Name HMS Lancaster Ordered September 1986 Sponsored by Queen Elizabeth II Length 133 m Launched 24 May 1990 Builder Yarrow Shipbuilders | Operator Royal Navy Laid down 18 December 1987 Commissioned 1 May 1992 Construction started 18 December 1987 Weight 4,900 tons | |
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HMS Lancaster is a Duke class Type 23 frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched by Queen Elizabeth II on 24 May 1990 and is known as "The Queen's Frigate", the Duke of Lancaster being a subsidiary title of the Sovereign. Being the third ship in the Type 23 class, Lancaster was originally allocated the pennant number F232 until it was realised that the 232 is the Royal Navy report form for groundings and collisions and therefore considered unlucky. She is one of the few stag ships left in the fleet, she has some female officers but the mess decks are men-only. It is quite common when she has returned from long operations that she is flown over by the Avro Lancaster bomber which is part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight based at RAF Coningsby.
Contents
2001-2010
Lancaster has been involved in anti-drug operations in the Caribbean, but also delivered Vice Admiral Adrian Johns in 2009 to his new post as Governor of Gibraltar. In February 2010 Lancaster was deployed in waters off the Horn of Africa as part of Combined Task Force 150, tackling piracy, drug-running, people trafficking, arms smuggling, and other criminal and terrorist threats.
In September 2010 Lancaster entered refit in Portsmouth.
2011-Present
Lancaster returned to sea in early 2012 and returned to active service in Spring 2013. The £17.9m contract covered upgrades to communications, the Sea Wolf and command systems, the installation of a 30mm remote-operated gun and a transom flap. Both shafts were replaced, four refurbished diesel generators installed and new paint applied to the hull. The accommodation, galley and dining halls were all refurbished at the same time. Half the crew returned to the ship in October 2011, under the command of Lt Cdr Charlie Guy until Cdr Steve Moorhouse takes over in November 2011. Although the top speed of the Duke class is commonly quoted as 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph), the caption of an official Navy photo suggests that Lancaster was capable of 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph) even before her mid-life refit; the transom flap can add up to 1 knot (1.9 km/h; 1.2 mph) to the top speed of a Type 23, and the Intersleek anti-fouling paint added 2 knots (3.7 km/h; 2.3 mph) to the top speed of Ark Royal.
In July to August 2013, she was on a counter-narcotics mission in the Caribbean, seizing a massive 680 kg haul of cocaine with an estimated street value of £100 million after sailors and an embarked U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment boarded a speedboat near Puerto Rico.
On 23 March 2015, Lancaster became the first ship in the Royal Navy to deploy with the navy's new uniform and Wildcat helicopter.
The crew of the Lancaster gathered on the deck of the vessel to spell the word sister, as a present from the Royal Navy, on the birth of Princess Charlotte of Cambridge on 2 May 2015.
Lancaster participated the 200 year celebrations of Napoleon arrival on St Helena after his capture at the Battle of Waterloo on the 12th to the 16th of October 2015 along with RFA Gold Rover.
In 2015, the ship visited Algiers for three days for official receptions and a short spell of training with ships in the Algerian Navy, including the Algerian amphibious transport dock Kalaat Béni Abbès. She arrived back in the UK on 17 December 2015.
Upon her return to the UK, Lancaster entered a period of "extended readiness" in Portsmouth awaiting refit in 2017.