Former Royal Navy Type 22 frigates HMS Coventry and HMS London are to be sold to Romania following the signing of a £116 million sale agreement in Bucharest yesterday.

The agreement was signed by Defence Procurement Minister Lord Bach and the Romanian State Secretary for Armaments, Gheorghe Matache.

Under the first phase of the agreement both frigates will be modernised and re-equipped in Portsmouth during an upgrade programme to meet the specific requirements of the Romanian Navy.

Other phases of the agreement include an industrial partnership programme involving the UK prime contractor, BAE Systems, and Romanian industry, and the partnership will include technology transfers, orders placed with Romanian companies and assistance in marketing overseas.

The agreement includes a significant Operational Sea Training programme through the Royal Navy’s Flag Officer Sea Training organisation (FOST).

Lord Bach – the first British minister to visit Romania since her invitation to join NATO in November last year – said: “I am delighted to visit Romania to sign such an important agreement, which will lead to the Romanian Navy acquiring two highly-capable and NATO-compatible fighting ships.

“This project is an important symbol of our developing relationship with Romania on Governmental, Armed Forces and industrial levels, which I am sure will be good for both countries and good for NATO.”

Lord Bach was in Romania at the invitation of the Ministry of National Defence, and has held discussions on the lead-up to membership of NATO, expected to be completed next year, with Prime Minister Nastase and Defence Minister Pascu.

Both ships were Batch 2 Type 22 frigates, and along with their Batch 1 sisters were distinctive in that they were all-missile ships, with no 4.5in gun, which was fitted to the Batch 3 ships.

HMS London decommissioned in 1999 at her home port of Devonport after 12 years of service, one of five ships nominated for disposal under the Government’s Strategic Defence Review.

HMS Coventry returned to Devonport to decommission at the end of 2001, having been at the heart of operations right to the end – that same year she was involved in a busy anti-drugs deployment in the Caribbean, making the headlines for an all-action high-speed chase which recovered £80 million worth of cocaine.