HMS Northumberland (F238)

HMS "Northumberland" (F238) is a Type 23 frigate of the Royal Navy. She is named after the Duke of Northumberland. She is based at Devonport and her present captain is Commander Martin Simpson. [http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.1438]

ervice history

Construction

She was built by Swan Hunter in 1992 at Wallsend, was launched by her sponsor Lady Kerr in April 1992 and was accepted into Royal Naval Service in May 1994.

Drugs bust

Over two tonnes of cocaine (with a street-value of £135 million) were seized in November 1999 in the Caribbean Sea by "Northumberland", in cooperation with the United States Coast Guard. [http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.3317/changeNav/3533]

2004/05 refit

From July 2004 to July 2005 she underwent an extensive refit at Number 1 dock inner at Babcock's dockyard in Rosyth, her first refit since build. This equipped her with an updated suite of weapons and sensors (eg a modified 4.5" Gun and the latest Low Frequency Active Sonar) and of propulsion and mechanical systems. Improvements were also made to the living quarters and a state of the art galley to feed the Ship's Company. Large areas of corroded deck have also been replaced. Also replaced were corroded areas of the flight deck, improving the lighting system that the pilots will use during night landings and installing a new helicopter handling system to move a 13 ton Merlin helicopter safely in and out of the hangar. (Although the Type 23 was originally designed to operate the Merlin, "Northumberland" had previously only hosted the much smaller Lynx.) This means she will not need another refit until 2010-2011.

2005-present

She rejoined the fleet by her attendance at the Trafalgar 200 celebrations at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, then embarked for her first period of sea training, starting with BOST (Basic Operational Sea Training) in January 2006, straight after the Christmas leave period. [http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.2778/changeNav/3533] For a time during 2006 she then accompanied the submarine HMS "Torbay" on her deployment to the US AUTEC (Acoustic Undersea Testing and Evaluation Centre) which is based on Andros Island in the Bahamas. [http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.3034/changeNav/3533]

Affiliations and visits

She is affiliated to various organisations in Northumberland (Northumberland County Council, the Light Dragoons, the Northumberland Foundation, the Bank Of England's North Eastern Regional Agency, the Calvert Trust, RAF Boulmer, the Copthorne Hotel in Newcastle upon Tyne, and 'Spirit of Northumberland', the RNLI Tynemouth Lifeboat [http://www.tynemouth-lifeboat.org/html/hms_north_d.html] ), London (the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, and the Worshipful Company of Bowyers) and Bedford (Dame Alice Harpur School and Bedford School), along with Solihull School CCF, the Sea Cadets, and TS Tenacity SCC.

In honouring these affiliations, she regularly visits Newcastle (most recently in February 2007) and London, most recently mooring along the north side of HMS Belfast during April 2007 as part of the 200th anniversary of the Slave Trade Act 1807. On that visit she was open to the public with a display on modern anti-slaving operations in which she and other ships of the Royal Navy take part. She also visited Baltimore in June 2006, Marmaris in Turkey in February 2003 and in October 2001 attended an Australian Fleet Review in Sydney.

Links

* [http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/?search_word=HMS+Northumberland&show=nav.4706&exclude=ConMediaFile MOD news related to the ship]
* [http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.2594/changeNav/3533 Refit]
* [http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.177/changeNav/3533 The ship's website]