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 War, as she didn't leave the UK until 10 May 1982, arriving at the Falklands on the 25th May - a record for any ship involved in the operations, and a massive distance in 14 days. All Type 21's had a massive short distance high-speed ability thanks to the Rolls Royce Olympus turbines, but at the time the RN preferred this information not to be publicised. Captain White led Avenger in the Falklands War surviving an attack by an Exocet missile which it shot out of the sky with the 4.5 inch mark 8 gun on the focsle of the ship. 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 "Antelopes Avenger". She also assisted with naval gunfire support during the campaign. On June 11, she was conducting naval bombardments of Port Stanley in preparation for an amphibious assault by British troops. While the shelling was going on, she directly struck a house where civilians were sheltering, killing three British women and wounding several others. They are the only British civilian casualties of the 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.

Pakistan Navy service
Avenger was decommissioned and sold to Pakistan on 23 September 1994, where she was refitted and renamed Tippu Sultan. She is the third ship to carry this name and remains in service with the Pakistan Navy as part of the 25th Destroyer Squadron.

Publications

 * Marriot, Leo, 1983. Royal Navy Frigates 1945-1983, Ian Allen Ltd, Surrey. ISBN 0 7710 1322 5
 * Marriot, Leo, 1983. Royal Navy Frigates 1945-1983, Ian Allen Ltd, Surrey. ISBN 0 7710 1322 5