HMS Cornwall (F99)

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HMS Cornwall (F99), May 2007
HMS Cornwall
Career (UK) RN Ensign
Name: HMS Cornwall
Operator: Royal Navy
Builder: Yarrow Shipbuilders
Laid down: 14 December 1983
Launched: 14 October 1985
Sponsored by: Diana, Princess of Wales
Commissioned: 23 April 1988
Homeport: HMNB Devonport, Plymouth
Identification: Pennant number: F99
International callsign: GDLU[1]
Motto: Unus et omnes
"One and all"
Status: in active service, as of 2010
Badge: Ship's badge
General characteristics
Class and type: Type 22 frigate
Displacement: 5,300 tons
Length: 148.1 m (486 ft 9 in)
Beam: 14.8 m (48 ft 6 in)
Draught: 6.4 m (21 ft)
Propulsion: 2 × Rolls-Royce Spey gas turbines (high speed)
2 × Rolls Royce Tyne gas turbines (cruising) COGAG
Speed: 18 knots (33 km/h) cruise
30 knots (56 km/h) maximum
Complement: 250 (max. 301)
Sensors and
processing systems:
Type 1007 navigation radar
Type 967 and 968 surveillance radar
2 × Type 911 Sea Wolf tracking radars
UAT Electronic Surveillance System Type 2050 active sonar
Armament: 1 × 4.5 inch (114 mm) Mk.8 gun
Goalkeeper CIWS
Sea Wolf anti-missile system
2 × Quad Harpoon missile launchers
2 × 20 mm GAM-BO1 guns
NATO Seagnat Decoy Launchers
Two Magazine launched anti-submarine torpedo tubes
Aircraft carried:

Lynx Mk.8 helicopters

armed with:
Sea Skua anti-ships missiles
Sting Ray anti-submarine torpedoes
Mk 11 depth charges
Machine guns

The sixth and present HMS Cornwall is the first of the Batch 3 Type 22 frigates of the Royal Navy. Cornwall is based at HMNB Devonport in Devon, England, part of the Devonport Flotilla.

She was built by Yarrow Shipbuilders and launched by Diana Princess of Wales at Scotstoun on the Clyde in October 1985 and commissioned at Falmouth in 1988 by the ship's sponsor, Diana, Princess of Wales (who was also the Duchess of Cornwall).

Contents

[edit] Service

HMS Cornwall has battle honours from Barfleur in 1692, the Falkland Islands in 1914 and the Dardanelles in 1915.

Throughout her life Cornwall has undertaken duties in the North and South Atlantic Ocean, Adriatic, Mediterranean, Caribbean and Baltic seas, has completed several patrols to the Persian Gulf and deployed to the far east. In 1996 she served as Flagship of the First Sea Lord in St Petersburg, during the 300th anniversary celebrations of the Russian Navy, followed by a period as Flagship of NATO's Standing Naval Force Atlantic. In 2001 she was part of the Royal Navy Task Force engaged in the invasion of Afghanistan. In 2003 she was again committed to Standing Naval Force Atlantic, supporting Operation Active Endeavour in the Mediterranean

Following the death of the Princess of Wales in 1997 the role of sponsor was assumed by Mary Holborow, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall.

Ceremonial activities have included acting as flagship for the Battle of the Atlantic Fleet Review in 1993, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Second Battle of the Atlantic, and in 2002 delivering a 21-gun salute as part of celebrations of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.

On 28 January 2006 Cornwall was rededicated, following a period of docked maintenance, in a ceremony at Falmouth attended by Lady Mary Holborow.

[edit] Persian Gulf diplomatic incident

On 23 March 2007, fifteen sailors and Royal Marines from HMS Cornwall were detained by elements of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy following a routine search of a vessel suspected of smuggling, in the vicinity of disputed territorial waters.[2]

[edit] Affiliations

Cornwall is affiliated with a number of military and civilian organisations and bodies:[3]

[edit] References

HMS Cornwall alongside and dressed overall at Zeebrugge, Belgium, July 2006

[edit] External links

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