HMS London (F95)
HMS London | |
History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name: | HMS London |
Namesake: | London |
Operator: | Royal Navy |
Builder: | Yarrow Shipbuilders |
Laid down: | 7 February 1983 |
Launched: | 27 October 1984 |
Commissioned: | 5 June 1987 |
Decommissioned: | 14 January 1999 |
Identification: | Pennant number: F95 |
Fate: | Sold to Romania on 14 January 2003 |
Romania | |
Name: | Regina Maria |
Namesake: | Marie of Edinburgh |
Acquired: | 14 January 2003 |
Commissioned: | 21 April 2005 |
Identification: | Pennant number: F222 |
Status: | In active service |
Badge: | |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | Type 22 frigate |
Displacement: | 5,300 tonnes |
Length: | 148.1 m (486 ft) |
Beam: | 14.8 m (49 ft) |
Draught: | 6.4 m (21 ft) |
Propulsion: |
|
Speed: |
|
Complement: | 250 |
Armament: |
|
Aircraft carried: |
|
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 First Gulf War in 1991.
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 after Queen Marie of Romania, wife of King Ferdinand I of Romania. Before the sale the Sea Wolf and Exocet missile systems were removed, and the only armament the ship had when delivered was two 30mm BMARC cannons and two three-tube ASW torpedo launchers. The Romanian Navy had a 76mm Oto-Melera 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 at which Romania purchased the ship.[1]
Commanding Officers
- 1986-1987: Captain Robert Fisher RN
- 1987-1989: Captain Douglas Littlejohns RN
- 1989-1990: Captain James Taylor RN
- 1990-1991: Captain Iain Henderson RN
- 1991-1992: Captain Mark Stanhope RN
- 1992-1994: Captain Timothy McClement RN
- 1994-1996: Commander Alan Brooks RN
- 1996-1998: Commander Iain Greenlees RN
- 1998-1999: Commander Thomas McBarnet RN
Gallery
-
HMS London
-
Regina Maria at the 2005 Trafalgar 200 International Fleet Review
See also
- Regina Maria destroyer (Regele Ferdinand class), a World War II-era namesake
- Romanian Naval Forces
References
- ↑ Leigh, David (13 June 2006). "We paid three times too much for UK frigates, Romania says". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 14 June 2006.
Publications
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.