HMS Coventry (F98)

HMS Coventry was a Type 22 frigate of the Royal Navy. She was originally intended to be named Boadicea but was named Coventry in honour of the previous Coventry, a Type 42 destroyer sunk in the Falklands War.

She was purchased from the United Kingdom by the Romanian Navy on 14 January 2003, and renamed Regele Ferdinand (King Ferdinand) after Ferdinand I of Romania. The ship was handed over to Romania on 19 August 2004, and underwent sea trials at the same time. F221 Regele Ferdinand was commissioned into the Romanian Navy on 9 September 2004, and is the current flagship of the Romanian Navy. There has since been some controversy over the price at which she was bought.

On 22 March 2011, President of Romania Traian Băsescu said, after a CSAT meeting, that Romania will send the frigate Regele Ferdinand with 205 mariners and two officers on board to enforce an arms embargo in the Mediterranean Sea, as part of the 2011 military intervention in Libya - Operation Unified Protector. During their run in the NATO naval group acting on Operation Unified Protector - 2011, the frigate has traveled over 17,400 nautical miles and carried around 770 specific tasks. Since the entry into service of the Forţele Navale Române, F221 "Regele Ferdinand" performed a series of tasks among which the most important are the Operation Active Endeavour in 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010 in the Mediterranean Sea, the exercise in Bulgaria "Breeze -CertExam"  2007, 2008, the exercise "Noble Midas" in Croatia in 2007 and 2008 in Italy.

Since 13 September 2012 F221 has participated in Operation Atalanta. On the ship are also embarked naval commandos Grupul Naval de Forțe pentru Operații Speciale (GNFOS).