HMS Southampton (D90)

HMS Southampton was a batch two Type 42 destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was named after the city of Southampton, England, and built by Vosper Thornycroft, in Southampton. She was the sixth Royal Navy ship to bear the name.

HMS Southampton dressed overall.
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Southampton
Ordered: 17 March 1976[1]
Builder: Vosper Thornycroft
Laid down: 21 October 1976
Launched: 29 January 1979
Commissioned: 31 October 1981
Decommissioned: 12 February 2009
Homeport: HMNB Portsmouth
Identification:
Motto:
  • Pro jusititus pro Rege
  • (Latin: "For justice and the Queen")
Nickname(s): "The Mighty Ninety" (after her pennant number).
Fate: Sold for scrap
General characteristics
Class and type: Type 42 destroyer
Displacement: 4,820 tonnes
Length: 125 m (410 ft)
Beam: 14.3 m (47 ft)
Propulsion:
  • COGOG (Combined gas or gas) turbines, 2 shafts
  • 2 Olympus Gas Turbines Producing 25,000 shp (19,000 kW) each, 2 Tyne Gas Turbines Producing 5,000 shp (3,700 kW) each
Speed: 30 knots (56 km/h)
Complement: 287
Armament:
  • Sea Dart missiles
  • 4.5-inch (114 mm) Mk 8 gun
Aircraft carried: Westland Lynx HMA8

Operational Service

Southampton entering Portsmouth harbour.

1981-2005

In 1984, she ran over one of the Shambles Buoys off Portland during the final Thursday War intended to prepare her to deploy to the Falklands. The collision sank the buoy and resulted in a period in dry dock for repair.

On 3 September 1988, whilst serving on the Armilla Patrol, she was involved in a collision with MV Tor Bay, a container ship in the convoy being escorted through the Straits of Hormuz. Three members of her crew were slightly injured and a 10 m hole torn in Southampton's hull. She was returned to the UK aboard a semi-submersible heavy lift ship.[2][3]

In 1998 she was refurbished and her vertiflo system upgraded from hydraulic to electric by PPHS with their engineer John Williamson overseeing the alterations

2006-2011

On 3 February 2006, the ship was involved in the seizing of 3.5 tonnes of cocaine in the Caribbean.[4]

Fate

On 31 July 2008, she was placed in a state of "Extended Readiness" and she was decommissioned on 12 February 2009.[5] The ship was auctioned on 28 March 2011 and was later towed from Portsmouth on 14 October 2011 to Leyal Ship Recycling's scrapyard in Aliaga, Turkey.[6]

Commanding officers

FromToCaptain
19801982Captain De Courcy-Ireland RN
19821983Captain Sam Salt (the last skipper of HMS Sheffield) RN
19831985Captain David Dobson RN
19851987Captain Chris Morgan RN
19871989Captain S Taylor RN RN
19891991Commander David McLean RN
19911992Commander Tony Dyer RN
19921993Commander John Wotton RN
19931995Commander Tim Forster RN
19951997Commander Keith Winstanley RN
19971997Commander Duncan Potts RN
20012003Commander Gary Doyle RN
20032005Commander Chris Hodkinson RN
20052006Commander Rob Vitali RN
20062008Commander Richard Morris RN

Affiliations

References

  1. https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=1981-10-27.336.5
  2. "Collision involving HMS Southampton". FOI request for the Board of Inquiry report
  3. Sturton, Ian (1989). "The Naval Year in Review: F (ii). Major Casualties at Sea From 1 April 1988 to 30 April 1989". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Warship 1989. London: Conway Maritime Press. p. 247. ISBN 0-85177-530-6.
  4. "UK ships seize £350m drugs cache". BBC News. 3 February 2006.
  5. "HMS Southampton bows out after 28 years". Daily Echo. 11 February 2009.
  6. "Carrier HMS Ark Royal put up for auction on MoD website". BBC News. 28 March 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
  7. "List of HMS Southampton Affiliations - RN Website". Archived from the original on 9 June 2008. Retrieved 1 July 2008.

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