HMS Avenger (F185)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Avenger.

PNS Tippu Sultan, former HMS Avenger
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Avenger
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
Pakistan
Name	PNS Tippu Sultan
Acquired	23 September 1994
Identification	Pennant number: D185
Status	Expended as a target 27 April 2020
General characteristics
Class and 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 (59 km/h; 37 mph) official, 37 knots achievable on bursts
Range	4,000 nmi (7,400 km; 4,600 mi) at 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Complement	177
Armament	Royal Navy: 1 × 4.5 inch Mark 8 (113 mm) 4 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon 4 × MM38 Exocet missiles 1 × quadruple Sea Cat surface-air-missiles 2 × triple ASW torpedo tubes 2 × Corvus chaff launchers 1 × Type 182 towed decoy Pakistan Navy: 1 × 4.5 inch Mark 8 (113 mm) gun 2 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon 1 × Phalanx CIWS 8 × Harpoon missiles 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.

Royal Navy service

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 Falklands War, as she didn't leave the UK until 10 May 1982, arriving on 25 May - a record for any ship involved in the operations, and a great distance ito have covered in 14 days. The Rolls Royce Olympus turbines of Type 21 frigates enabled them to maintain high speeds, but at the time the Royal Navy preferred this information not to be publicised. Avenger had averaged 28 knots and the Type 21s became nicknamed the Boy Racers. 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 "Antelope's Avenger". She also assisted with naval gunfire support during the campaign.

On 11 June she was conducting naval bombardments of Port Stanley in preparation for an amphibious assault by British troops. She directly struck a house where civilians were sheltering, killing three Falkland Islander women and wounding several others. They were the only British civilian casualties of the Falklands War.

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.

After the war she remained leader of the 4th Frigate Squadron until 1986.

Pakistan Navy service

Pakistan Naval Air Arm Alouette III on board Tippu Sultan at Portsmouth in 2005

For other ships with the same name, see PNS Tippu Sultan.

Avenger was decommissioned and sold to Pakistan on 23 September 1994, where she was refitted and renamed Tippu Sultan. She is the third ship to carry this name and remains in service with the Pakistan Navy as part of the 25th Destroyer Squadron.<ref>Pakistan Navy: A Silent Force to Reckon with Archived 29 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine

On 27 April 2020 she was expended as a target.

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.
• Marriott, Leo, 1983. Royal Navy Frigates 1945-1983, Ian Allan Ltd, Surrey. ISBN 978-0-7110-1322-3