HMS Marlborough (F233)

HMS Marlborough was a Duke-class Type 23 frigate of the Royal Navy, and the sixth ship to bear the name. She was named after John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. The ship entered service with the Royal Navy in 1991 and served in the Middle East. The frigate was taken out of service in 2005 and sold to Chile. The vessel entered service with the Chilean Navy in 2008 as Almirante Condell. The ship remains in service.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Marlborough and Chilean ship Almirante Condell.

HMS Marlborough in Portsmouth Harbour, 2005
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Marlborough
Ordered: September 1986
Builder: Swan Hunter, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom
Laid down: 27 October 1987
Launched: 21 January 1989
Commissioned: 14 June 1991
Decommissioned: 8 July 2005
Motto:
Fate: Sold to Chile
Badge:
Chile
Name: Almirante Condell
Commissioned: 2008
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type: Duke-class Type 23 frigate
Displacement: 4,900 tonnes
Length: 133 m (436 ft)
Beam: 16.1 m (53 ft)
Draught: 7.3 m (24 ft)
Propulsion:
Speed:
  • 28 kn (52 km/h; 32 mph)
  • 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) on diesel-electric
Range: 7,800 nautical miles (14,400 km; 9,000 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement: 185
Armament:
Aircraft carried: 1 × Lynx HMA8

Royal Navy service

Marlborough was a 'Duke' class Type 23 frigate and carried pennant number F233 rather than the sequential number of F232 which was considered unlucky, Form S.232 being the formal notification of a grounding or collision. The course 232 is also traditionally not given for the same reason, with a course heading of half degree either side of 232 being the alternative.

Marlborough was the first naval ship on the scene to assist the stricken USS Cole after she was attacked in Aden, Yemen in October 2000. Marlborough, under the command of Captain Anthony Rix, was on passage to the UK after a six-month deployment in the Gulf and had a full medical detachment on board; when her offer of assistance was accepted she immediately diverted to Aden.

Marlborough played a key role in the second Gulf War, under the command of Captain Mark Anderson.

In July 2004, it was announced that Marlborough would be one of three Type 23 ships to be decommissioned by the end of 2006.

In October 2004 Marlborough again came to the aid of a stricken ally when she was dispatched to assist HMCS Chicoutimi, adrift off the northwest Irish coast and arrived at the scene where RFA Wave Knight and Marlborough's sister-ship HMS Montrose were present. Montrose had been the first ship to make contact with the boat. Other ships were also dispatched, including RFA Argus.

Prior to her decommissioning, Marlborough had a US Navy officer permanently assigned to her crew. Reciprocally, a Royal Navy officer was permanently assigned to the destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill.

Transfer to Chile
CNS Almirante Condell in 2019

The 2003 defence cuts committed Marlborough to pay off by March 2006. In June 2005, it was announced that Marlborough would be sold to the Chilean Navy.[1] The Chilean Navy officially welcomed their new Almirante Condell into the fleet at a commissioning ceremony on 28 May 2008. The vessel was the last of three former Royal Navy Type 23 frigates to be handed over to Chile, under a £134 million pound sales agreement arranged by the MOD’s Disposal Services Authority and signed in September 2005. She joins her sister ships in the Chilean Navy, the former HMS Norfolk and former HMS Grafton, handed over in November 2006 and March 2007 respectively.

References
  1. "Type 23 signs on for Chilean Navy" (PDF). Preview. Ministry of Defence. May 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 December 2007. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
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