A former Royal Navy frigate has begun its new life with the Romanian Navy in a series of sea trials out of Portsmouth Naval Base.

The Regele Ferdinand was once the Type 22 frigate HMS Coventry, but has been regenerated and updated in a £116 million contract which will see her sister, the former HMS London, following in her wake next spring.

BAE Systems conducted the sea demonstration period as part of the contract with the Ministry of Defence, which not only covers the preparation of the two ships for front-line duties again, but also crew training and provision of spare parts.

The Romanian ship is expected to be officially named and commissioned on September 9 in a ceremony in Portsmouth.

The sea trials were designed to demonstrate that the ship and all her systems were in full working order, and they started with the ship leaving Portsmouth for the South Devon coast, where she conducted high-speed trials and reached up to 28 knots.

Other demonstrations took place off Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, including sensors and weapons systems such as the new 76mm gun.

Around 40 representatives from Romania were on board during the trials, alongside BAE Systems Customer Solutions and Support’s project team and a crew of 72 from BAE Systems Naval Ships organisation.

Fleet Support Ltd – the joint venture company between BAE Systems and VT Group – provided maintenance support during the trials, and also had a dozen workers on board.

Tim Clark, BAE’s Sea Trials Manager for the Type 22 Romanian project, said: “The sea demonstrations are a major milestone for the project team and are the culmination of a huge amount of preparations.”

HMS London will be known as Regina Maria, and the two Romanian ships – the first UK-built frigates to be owned by that country – will have ship’s companies of just over 200.