HMS Llandaff (F61)

HMS Llandaff (F61) was a Salisbury-class or Type 61 aircraft direction frigate of the British Royal Navy, named for the district of Llandaff in Cardiff, Wales.

She was built by Hawthorn Leslie and Company at Hebburn on the River Tyne, being laid down on 27 August 1953 and launched on 30 November 1955. Llandaff broke away from her moorings in a storm on 1 March 1956 and was damaged by collisions with the cruiser HMS Bermuda, the frigate HMS Russell and a merchant ship before she could be brought under control. Despite this damage, she completed on 11 April 1958, when she was the first ship to be trained by the newly established Flag Officer Sea Training organisation at Portland.

The Llandaff transferred to the Bangladeshi Navy at Royal Albert Dock, London 10 December 1976 as the Umar Farooq. She is still in active service as of December 2010. She was convered into a training ship where under training officers and sailors get sea time. During long refit female officers gun room and heads were made so that female under training can also be trained. In Bangladesh Navy she took flag showing and training visits abroad mentionable among them are the good will visit to India, Pakistan and Maldives in 1989,participation in Korean International Fleet Review in 1998, etc. With three other frigates she forms the 7th Frigate Squadron and stationed in Chittagong, Bangladesh.