| HMS Avenger (F185) | |
|---|---|
 PNS Tippu Sultan, former HMS Avenger | |
| Career (UK) |  |
| Name: | HMS Avenger |
| Operator: | Royal Navy |
| Builder: | Yarrow Shipbuilders |
| Laid down: | 30 October 1974 |
| Launched: | 20 November 1975 |
| Commissioned: | 15 April 1978 |
| Decommissioned: | 23 September 1994 |
| Homeport: | HMNB Devonport |
| Identification: | Pennant number: F185 |
| Honours and awards: | Falkland Islands 1982 |
| Fate: | Sold to Pakistan on 23 September 1994 |
| Career (Pakistan) |  |
| Name: | PNS Tippu Sultan |
| Operator: | Pakistan Navy |
| Acquired: | 23 September 1994 |
| Identification: | Pennant number: D185 |
| Status: | in active service, as of 2024[update] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Type 21 frigate |
| Displacement: | 3,250 tons full load |
| Length: | 384 ft (117 m) |
| Beam: | 41 ft 9 in (12.73 m) |
| Draught: | 19 ft 6 in (5.94 m) |
| Propulsion: |
COGOG: 2 × Rolls-Royce Olympus gas turbines 2 × Rolls-Royce Tyne RM1A gas turbines for cruising |
| Speed: | 32 knots official, 37 knots achievable on bursts |
| Range: |
4,000 nmi at 17 knots (7,400 km at 31 km/h) 1,200 nmi at 30 knots (2,220 km at 56 km/h) |
| Complement: | 177 |
| Armament: |
Royal Navy: 1× 4.5 inch Mark 8 (113 mm) gun 2× Oerlikon 20 mm cannon 1× 6-cell LY-60N surface-to-air missile 1× Phalanx CIWS 2× Mark 36 SRBOC chaff launchers |
| Aircraft carried: | 1 × Westland Wasp helicopter, later refitted for 1 × Alouette III and 1 × Westland Lynx |
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.
[]
En route to the Falklands with the Bristol Group
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.[1] 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".[2] 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.[3][4]
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 Naval Air Arm Alouette III on board Tippu Sultan at Portsmouth in 2005
Avenger was decommissioned and sold to Pakistan on 23 September 1994, where she was refitted [5] and renamed Tippu Sultan. She is the third ship to carry this name [6] and remains in service with the Pakistan Navy as part of the 25th Destroyer Squadron.[7]
Avenger was sunk as a target on 27/4/20 on exercise by the PNS in the Arabian Sea.
Commanding officers[]
| From | To | Captain |
|---|---|---|
| 1977 | 1979 | Commander G A Eades RN |
| 1980 | 1982 | Captain Hugo White RN |
Notes[]
- ↑ Marriot, Leo, 1983. Royal Navy Frigates 1945-1983, Ian Allen Ltd, Surrey, p104
- ↑ Marriot, Leo, 1983. Royal Navy Frigates 1945-1983, Ian Allen Ltd, Surrey, p104
- ↑ Steven P. Lee (February 13, 2012). Ethics and War: An Introduction (Cambridge Applied Ethics). Cambridge University Press. p. 33. ISBN 0-5217-2757-X.
- ↑ "Falklands War memorial unveiled at National Arboretum". BBC. 20 May 2012. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18135404. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
- ↑ "Pakistan". www.globalsecurity.org. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/pakistan/navy-intro.htm. Retrieved 17 January 2009.
- ↑ The Pakistan Society newsletter, October 2005
- ↑ Pakistan Navy: A Silent Force to Reckon with
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.
- Marriot, Leo, 1983. Royal Navy Frigates 1945-1983, Ian Allen Ltd, Surrey. ISBN 0 7710 1322 5
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The original article can be found at HMS Avenger (F185) and the edit history here.