Type 22 frigate HMS Coventry has taken a major step towards beginning her new life.

The warship, no longer needed by the Admiralty, is now back in the water with a new a new main gun as engineers in Portsmouth prepare her for her new owners, the Romanian Navy.

Romanian sailors have also begun arriving in the city to learn how to crew the vessel, which will be considerably more advanced than anything currently patrolling the Black Sea under their nation’s flag.

Coventry and her sister London are the first Royal Navy ships to be sold to the former Eastern Bloc navy in a deal which is worth £20m to Portsmouth support organisation FSL.

As the ship most recently in service, Coventry is being reactivated – or ‘regenerated’ – first.

FSL bosses use the term regenerated as both vessels will go through substantial changes, not least new communications and decoy systems, and the installation of new Rolls Royce Olympus and Tyne engines.

Engineers have ripped out the Sea Gnat decoy and Exocet launchers to allow a 76mm (around 3in) gun to be fitted.

“This is the biggest contract we have won,” said FSL ship repair manager David Hobbs. “Just a couple of years ago, we could not have done this. The Government decided back in the 1980s that Portsmouth was not the place to refit warships.

“Now we are building our technical capability up again – a project like repairing HMS Nottingham has certainly helped us toward this, and we can go on to compete for bigger and better contracts.”

Coventry, under the new name Regele (King) Ferdinand, will sail for Romania in the autumn, followed by London, as Regina (Queen) Maria in July 2005. A crew of some 200, or 80 less than was the case with the Royal Navy, will run each vessel.