:

 * The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border)
 * County of Cumbria
 * Worshipful Company of Glovers
 * The Cumberland Association
 * The Cumberland Hotel (Marble Arch)
 * Pride of Cumbria air ambulance
 * Royal Thames Yacht Club
 * Batchworth Sea Scouts
 * TS John Paul (Sea Cadets)
 * TS Rodney (Sea Cadets)
 * TS Royalist (Sea Cadets)
 * Sedbergh CCF (Combined Cadet Force)
 * St Dunstan's CCF
 * Roedean School
 * TS Cumberland – The City of Carlisle Sea Cadets ( Sea Cadets) www.carlisleseacadets.org

title: HMS Cumberland (F85)


text:
HMS Campbeltown (F86)

HMS Campbeltown was a Batch 3 Type 22 frigate of the British Royal Navy. Built by Cammell Laird Shipbuilders Ltd. in Birkenhead. She was part of the third batch of Type 22s, which were larger than their predecessors and incorporated advanced close-in weapons after lessons learnt from the 1982 Falklands War. She was decommissioned on 7 April 2011.

History
In August 2001 she visited Archangel, Russia for the 60th-anniversary of the first WWII Arctic Convoys. In company with Russian warships Zadorniy and Alexander Otrakovski. On 28 August 2001, as part of the same goodwill visit, Campbeltown laid a wreath in the Barents Sea close to where Russian submarine Kursk was lost on 12 August 2000.

Campbeltown's last deployment was a seven-month tour from 2007 to 2008 in the Persian Gulf, where she operated in support of Operation Calash, a Counter Piracy and counter smuggling operation within the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and North Indian Ocean and Operation Telic, the security of Iraqi Territorial Seas. In early 2004 the vessel was deployed as part of NATO's Standing Naval Force Atlantic. HMS Campbeltown entered refit in September 2008.

The ship's bell of the first HMS Campbeltown (I42), a Second World War Town-class destroyer famous for her role in the St. Nazaire Raid, was loaned from Campbelltown, Pennsylvania to the current Campbeltown for the duration of her Royal Navy service.

Decommissioning
The Royal Navy announced in March 2011 that Campbeltown would be decommissioned on 7 April 2011. She paid a final visit to her namesake town of Campbeltown, Argyll in March 2011 where a series of ceremonies, including a town centre parade by the ship's crew, took place to commemorate the end of the ship's active service. Campbeltown made her final entrance to Plymouth on 31 March 2011 before decommissioning in a traditional ceremony on 7 April 2011. She was laid up at Portsmouth and in July 2013 sold to Turkish company Leyal for demolition. She was towed from Portsmouth to Turkey on 15 Oct 2013, arrived Aliağa on 29 Oct 2013 and was fully recycled by the 14th March 2014.

The ship's bell has now been returned to Campbelltown, Pennsylvania. The ship's bell made specifically for the next HMS Campbeltown (Type 31 frigate), a Type 31 frigate, was given to Campbeltown, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland and will be displayed in the town's museum until the new ship is commissioned.

Affiliations
Campbeltown was affiliated with a number of military and civic bodies:

 * J Battery, 3 Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery
 * No. 24 Squadron RAF
 * Worshipful Company of Wax Chandlers
 * Campbeltown, Argyll
 * Campbelltown, Pennsylvania
 * Springbank Distillery, Campbeltown, Argyll
 * Birmingham Nautical Club
 * TS Campbeltown
 * Bridgewater Sea Cadet Corps
 * Royal Marine Cadet Corps, Bradfield College, Reading
 * CCF Naval Section, Gordon's School, Woking

title: HMS Campbeltown (F86)


text:
HMS Chatham (F87)

HMS Chatham was a Batch 3 Type 22 frigate of the British Royal Navy. She was decommissioned on 8 February 2011.

Chatham had the rare honour of a motto in English; Up and at 'em, being the rallying cry of the Medway town football and rugby teams. The motto has subsequently been translated back into Latin as Surge et vince.

1990–1999
Chatham joined Operation Sharp Guard to enforce the embargo against the former Yugoslavia in 1993. Her most notable action was on 1 May 1994 and the capture of the Maltese freighter Lido II, which was suspected of smuggling fuel to Montenegro. The British frigate assisted the Dutch frigate HNLMS Van Kinsbergen, who had forced the merchant to stop.

Three Yugoslav Končar-class fast attack craft missile boats challenged the NATO operation and one of them attempted to ram Chatham. The corvettes were driven off by the actions of the British warship, supported by Italian Tornado aircraft which scrambled from an airbase at Gioia Del Colle. Lido II underwent repairs after sabotage to the ship's engine room by her crew, before being diverted to Italy. The leaking was contained by an engineering party from Chatham. Seven Yugoslav stowaways were found on board.

Under the command of Captain Christopher Clayton, she was guardship to the royal yacht HMY Britannia during the withdrawal from Hong Kong in 1997 (and served as the control military operations in the months prior to the handover).

2000–2009
In May 2000, Chatham was part of the Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) sent to the coast of Sierra Leone to oversee the evacuation of British, EU and Commonwealth nationals as part of Operation Palliser, under the captaincy of George Zambellas.

In March 2003 Chatham became the first British warship to fire her guns in anger since the Falklands War, when, as part of Operation Telic, she engaged targets on the Al-Faw Peninsula of southern Iraq. Approximately 60 rounds were fired at a variety of targets from her 4.5-inch gun. In company with HMS Marlborough (F233), HMS Richmond (F239) and HMAS Anzac (FFH 150) she remained on station for the following 72 hours at immediate readiness to provide fire support to the troops of the Royal Marines as they advanced up the peninsula.

Chatham deployed from the UK to the Persian Gulf in January and returned in August. During the deployment, in the run-up to and the conduct of the invasion of Iraq, the ship spent around 90 days at sea continuously at defence watches in the northern part of the Persian Gulf. At times she came very close to hitting mines laid by Iraqi dhows and tugs in the shallow waters to be found in the area.

Chatham hosted the BBC for the television programme Shipmates which charted the life of sailors in the Royal Navy. In the program, Chatham was filmed on active service in the Persian Gulf, whilst on an anti-terrorist mission. The show also covered the Chatham's humanitarian relief efforts off the coast of Sri Lanka after the December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.

On 18 April 2005, Chatham sent a party ashore at Alexandria in Egypt to provide a burial for the recently uncovered remains of thirty British sailors and officers who had died during or after the 1798 Battle of the Nile.

On 31 October 2006, she visited the town of Chatham, Massachusetts, on her way to Boston.

In 2008 Chatham was responsible for the capture of six tonnes of the 23-tonne narcotic haul seized by the Royal Navy between January and August 2008. As of March 2010, she was the NATO flagship for international naval operations against Somali piracy.

2010–2011
On 17 May 2010, Chatham destroyed two pirate boats in the Somali Basin, forcing the pirates to return in the mother ship to Somalia.

On 20 May 2010 Cyclone Bandu disabled a cargo vessel, MV Dubai Moon, and left her drifting off the Somali coast. Before the cargo vessel sank, 23 crew members were rescued by helicopters from Chatham.

Decommissioning and disposal
As a result of defence cuts, HMS Chatham arrived in Plymouth for the last time on 27 January 2011. The ship was decommissioned in February 2011. She was stripped of equipment and laid up at Portsmouth and in July 2013 sold to Turkish company Leyal for demolition.

In autumn 2013, Chatham was towed to the Leyal shipyard in Turkey on her final voyage for breaking.

Affiliations
Chatham was affiliated to a number of military and civil bodies:

Ship's Sponsor: Lady Oswald

 * 3 Regiment, Army Air Corps
 * Medway Council
 * Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors
 * Chatham Dockyard Historic Trust
 * Chatham Dockyard Historic Society
 * Royal Naval Association, Chatham
 * TS Cornwallis (Medway Town Sea Cadet Unit)
 * 5th Medway Scouts
 * 1404 Chatham Squadron (Air Training Corps)

Notable commanding officers
Almost all the commanders of Chatham subsequently achieved flag rank including James Morse, Ian Forbes, Tony Hogg, Paul Boissier, Christopher Clayton, Martin Connell (Dec 2006 - Jan 2009), Trevor Soar and George Zambellas.

title: HMS Chatham (F87)


text:
Type 21 frigate

The Type 21 frigate, or Amazon-class frigate, was a British Royal Navy general-purpose escort that was designed in the late 1960s, built in the 1970s and served throughout the 1980s into the 1990s.

Development
In the mid-1960s, the Royal Navy (RN) had a requirement for a replacement for the diesel-powered Leopard-class frigate (Type 41) anti-aircraft frigates and Salisbury-class frigate (Type 61) air direction frigates. While the Royal Navy's warships were traditionally designed by the Ministry of Defence's Ship Department based at Bath, private shipyards (in particular Vosper Thorneycroft) campaigned for the right to design and build a ship to meet this requirement. Vospers claimed that, by ignoring what they claimed to be the conservative design practices followed by the MoD team at Bath, they could deliver the new frigate at a significantly lower price (£3.5 million compared with the £5 million price of the contemporary Leander-class frigate), while being attractive to export customers.

The class was ordered under political and Treasury pressure for a relatively cheap, yet modern, general purpose escort vessel which would be attractive to governments and officers of South America and Australasia: the traditional export markets of British shipyards. It was also envisaged as an out-of-area RN gunboat that would retain UK presence in those areas, as well as the Caribbean and the Persian Gulf; essentially replacing the diesel-powered Type 41s and Type 61s and the combined steam and gas-powered Type 81 frigates with smaller crewed vessels. The RN staff disliked the idea and would have preferred, like many USN Admirals, to continue to develop steam types - in the RN's case, the Type 12I Leander class, which was regarded as an especially successful and quiet anti-submarine hunter, but was seen by the politicians as dated and by the Treasury and export-oriented shipyards as too expensive to market.

The development of Vosper's own export designs, the Mk 5 for Iran and the Mk 7 for Libya, increased the pressure on the Admiralty to accept this line of naval development, which seemed to offer a cheap export frigate with a range of 6000 nmi, a top speed of 37 kn, a superficially good armament of the new Mark 8 4.5-inch (113 mm) gun, facilities for a Westland Wasp helicopter, anti-ship missiles and two triple lightweight Seacat missile launchers. When plans for the new LIBYAN FRIGATE Dat Assawari were finalised in 1968, the Admiralty board accepted that its paper specifications were unanswerable and they would have to allow the shipyards to develop a low cost fill in anti-submarine warfare and general purpose version for the RN that would be stretched and fully gas turbine-powered rather than combined diesel and gas like the Mk 5 and Mk 7. In reality, it was a much more difficult design, with the lack of heavy propulsion machinery low in the hull to balance the top weight of bulky superstructure. The fitting of Tyne gas turbines for cruising, instead of the diesels used in the Iranian and Libyan versions, meant fuel consumption and cost would be high, which was a tremendous problem for the Royal Navy in the early 1980s when the austerity of early Thatcherism cut the Royal Navy fuel allowance and meant that most frigates spent more time tied up, rather than at sea in 1980–1981; and despite the smaller crew, running costs of the Type 21 were ten percent higher than those of the Leanders.

The Type 21 would provide the shipyards with experience in building fully gas turbine powered ships and provide them with useful work for the shipyards while the Type 42 destroyer and Type 22 frigate would not be ready until the mid-to-late 1970s. As the Admiralty design board were busy with the latter, the Type 21 project was given to the private shipyards of Vosper Thornycroft and Yarrow. The unmistakably yacht-like and rakish lines were indicative of their commercial design.

At one stage, it was hoped to build a joint design that would meet both the Royal Navy's requirement for a low-cost Patrol Frigate and Australia's General Purpose Escort requirement, with discussions between the two navies beginning in 1967, with Australia, who hoped to build a series of Type 21s in Australian shipyards, part-funding design work on the proposal. The requirements of the two navies were significantly different, with Australia wanting higher speeds (35 kn rather than the 32 kn requirement of the Royal Navy) and American armament (including Sea Sparrow missiles and a 5 in Mark 45 gun). Australia pulled out of the project in November 1968, later refining its requirements into the Australian light destroyer project. After the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) DDL was cancelled the RAN and Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) reconsidered the Type 21 but still found it too expensive, and considered the UK gun and radar inferior to the United States Navy options. Australia ordered the US Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate design in 1976.

A contract for detailed design of the new frigate to meet Royal Navy requirements and to build the first example was placed in March 1969. By this time cost had crept up to £7.3 million, more than Leander-class frigates.

Attempts continued to sell frigates derived from the Type 21 to export customers, including Argentina. A broad-beam derivative armed with vertical-launch Sea Wolf surface-to-air missiles was offered to Pakistan in 1985.

The first of the eight built, HMS Amazon (F169), entered service in May 1974.

Design
These ships were the Royal Navy's first privately designed warships for many years. They were also the first design to enter service with the Royal Navy to be solely powered by gas-turbine engines, with two Rolls-Royce Tynes for cruising and two Rolls-Royce Olympus for high speeds arranged in a combined gas or gas (COGOG) arrangement. The design had a large superstructure in relation to the volume of the main hull (below No 1 Deck) and made use of large amounts of aluminium alloy in the superstructure with the aim of reducing the topweight. However the design team miscalculated the weight of the ‘Outfit’ in and on the superstructure. The height of the superstructure exacerbated the error. Worries later surfaced about aluminium’s resilience to fire, particularly following a major fire on Amazon in 1977 during which aluminium ladders distorted, preventing fire-fighting teams from reaching the blaze, and its ability to withstand blast damage. Later British warships avoided aluminium for superstructure and load-bearing structure, and reverted to steel.

As delivered, the Type 21s were armed with a single 4.5 inch Mark 8 naval gun forward, and a four-round launcher for the SeaCat surface-to-air missile aft. The Italian Selenia Orion-10X lightweight fire control radar was adopted to control both the gun and the SeaCat missile (as the GWS-24 system) in an effort to save weight. A Type 992Q air/surface radar was fitted, but a long-range air-search radar was not provided. A hangar and flight deck were provided for a single helicopter, at first the Westland Wasp. The CAAIS was provided to integrate the ship's weapons and sensor systems and provide the crew with all the relevant information they required to fight the ship, as and when they needed it.

In terms of automation, systems integration and habitability, they were well in advance of many of the ships that they replaced, such as the Type 81 (Tribal-class) frigate and Type 12M Rothesay-class frigate - the latter's basic design could be traced back to 1945.

Modifications
MoD discovered the error in weight and Vertical Centre of Gravity about 6 months after the first of class was launched. When they entered service, the Type 21s were criticised for being under-armed in relation to their size and cost. A programme was put in hand to increase their firepower by fitting four French-built MM38 Exocet anti-ship missiles. These were sited in front of the bridge screen aft of the forecastle, displacing the Corvus countermeasure launchers to amidships. This improvement was quickly carried out to all ships of the class during their build period except Amazon, Antelope and Ambuscade; Amazon and Ambuscade were fitted with Exocet in 1984/85. The Exocets were located in two pairs and the missiles would deploy across the ship and clear the opposite side of the vessel to their launchers in flight.

However, the design error in weight and stability, particularly damaged stability, had more than wiped out the margins in the commercially designed Type 21 that had been intended for replacing SEACAT by the more capable SEAWOLF. of weight and space when compared to the allowances customary in in-house Royal Navy warship designs for major modernization of the type being applied to the broad-beam Leander frigates, which included the replacement of the subsonic Seacat missiles with anti-missile Sea Wolf missiles to counter Soviet anti-ship missiles and the fitting of the Type 2016 bow sonar. The Type 21 could be not be fitted with Sea Wolf. CAAIS and Sonar 2016 are irrelevant to weight and stability Five modernization proposals for the Type 21s were considered by the Royal Navy but rejected by 1979, when it was 'reluctantly' decided not to modernize the class, and it was estimated that they would be laid up by 1988.

The small Wasp helicopter was replaced by the vastly more capable Westland Lynx when it became available. Compared to the Wasp, the Lynx was faster and carried its own sensors, plus more and better weapons. As and when ships came in for refit, ship-launched anti-submarine torpedoes were also fitted (though not in Amazon ), in the form of two STWS-1 triple-tube launchers capable of firing United States USN/NATO-standard Mark 44 or Mark 46 torpedoes. After the Falklands War, two more 20 mm Oerlikon guns were mounted on some ships of the class, one each side of the hangar, to provide extra close-in armament. The first of these guns was actually salvaged from the wreck of Antelope by divers, and was fitted to Avenger, where it carried the slogan 'Antelope's Avenger' on its gunshield.

Analysis
Criticism was levelled at the performance of the type in the Falklands conflict. The ships developed cracks in their decks due to the different strength and fatigue properties of steel and aluminium. This was a vulnerability particularly demonstrated under the severe weather conditions that they encountered in the South Atlantic. Steel reinforcing plates were eventually fitted down the sides of the ships and on No 01 Deck. Although built to an exacting budget and design specification (and although carrying anti-aircraft weaponry of insufficient effectiveness), they distinguished themselves in a theatre for which they had not been designed. As shore bombardment platforms and in lethal, accurate gunfire support for the Royal Marines and British Army landing at San Carlos, they were superb, pinning down any possibility of Argentine army counterattack, but they remained shallow water surface fighting ships, designed for Vosper's export market to provide nations like Libya and Iran with the firepower to replace the United States / UK as western supporting stabilisers under the Kissinger / Healy strategy. The lack of margin to accept the Type 2031 towed array sealed the fate of the class.

The class was also criticised for being overcrowded: at 384 ft, they had 177 crewmen compared to 436 ft and 185 crewmen for the Type 23 frigate. This was important at a time when the Royal Navy was facing a manpower shortage. The standard of accommodation for the officers was better than the RN average and the senior ratings enjoyed separate cabins – unlike the petty officers of the Type 42 destroyer of the same era, who slept in bunk rooms. The ratings' accommodation was also improved, with four-man sleeping berths leading off from the communal mess deck; again, far better than those of the Type 42 destroyer. In essence, the standard of accommodation and fitting were better, especially for officers, because it was a design intended to attract export orders. It is very little more than a stretched version of the MK 7 Vospers frigate built for Libya and, other than the fitting of CAAIS, with its electronic and intended weapon fit essentially the same as the Mk 7 prototype in type or level of sophistication. In the Type 21, higher automation and the new Mk 8 4.5-inch automatic gun combined with an electronic fit that was in many ways simpler than that of the Leanders or Type 42. The Type 21 class lacked both the long range Type 965 radar carried by most UK warships and the Limbo mortar with its associated sonar. Inevitably, that meant a much smaller crew than the Leanders, with little capability to modernise (owing to its small size) and already being close to its topweight limit; the Type 21's days were numbered. A decision not to modernise them was made in 1979 even before the Falklands losses.

Service
Except for HMS Amazon, all the class took part in the 1982 Falklands War as the 4th Frigate Squadron. They were heavily involved, performing extensive shore-bombardment missions and providing anti-submarine and anti-aircraft duties for the task force. On 10 May, HMS Alacrity and Arrow probed through Falkland Sound at night searching for minefields that might have impeded landings and operations, almost as expendable hulls. Alacrity engaged and sank an Argentine naval supply vessel in the Sound. On exiting the Sound at daybreak, they were attacked by the Argentine submarine San Luis, which fired two torpedoes; one hit Arrow's submarine towed decoy (as intended) and the other bounced off her hull, having failed to arm itself. Two ships were lost: HMS Ardent (F184) was hit by bombs dropped by Argentine aircraft on 21 May and consumed by fire; HMS Antelope (F170) was hit by bombs on 23 May, one of which was set off by the bomb disposal team attempting to defuse it on 24 May, causing the ship to catch fire and setting off her magazines, resulting in her breaking her back and sinking.

Sale to Pakistan
The six surviving Type 21 frigates were sold to Pakistan in 1993–1994 for 60 million US dollars. The Exocet and Seacat were removed before the sale and the frigates were given a basic refit at Karachi with US Harpoon anti-ship missile. Three of them were fitted with Phalanx CIWS, the others with 40mm Bofors L70 guns. The class was renamed by the Pakistan Navy as the Tariq-class frigate, after the  first vessel that was acquired, Tariq, formerly HMS Ambuscade (F172). Only two of the six remain in service: Badr and Babur were both decommissioned in 2014, while Tippu Sultan and Shah Jahan were sunk as targets in 2020 and 2021 respectively. By the closing years of the class the Harpoon was generally seen as slow and obsolete and in 2008 Harpoon was removed from the Royal Navy frigates. The Pakistan frigates were given the Chinese 6-cell LY-60N Hunting Eagle surface-to-air missile system.

The Type 21 Club
In 2010, like-minded former crew members decided that an association should be formed for former shipmates and officers who ever served on these frigates. It also includes Pakistan Naval crew members of the frigates now part of the Pakistan navy.

title: Type 21 frigate


text:
HMS Amazon (F169)

HMS Amazon was the first Type 21 frigate of the Royal Navy. Her keel was laid down at the Vosper Thornycroft shipyard in Southampton, England. The ship suffered a fire in the Far East in 1977, drawing attention to the risk of building warships with aluminium superstructure.

Design
The Type 21 frigates were intended as a class of general purpose frigates to replace the diesel-powered frigates of the Leopard-class frigate and Salisbury-class frigatees, and to maintain the Royal Navy's frigate numbers until the specialist anti-submarine ships of the Type 22 class could enter service. The contract for the design of the class was placed with the commercial shipbuilder Vosper Thornycroft, with the intent that the design would be cheaper than those produced by the Royal Navy's own design staff, while being attractive for export buyers.

Amazon was 384 ft long overall and 360 ft between perpendiculars, with a beam of 41 ft and a maximum draught of 19 ft. Design displacement was 2750 LT normal and 3250 LT full load. She was powered by two Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B gas turbines rated at a total of 56000 shp and two Rolls-Royce Tynes rated at a total of 8500 shp in a Combined gas or gas (COGOG) arrangement, giving a speed of 30 kn when powered by the Olympuses and 17 kn when powered by the Tynes.

As built, armament consisted of a single 4.5 inch Mark 8 naval gun forward, and a four-round launcher for the Sea Cat surface-to-air missile aft, backed up by two 20mm cannon. A hangar and flight deck for a single light helicopter, intended to be the new Westland Lynx (although Amazon was first equipped with a Westland Wasp as the Lynx had not yet entered service). A Type 992Q surface/air search and target indication radar was fitted, together with a Type 978 navigation radar. Two Type 912 fire control radars (the Italian Selenia RTX-10X) directed the ship's gun and the Seacat, while a Type 184M medium range search sonar and a Type 162M bottom search sonar (modernised versions of the sonars used on the Leander-class) were fitted.

Later ships of the class completed with four Exocet anti-ship missiles forward, and two triple tubes for United States USN/NATO-standard Mark 44 or Mark 46 torpedoes, but Amazon did not receive Exocet until 1984–1985.

Construction
Amazon, the first of her class, was ordered on 26 March 1969. She was laid down at Vosper Thornycroft's Woolston, Southampton shipyard on 6 November 1969 and was launched by Princess Anne on 26 April 1971. Construction was slow, and Amazon was not completed until 11 May 1974, at a cost of £16.8 million.

Royal Navy Service
In June 1977 Amazon took part in the Fleet Review, of the Royal Navy at Spithead in celebration of HM the Queen's Silver Jubilee, while in July she carried out successful trials with the Lynx helicopter. In November 1977 Amazon suffered serious engine room fire caused by a fuel leak when near Singapore. Ladders made of aluminium alloy melted in the fire, making it difficult to respond, which was one of the reasons why use of aluminum as a construction material for warships went out of fashion with the Royal Navy. From 1978 Amazon's Wasp helicopter was replaced by a Lynx.

In December 1980 the ship struck a coral pinnacle off Belize. Amazon was the only unit of her class to not participate in the Falklands War, as she was in the Persian Gulf at the time, although she carried out a patrol in the South Atlantic in August–November 1982.

By the mid-1980s the surviving Type 21s were suffering cracking in the hull and so she was taken in for refitting, with a steel plate being welded down each side of the ship. At the same time modifications were made to reduce hull noise. Four Exocet launchers were also fitted in 'B' position, the last of the class to be so fitted.

Pakistan Navy Service
Amazon decommissioned and was sold to Pakistan on 30 September 1993, being renamed PNS Babur. Exocet was not transferred to Pakistan and Babur had her obsolete Sea Cat launcher removed. Two quadruple Harpoon missile launchers were fitted in place of the Exocet launchers. Signaal DA08 air search radar replaced the Type 992 and SRBOC chaff launchers and 20 mm and 30 mm guns were fitted.

On 3 August 2011, a video surfaced on the Internet reportedly showing Babur brushing against the Indian frigate INS Godavari (F20) in the Gulf of Aden during the rescue of hostages on-board merchant vessel MV Suez in June.

After serving 22 years of military service, Babur was retired and decommissioned from service in December 2014.

title: HMS Amazon (F169)


text:
HMS Antelope (F170)

HMS Antelope was a Type 21 frigate of the Royal Navy that participated in the Falklands War and was sunk by Argentine aircraft.

Construction and commissioning
Her keel was laid down 23 March 1971 by Vosper Thornycroft in Woolston, Southampton, England.

Initial budget costs for this class were £3.5 million, with final costs exceeding £14 million. She was commissioned on 17 July 1975, and was the only unit of the class never to be fitted with Exocet launchers.

In 1977, she attended the fleet review for the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II. At this time, she was part of the 7th Frigate Squadron.

Bombing
Antelope took part in the Falklands War, arriving in the area of operations on 21 May 1982. Two days later, while on air defence duty at the entrance to San Carlos Water, protecting the beachhead established two days before, she came under attack by four Argentine A-4B Skyhawks of Grupo 5. The first pair attacked from astern, with the flight leader breaking off his attack after one of Antelope's Sea Cat missiles exploded under the port wing of his aircraft.

The pilot, Captain Pablo Carballo, managed to nurse his aircraft back to Rio Gallegos. The second aircraft on this flight pressed home his bomb run and put a 1,000-pound bomb in Antelope's starboard side, killing one crewman, Steward Mark R. Stephens. The bomb did not explode and the Argentine aircraft was damaged by small arms fire. The second pair of Skyhawks attacked minutes later from the starboard quarter. During this attack, one of the Argentine jets, piloted by First Lieutenant Luciano Guadagnini, was hit by the ship's Oerlikon 20 mm cannon before colliding with Antelope's main mast and disintegrating. Guadagnini had released the bombs before being brought down, and one bomb penetrated Antelope's hull amidships, but like the first bomb hitting the ship failed to explode.

Antelope fired a Sea Cat at what she believed to be a fifth attacker, but this was Captain Carballo, trying to establish if his aircraft was fit to fly. The missile missed, but passed less than 10 m from Carballo's cockpit.

Unexploded ordnance
After initial damage control efforts, Antelope proceeded to more sheltered waters so that two bomb disposal technicians from the Royal Engineers could come aboard and attempt to defuse the two unexploded bombs. One of the bombs was inaccessible because of wreckage; the other had been damaged and was thought to be in a particularly dangerous condition. Three attempts by the bomb disposal team to withdraw the fuse of this bomb by remote means failed.

Sinking
A fourth attempt using a small explosive charge detonated the bomb, killing Staff Sergeant James Prescott instantly and severely injuring Warrant Officer Phillips, the other member of the bomb disposal team.

The ship was torn open from waterline to funnel, with the blast starting major fires in both engine rooms, which spread very quickly. The starboard fire main was fractured, the ship lost all electrical power, and the commanding officer, Commander Nick Tobin, gave the order to abandon ship. Tobin was the last person to leave the ship; about five minutes after his departure, the missile magazines began exploding.

Explosions continued throughout the night. The following day Antelope was still afloat, but her keel had broken and her superstructure melted into a heap of twisted metal. Antelope broke in half and sank that day. TV and still pictures of Antelope's demise became some of the iconic images of the Falklands War and appear repeatedly in histories of the event.

Aftermath
Corporal Alan White received a commendation from the Task Force Commander, Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse, for his part in rescuing 41 crew from Antelope using a Mark 2 LCVP, one of four carried by the assault ship HMS Fearless (L10). The landing craft, Foxtrot 7, is now located in the Royal Marines Museum in Portsmouth, with detailed accounts from Corporal Alan White of the missions he took part in, including the landings at San Carlos.

In January 2002, a diving team from the frigate HMS Montrose (F236) replaced the naval ensign on Antelope. The wreck is designated as a prohibited area under the Falkland Islands Protection of Wrecks Act.

title: HMS Antelope (F170)


text:
HMS Active (F171)

HMS Active was a Type 21-class frigate of the Royal Navy. Built by Vosper Thornycroft, Southampton, England, she was completed with Exocet launchers in 'B' position, the first of the class to be so fitted.

Royal Navy service
Active participated in the Falklands War, setting out from HMNB Devonport on 10 May 1982 as part of the Bristol Group, reaching the task force on 21 May. Active formed part of the main British Fleet, well east of the Falklands during the day, while escorting supply convoys to San Carlos Water or carrying out shore bombardment missions at night. On the night of 13/14 June, Active shelled on Argentine positions during the Battle of Mount Tumbledown. HMS Active took part in five NGS (naval gun supports) at Bluff Cove, Fitzroy, Berkley Sound, Mount Tumbledown, and Port Stanley. By the mid-1980s, in common with the other surviving Type 21s, Active suffered from hull cracking. When the ship was next refitted steel plating was welded along each side of the ship to repair and reinforce the weak points. At the same time modifications were made to reduce hull noise.

When Hurricane Gilbert struck Jamaica and Grand Cayman, Active, supported by RFA Oakleaf, arrived in the area on 13 September 1988 to provided emergency relief, before leaving seven days later.

Pakistan Navy service
Active decommissioned and was sold to Pakistan on 23 September 1994, being renamed Shah Jahan. Exocet was not transferred to Pakistan and Shah Jahan had her obsolete Sea Cat launcher removed. Signaal DA08 air search radar replaced the Type 992 and SRBOC chaff launchers and 20 mm and 30 mm guns were fitted.

Her flag was sold on the BBC programme Bargain Hunt. Shah Jahan remains in service with the Pakistan Navy. Between 11 and 21 May 2008, Shah Jahan participated in Exercise Inspired Union, a multi-national exercises in the North Arabian Sea. Other Pakistani warships included the frigate Badr and the replenishment tanker Nasr, as well as the Pakistan Air Force explosive ordnance disposal team, and the American destroyers USS Curts (FFG-38) and USS Ross (DDG 71).

Shah Jahan was sunk as a target on 12 January 2021 as part of a Pakistan Navy live firing exercise.

Civilian connections
Active was the adopted ship of the town of Burnley in Lancashire, North-West England. The ship and its crew were granted the freedom of the town in 1989. Part of the town's inner ring-road between Westgate and the traffic lights at the Church Street junction with Colne Road is called Active Way. One of Active's anchors is displayed at the Anchor Retail Park next to Active Way.

title: HMS Active (F171)


text:
HMS Ambuscade (F172)

HMS Ambuscade was a Type 21 frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built by Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd, Glasgow, Scotland. She entered service in 1975. Ambuscade took part in the Falklands War of 1982.

Ambuscade was sold to Pakistan in 1993 and served their navy as PNS Tariq until 2023.

Service history
Ambuscade was launched on 18 January 1973 by Lady Griffin, wife of the Controller of the Navy, and was commissioned at Devonport on 5 September 1975. During 1976 and 1977 her commander was Peter Abbott who subsequently attained Flag rank.

Ambuscade took part in the Falklands War of 1982, serving as an Electronic Warfare picket ship to the Task Force, and taking part in several bombardments of Argentine positions. On 25 May Ambuscade was targeted by two Exocet missiles fired by Argentine Super Étendard strike aircraft. Ambuscade detected the aircraft at 30 miles and the missile launch at 22 miles, first with radar then visually, and fired chaff decoys in an attempt to confuse the missiles' seekers. Both missiles then locked on to SS Atlantic Conveyor impacting her port quarter, and setting her on fire. Atlantic Conveyor sank whilst under tow on 28 May. On the night of 13 June she fired 228 4.5-inch shells in support of 2 Para's assault of Wireless Ridge.

On 27 April 1983, Ambuscade was conducting tactical manoeuvres with ships of the United States Navy in the Indian Ocean. During the course of the exercise, she collided with the guided missile cruiser USS Dale (DLG-19), resulting in part of her bow being torn away. Ambuscade was laid up in Bombay for six weeks while a new bow was constructed and fitted. Whilst laid up, some of the crew performed as extras in the film On Wings of Fire. There was enough damage to have Dale dry docked when she returned to Jacksonville, Florida. Ambuscade was in collision with the trawler Ester Colleen in heavy fog off Torbay on 26 October 1983. The trawler was badly holed in the collision.

From November 1983 to February 1984, Ambuscade served as a West Indies Guardship. On 8 June 1984, Ambuscade went to the assistance of the schooner Stena of Sitoo, which had struck an object in the North Sea and been holed below the waterline.

In late 1984, suffering from cracking in her hull, she was taken in for refitting, with a steel plate being welded down each side of the ship. At the same time modifications were made to reduce hull noise and four Exocet launchers were added in front of the bridge.

In 1993, she was decommissioned and sold to Pakistan and recommissioned as PNS Tariq, and remains in active service.

In December 2021, it was announced that it was hoped that when decommissioned, she could be returned to the United Kingdom for preservation as a museum ship.

In February 2023, it was announced that the Royal Navy was backing the plan to return her to the United Kingdom and will be preserved in Glasgow.

title: HMS Ambuscade (F172)


text:
HMS Arrow (F173)

HMS Arrow was a Type 21 frigate of the Royal Navy.

Arrow was active during the Falklands War of 1982, where she provided naval gunfire support (NGFS) and rescued most of the surviving crew from HMS Sheffield. She was sold to Pakistan on 1 March 1994 and renamed PNS Khaibar.

Background
Built by Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd, Glasgow, Scotland, she was completed with Exocet launchers in 'B' position. During 1976-1977 her first captain was Commander Nick J Barker.

Falklands War service
During the 1982 Falklands War, Arrow was the first British ship to see action when she shelled Argentine positions around Port Stanley airfield on 1 May and the first to be hit by an Argentine Air Force aircraft, sustaining several cannon shell hits to her funnel uptake and other parts of the superstructure. She had one casualty from shell splinters.

On 4 May she assisted in extinguishing the fires and evacuating the crew of the Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield, which had been struck by an Exocet missile, rescuing 225 of the 261 surviving crew. Arrow's captain, Commander (later Captain) Paul Bootherstone was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for this action.

On 6 May Arrow shelled Argentine positions around Fox Bay West Falkland.

On the night of 10–11 May, Arrow lay at the northern end of Falkland Sound, the channel which separates West and East Falkland, whilst her sister ship HMS Alacrity transited it from south to north to assess if the channel was mined. Alacrity left the channel just before dawn and Arrow was waiting to accompany her back to the Task Force when the Argentine submarine ARA San Luis, captained by Fernando Azcueta, fired two SST-4 torpedoes at a range of 5000 yards. One did not leave its tube; the other hit the towed Type 182 decoy.

On 28 May, Arrow provided naval gunfire support to the Second Battalion, The Parachute Regiment's assault on Goose Green. She fired 22 star shells and 135 rounds of 4.5" high-explosive, during a 90-minute bombardment.

Arrow remained in Bomb Alley (San Carlos Water anchorage) longer than any other ship while receiving temporary repairs to hull cracks by having Seadart lifting beams welded to her upper decks.

On passage east toward Fitzroy on the night of 5 June Arrow detected an unknown surface target close to the shore and fired three star shells over what turned out to be a UK Landing Craft Mechanised (LCM) which was then escorted to Berkeley Sound. These were the last Mk 8 Illumination rounds fired during the conflict. In early June 1982 Arrow gave supporting fire in the battles that led up to the Argentine surrender.

She returned home to Devonport Naval Base on 7 July 1982, welcomed home by the Red Arrows display team, with whom she had an association.

Argentine claim
The silhouette of Arrow, along with the date 1 May, was painted on the side of Argentine Air Force Dagger C-412 along with the silhouette representation of HMS Brilliant (F90) and the 21 May, implying a successful action against these vessels. These refer to damage which both ships suffered during the conflict, which may not have been caused by this particular aircraft. Arrow was slightly damaged on 1 May 1982, and HMS Brilliant was damaged by cannon fire on 21 May 1982 outside San Carlos Water. The aircraft was still bearing these silhouettes in November 2005 at the multi-national Exercise Ceibo in Argentina.

Later Royal Navy service
By the mid-1980s Arrow was suffering from cracking in her hull. Much of this had first arisen during the Falklands conflict, when engineers were obliged to weld steel plates and girders to parts of the ship where cracks were opening up in the aluminium superstructure. After the war, she was taken in for refitting, with a large steel plate being welded down each side of the ship. At the same time modifications were made to reduce hull noise.

In early 1985, Arrow spent 3$1/2$ months as Guardship in the West Indies. The vessel continued in service until 1994, and was decommissioned and removed from the fleet on 1 March that year.

In July 1991, Arrow was returning from a deployment to the South Atlantic when it joined a US Coast Guard patrol boat in the Caribbean, and played a major role in an operation which resulted in the seizure of 1,500lbs of smuggled cocaine.

Pakistan Navy service
Following decommissioning Arrow was transferred to Pakistan and renamed PNS Khaibar. The Exocet missile system was not transferred to Pakistan and Khaibar had her obsolete Sea Cat missile launcher removed. A Phalanx CIWS was later fitted in place of the Sea Cat launcher. SRBOC chaff launchers and 20 mm and 30 mm guns were fitted. Khaibar remains in service with the Pakistan Navy, who purchased from the United Kingdom Government all six surviving Type 21 frigates of the eight originally built (two were lost in the Falklands).

Publications

 * Marriott, Leo, 1983. Royal Navy Frigates 1945-1983, Ian Allan Ltd, Surrey. ISBN 978-0-7110-1322-3
 * Marriott, Leo, 1983. Royal Navy Frigates 1945-1983, Ian Allan Ltd, Surrey. ISBN 978-0-7110-1322-3

title: HMS Arrow (F173)


text:
HMS Alacrity (F174)

HMS Alacrity was a Type 21 frigate of the Royal Navy.

Alacrity was active during the Falklands War of 1982, where she sank a supply ship, survived Exocet-missile attacks and rescued men from the Atlantic Conveyor. She was transferred to Pakistan on 1 March 1994 and renamed PNS Badr.

Background
Built by Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd, Glasgow, Scotland, she was completed with Exocet launchers in 'B' position.

1977–1981
In 1977, Alacrity took part in the Fleet Review, of the Royal Navy at Spithead in celebration of HM the Queen's Silver Jubilee. In 1980, "Alacrity" took part in a Far-East deployment. During a visit to Shanghai she was the first British warship to enter the Yangtse river since HMS Amethyst escaped in 1949.

Falklands War
Alacrity participated in the Falklands War, departing Devonport on 5 April 1982 and captained by Commander Christopher Craig.

Alacrity was slightly damaged by an Argentine bomb on 1 May 1982.

On the night of 10–11 May 1982 Alacrity was tasked to establish if the Argentines had mined the north entrance of Falkland Sound. While approaching Swan Islands, she engaged and sank the 3000 ton Argentine supply ship ARA Isla de los Estados with her 4.5-inch gun. The Argentine transport blew up after a hit ignited her cargo of jet fuel and ammunition. Fifteen crew members and seven servicemen (from all three armed forces and the coast guard) were killed, there were only two survivors.

As Alacrity left the channel just before dawn, her sister ship HMS Arrow (F173) was waiting to accompany her back to the Task Force, when the Argentine submarine, ARA San Luis Captained by Fernando Azcueta fired two SST-4 torpedoes at a range of 5000 yards. One didn't leave its tube, the other missed and was heard to detonate after hitting the sea bottom.

On 25 May, Alacrity sustained damage to her bow, while rescuing survivors from the SS Atlantic Conveyor, which had been struck by two Exocet missiles.

1982–1994
As with the other surviving Type 21 frigates, Alacrity was suffering from cracking in her hull by the mid-1980s. She was taken in for refitting, and a steel plate was welded down each side of the ship.

In 1989, while deployed as West Indies guard ship, Alacrity was tasked for humanitarian relief on the island of Montserrat in the British West Indies after the island suffered devastation in the wake of Hurricane Hugo. The ship's Lynx helicopter was the sole means of transporting aid ashore as the port was destroyed.

Pakistan Navy service
Alacrity was decommissioned and transferred to Pakistan on 1 March 1994, being renamed Badr. Exocet was not transferred to Pakistan and Badr had her obsolete Sea Cat launcher removed and replaced with a Phalanx CIWS. Signaal DA08 air search radar replaced the Type 992 and SRBOC chaff launchers and new 20 mm and additional 30 mm guns were fitted.

Between 11 and 21 May 2008, Badr participated in Exercise Inspired Union, a multi-national exercises in the North Arabian Sea. Other Pakistani warships included the frigate Shah Jahan and the replenishment tanker Nasr, as well as the Pakistan Air Force explosive ordnance disposal team, and the American destroyers USS Curts (FFG-38) and USS Ross (DDG 71).

Badr was decommissioned in April 2013 by the Pakistan Navy.

title: HMS Alacrity (F174)


text:
Talk:Amos Meller

Untitled
''This page was listed on Votes for deletion in May, 2004. The result of that discussion was to keep the article. For an archive of the discussion, see /Delete.''

To my knoledge and according to the UN site the UN does not have an anthem. I don't know this person and maybe the autor wanted say that he wrote a hymn to the UN. Didn't found any hint on the Hebrew wikipedia (the page "Amos Meller" is void, but I can't transliterate his name and even if I could I don't understand Hebrew ;- nor on the net. Could someone give me more informations? Schopenhauer 04:21, 24 Feb 2004 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Amos Meller


text:
HMS Ardent (F184)

HMS Ardent was a Royal Navy Type 21 frigate. Built by Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd, Glasgow, Scotland. She was completed with Exocet launchers in 'B' position. Ardent took part in the Falklands War, where she was sunk by Argentine aircraft in the Falkland Sound on 21 May 1982.

Falklands War
On 19 April 1982 Ardent sailed from HMNB Devonport near Plymouth for the Falkland Islands. En route, she escorted task force ships that had left late, on their way to Ascension Island, arriving on 3 May and sailing on the morning of the 7 May. On 9 May 1982 while 700 miles south west of Ascension, Ardent closed to within 200 yards of the starboard side of the troopship SS Canberra and provided a gun power demonstration to the troops sailing south.

On 21 May 1982, whilst lying in Falkland Sound and supporting Operation Sutton by bombarding the Argentine airstrip at Goose Green, Ardent was attacked by at least three waves of Argentine aircraft. The air strikes caused Ardent to sink the next day.

British account
The first attack took place when a A-4 Skyhawk dropped two bombs at 16:00 Z (UTC), which straddled the frigate but both failed to explode.

The bulk of the air strikes began at 17:40 Z. Ardent was ordered to proceed west of North West Island along with Yarmouth to "split air attacks from the south". A group of three aircraft, either Skyhawks or IAI Daggers crossed the Falklands Sound from the west and then turned to their left to attack from the north east. Cannon fire and three bombs struck home as the Argentine aircraft pressed their attack from the port side. The only defensive weapons which reacted properly were the 20 mm AA cannons.

The Sea Cat anti-aircraft missile system failed to lock onto the attackers, who also outmanoeuvred the 4.5" gun by carrying out their run out of its arc of fire. Two bombs exploded in the hangar area, destroying the Westland Lynx helicopter and blowing the Sea Cat launcher 80 ft (24 m) into the air before it crashed back down onto the flight deck, and the third crashed through the aft auxiliary machinery room but failed to explode. The aft switchboard was severely damaged, causing loss of power for some key assets, such as the main gun. The hangar was left in flames, and the crew suffered a number of casualties.

Still in full control of her engines and steering, but virtually defenceless, Ardent was told to head north, toward Port San Carlos. But at 18:00 Z five Skyhawks approached the frigate and dropped numerous free-fall and retard bombs. A pattern of two to four bombs exploded in the port quarter (aft), while an undetermined number of others which failed to explode penetrated into the ship. Some of the remaining bombs exploded in the water nearby, battering the ship and causing minor flooding in the forward auxiliary machine room.

The dining hall was shattered, communications between the bridge and the ship control centre were cut off, and the frigate lost steering. This attack caused many casualties, especially among the damage-control teams working in the hangar.

Ardent stopped in the shallow waters of Grantham Sound, the fires in her stern now out of control. With the ship listing heavily, Commander Alan West gave the order to abandon the ship. Yarmouth came alongside to take off survivors, and the crew was transferred to SS Canberra. At that time it was known that 22 men were killed. Ardent continued to burn throughout the night, accompanied by the occasional explosion, until she sank at 6:30 the next day, with only her skewed radar antenna on the foremast remaining above the water.

Able Seaman John Dillon was able to remove an injured sailor from the debris and, despite his own burns, got the man topside and into the water where they were both rescued. For his heroism he received a George Medal, one of three awarded for the war.

The last man to leave was her captain, Commander Alan West, who was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, and served as First Sea Lord from 2002–2006.

Within days naval divers removed her light AA guns for fitting to other ships and her foremast was used as a navigational warning and datum by her sister ship Arrow whilst she bombarded Goose Green.

The wreck is designated as a prohibited area under the Falkland Islands Protection of Wrecks Act.

Air Force attacks
According to the Argentine Air Force official website Ardent was the subject of two attacks from FAA aircraft:
 * 14:00 Argentine time (UTC-3) by a lone A-4B Skyhawk of 5th Air Group. Four A-4B took off from Rio Gallegos at 11:30 UTC-3. After experiencing problems during the air-to-air refuelling, two aircraft were forced to abort and fly back to their base. Once over the Falklands Sound, the remainder Skyhawks chanced upon an unidentified transport ship – she was apparently the abandoned Argentine cargo vessel Río Carcaraña – which was attacked by one of the jets. The other fighter, piloted by the flight commander, Captain Pablo Carballo, dropped one 1000 lb dumb bomb on a frigate he found at Grantham Sound. He reported heavy anti-aircraft fire but returned safely. The bomb exploded on the stern. Carballo went on to attack Broadsword a few days later.
 * 14:40 UTC-3 by IAI Daggers of 6th Air Group. A flight of two Daggers, led by Captain Mir González, was joined by a third Dagger returning from an aborted sortie. They headed together towards San Carlos, but were intercepted by a patrol of Sea Harriers vectored by Brilliant, and the attached aircraft was shot down over West Falkland. The pilot ejected and was recovered later. The two original Daggers successfully outran the British air patrol and entered Falklands Sound from the south. They discovered a frigate and dropped two 1000 lb bombs on her stern. They also hit the craft with their 30 mm cannon. According to this report, the warship responded to the attack by firing anti-aircraft missiles.

Navy aircraft sortie

 * 15:01 UTC-3 three Argentine Navy A-4Q Skyhawks of 3rd Fighter and Attack Naval Sqd. hit Ardent with at least two bombs on the stern, a number of unexploded bombs which ripped into the hull, and several near-misses. These fighters usually operated off the carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo, but this mission was carried out from a land base at Rio Grande. Navy aircraft used a dozen 500 lb retarding tail bombs during the attack.

 * During their escape they were shot down by Sea Harriers. The pilot who made the final run, Lt. Gustavo Marcelo Márquez was killed in action after his A-4Q was hit by 30 mm fire and exploded. Lt. Philippi, shot down by an AIM-9L Sidewinder missile, ejected safely; afterwards being sheltered by local farmer Tony Blake during the night he rejoined Argentine forces. Lt. Arca, with his A-4Q also struck by 30 mm rounds, bailed out safely after an unsuccessful attempt to land at Stanley. The pilot was rescued from the water by the Argentine Army Huey UH-1H of Captain Svendsen. Arca ejected at Cape Pembroke, two miles (3 km) from Stanley airstrip. The Argentine Naval Aviation applied the mathematical theory published in the book "Monte Carlo", which stated that if six jets loaded with four 250 kilo bombs dropped them “in a row” on a warship, the possibility of impact was four direct hits. This would cause the ship to sink. It also warned that the attacking group of six jets would lose 50 percent of its aerial material, which also occurred, since the attacking naval group lost 50 percent of its aircraft (3 jets) with two pilots ejected and one dead.

title: HMS Ardent (F184)


text:
HMS Avenger (F185)

HMS Avenger was a Type 21 frigate of the Royal Navy. Built by Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd, Glasgow, Scotland, she was completed with Exocet launchers in 'B' position.

Royal Navy service
With the appointment of Captain Hugo White in 1981, Avenger became leader of the 4th Frigate Squadron. Avenger was a late arrival at the Falklands War, as she didn't leave the UK until 10 May 1982, arriving on 25 May - a record for any ship involved in the operations, and a great distance to have covered in 14 days. The Rolls-Royce Olympus turbines of Type 21 frigates enabled them to maintain high speeds, but at the time the Royal Navy preferred this information not to be publicised. Avenger had averaged 28 knots and the Type 21s became nicknamed the Boy Racers. Her divers salvaged a 20mm Oerlikon from the wreck of HMS Antelope which was remounted to increase her anti-aircraft capability, referred to on board as "Antelope's Avenger". She also assisted with naval gunfire support during the campaign.

On 11 June she was conducting naval bombardments of Port Stanley in preparation for an amphibious assault by British troops. She directly struck a house where civilians were sheltering, killing three Falkland Islander women and wounding several others. They were the only British civilian casualties of the Falklands War.

During the Falklands deployment, an alarming crack in the ship's hull progressively worsened with the stormy South Atlantic weather. On return to UK, she was taken in for refitting, with a steel plate being welded down each side of the ship to eliminate the problem. At the same time modifications were made to reduce hull noise.

On 4 May 1983, HMS Avenger, and sister ship HMS Ambuscade, were on the Royal Navy 'Armilla' patrol, a permanent presence in the Persian Gulf during the 1980s and 1990s. The Avenger's commanding officer, Captain Peter Woodhead, was returning from a visit ashore in the ships Westland Lynx,(registration XZ249) when it suffered a tail rotor control failure and, nose down, plunged into the sea off Muscat, Oman. The Lynx helicopter never resurfaced from its entry into the sea and for a short time there was no sign of the aircrew or ship's captain. As HMS Avenger approached the crash sight the crew observed some green clothed bodies breaking the surface on the water. When it was suggested to the Captain that a Westland Lynx helicopter from the Royal Army of Oman would be taking him and the other three crew members to the nearest hospital in Oman, he informed the medics "there is no fucking way I am getting into that helicopter". Captain Woodhead and the three other crew members survived the incident, with Woodhead sustaining a non-life changing injury to his back.

After the war she remained leader of the 4th Frigate Squadron until 1986.

Pakistan Navy service

Avenger was decommissioned and sold to Pakistan on 23 September 1994, where she was refitted and renamed Tippu Sultan. She was the third ship to carry this name and remained in service with the Pakistan Navy as part of the 25th Destroyer Squadron until on 27 April 2020 she was expended as a target.

Publications

 * Marriott, Leo, 1983. Royal Navy Frigates 1945-1983, Ian Allan Ltd, Surrey. ISBN 978-0-7110-1322-3
 * Marriott, Leo, 1983. Royal Navy Frigates 1945-1983, Ian Allan Ltd, Surrey. ISBN 978-0-7110-1322-3

title: HMS Avenger (F185)