Ordered September 1986 Commissioned 31 May 1991 Construction started 20 March 1987 Weight 4,900 tons | Laid down 20 March 1987 Length 133 m Launched 8 April 1989 | |
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Hms argyll f231 fires sea wolf missile using latest artisan 3d radar
The third and current HMS Argyll is a Type 23 'Duke' Class frigate. She is currently the oldest serving Type 23 frigate in the Royal Navy. Like all of her class she is named for a British dukedom, in this case that of Argyll. HMS Argyll was laid down in March 1987 by Yarrow Shipbuilders at Glasgow, and launched in 1989 by Lady Wendy Levene, sponsored by the Worshipful Company of Paviors. It was commissioned in May 1991. Argyll is currently based at Devonport Dockyard.
Contents
- Hms argyll f231 fires sea wolf missile using latest artisan 3d radar
- 1991 2000
- 2001 2010
- 2011 Present
- Affiliations
- References
Argyll will be the first Type 23 to be fitted with the new Sea Ceptor missile system.
It is planned that she will retire in 2023.
1991-2000
In 2000, Argyll was part of the Royal Navy task force - Task Group 342.01 - — comprising Illustrious, Ocean, Iron Duke, Chatham, and four RFA ships — that deployed to Sierra Leone as part of the British military intervention in the Sierra Leone civil war. During those operations, Argyll acted as the West African Guardship and remained off West Africa until September 2000. Throughout this period ARGYLL operated with her Lynx HMA Mk 8 Helicopter. The Lynx undertook daily patrols and searches. The Lynx was instrument during Operation BARRAS. During her deployment, the helicopter was scrambled to search for a missing passenger ferry. The aircraft's crew quickly located the vessel and provided escort for Argyll. Argyll saved fifty-eight lives from drowning. She was relieved by her sister-ship Iron Duke in September. During this incident Argyll, assisted by HMS Ocean, laid the foundation for the Iron Duke Community School. This is a school for orphans in Freetown. President Kabbah of Sierra Leone decreed the school be named after the crew of Iron Duke for completing the construction of the six classrooms.
2001-2010
2001 saw a change in command with Commander John Kingwell succeeding Commander Rick Wellesley. In 2001, while in the Bay of Biscay, Argyll suffered an electrical fire that was quickly put out by the ship's damage control team, with the ship suffering only minimal damage.
Argyll completed a six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf protecting two oil platforms, working with the American, Australian and Iraqi Navies from February to August 2005. The ship made a short visit to Boulogne, then to its home port of Inveraray and finally to Liverpool, before undergoing Operational Sea Trials. Argyll successfully completed Operational Sea Training and acted as a contingency platform whilst H.M. Elizabeth II spent a week sailing on the Hebridean Princess in July 2006.
In September 2006 Argyll was deployed along with other ships such as Ocean and Albion where she completed two drugs raids on merchant ships totalling £50 million. They |completed their operation in November of the same year.
HMS Argyll was in the newspapers for all the wrong reasons on 14 September 2007 when it was claimed that 41-year-old commanding officer Captain Nigel Chandler was replaced when the ship failed twice to pass the Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) exercises. These exercises are taken every 18 months to ensure the ship and crew are ready for deployment. In October 2007 Argyll returned to the Persian Gulf to take over from her sister-ship, Richmond.
Thursday 3 April 2008 saw more than 500 friends and relatives welcome HMS Argyll as she returned to her home at Devonport after a deployment lasting 6 months in the Northern Persian Gulf. This was Argyll's second Gulf deployment to Combined Task Force (CTF) 150 in three years. This deployment included one patrol which lasted 52 days from January to March 2008. HMS Argyll was also at the 'Meet Your Navy' exhibition at HMNB Portsmouth 2008.
6 May 2008 saw the crew return to Argyll, with the crew bidding their commanding officer of 7 months, Commander Gavin Pritchard, a fond farewell. Pritchard was succeeded by Commander Peter Olive. Argyll was then to engage in a period of trials and training before entering a period of maintenance in June.
11 May 2008 saw the Trans-Atlantic solo yacht race in Plymouth Sound started by the ceremonial cannon aboard Argyll. Dame Ellen MacArthur also attended the start of the race and Rear Admiral Richard Ibbotson, head of the Flag Officer Sea Training organisation, was also on board Argyll.
On 21 July 2008 Argyll led the parade of tall ships out of Liverpool ahead of the Tall Ships Race starting 23 July.
On 18 February 2009, Argyll sailed from Devonport as part of the Taurus 09 deployment under Commander UK Amphibious Task Group, Commodore Peter Hudson, She was joined on this deployment by Landing Platform Dock Bulwark, as Hudson's flagship, Landing Platform Helicopter (LPH) Ocean, Type 23 Frigate Somerset and four ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. Argyll returned to Devonport on 17 April from this deployment.
In early October 2010, Argyll and her crew arrived in Plymouth last week after an 11-month refit which included 290,000-man-hours spent on modifications, upgrades and improvements." She has received a new command system, upgrades to Sea Wolf, the Mod1 4.5-inch (114mm) gun, and mounts for new small calibre guns. She was also given new boat-launching equipment. "The refit included the replacing of two of the vessel's four diesel generators and one of her gas turbine engines." Her ventilation system has been improved. "Along with fresh paint on the upper decks she has been coated below the waterline with a special paint to prevent the build-up of sea life which would slow the ship. This also makes her more fuel-efficient." HMS Argyll was the first Type 23 frigate to undergo a second major refit.
2011-Present
On Sunday 22 January 2012 it was announced that Argyll was part of a six-ship convoy which sailed through the Strait of Hormuz alongside French and United States Navy vessels, during a diplomatic dispute with Iran. In a period after this she engaged in Exercise ‘Goalkeeper’ whilst still in the Middle East.
On 30 June 2012, Armed Forces Day, she fired the salute in Plymouth as part of a steampast alongside RFA Mounts Bay, the Earl of Wessex was in attendance alongside the First Sea Lord.
In 2013, she served a seven-month deployment to the Atlantic, having visited South Africa. She also engaged in counter-narcotics work in the Eastern Pacific by travelling around Cape Horn and headed back to her home port via the Panama Canal.
In March 2014, she accidentally fired a test (unarmed) torpedo whilst training at Devonport, there were no injuries and minimal damage.
On 30 June 2014, she arrived in Hamilton, Bermuda for a three-day visit as part of her deployment to the North Atlantic and Caribbean.
She arrived in Baltimore, Maryland on September 11, 2014 to participate in ceremonies commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Star Spangled Banner.
On Thursday 25 September 2014, she arrived in Veracruz.
On 6 October 2014, HMS Argyll visited George Town, Grand Cayman, after having been on counter-narcotics deployment in August 2014. From 9–13 October 2014 HMS Argyll paid an official visit to the Dominican Republic during the course of which her flight deck hosted the baptism of Stefania Rozsa, daughter of the British Ambassador. On 18 October 2014, she arrived in Bermuda to provide assistance in the aftermath of Hurricane Gonzalo.
In 2014, a Royal Navy Lynx from Argyll identified a suspicious yacht in the Caribbean Sea, and a detachment of the US Coast Guard operating from Argyll seized $16 million worth of cocaine found on the yacht. The group had seized an even larger shipment earlier on the same deployment.
In 2015, Argyll entered extended refit in Devonport; she returned to sea in February 2017 with a new principal weapon system, Sea Ceptor, and numerous modifications and alterations to her accommodation and working spaces. Argyll is set to become the trials vessel for Sea Ceptor prior to resuming operational duties.