Facts and Figures
Launched:	1974
Displacement:	4,100 tons
Length:	125.6 metres (412ft)
Beam:	14.3 metres (47ft)
Draught:	5.8 metres (19ft)
Armament:	Sea Dart surface-to-air missiles with surface-to-surface capability, fired from twin launchers; six anti-submarine torpedo tubes; one 4.5in. Mk.8 gun; two 20mm Oerlikon guns.
Propulsion:	Two Rolls-Royce Olympus gas turbines for full power producing 56,000 shp; Rolls-Royce Olympus gas turbines for cruising producing 8,500 shp; two shafts
Speed:	30 knots; 18 knots cruising
Range:	4,000 miles at 18 knots
Complement:	280
Aircraft:	Lynx Mk 2 helicopter capable of launching anti-submarine torpedoes.

Cardiff Goes in at the Deep End
Text from Ships Of The Royal Navy No. 300
HMS Cardiff, the Royal Navy's sixth Type 42 destroyer, is all set for her first transatlantic deployment following a year bristling with activity. During her first 12 months in the Fleet she has steamed more than 13,000 miles, completed machinery and weapons trials, come through basic operational sea training and visited Cardiff city and the Tyne.

She has taken part in a rescue mission, made her first foreign visit, appeared in Navy Days at Portsmouth and Portland, starred in radio and TV programmes, and welcomed tens of thousands of visitors on board.

During her visit to South Shields the Swan Hunter men who had fitted her out at Heburn-on Tyne were given an opportunity to show off the ship to their families; in Cardiff firm links were established with the destroyer's parent city, more than 7,000 people visiting "their" ship.

More than £1,000 has been raised by the Cardiff for charities in the Welsh city, most of the cash being collected following a sponsored dinghy row along inland waterways between Newcastle and Cardiff, sponsored cycle ride from Portsmouth to the Welsh captial.

The ship has been on BBC and Independent TV, has featured in Radio 1 and Radio Newcastle programmes, and has starred in her own programme on BBC Radio Wales. In October she ventured abroad for the first time, visiting Ghent in Belgium before a fortnight of Sea Dart firing trails off the South Wales range of Aberporth.

While in the area she took the opportunity to return to Cardiff to take part in the celebrations to mark the community's 75th anniversary of being granted city status. A total of 17,300 visitors were welcomed on board during Navy Days at Portsmouth and Portland, while on the sports field the Cardiff reached the final of the Mid-Ships Rugby Competition and beat a team from Llandaff Rugby Club.

Saddest duty for the ship came when she was called upon to co-ordinate the search for the survivors of the mv Pool Fisher which sank off the Isle of Wight a year ago with the loss of most of her crew.

HMS Cardiff, under he command of Capt. Barry Wilson, was built by Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness, launched in 1974 and fitted out at Hebburn. She was commissioned at Portsmouth in October last year.

The Cardiff's main role is to defend sea forces from air attack, and to carry out that task she is armed with the Sea Dart guided missile system and a semi-automatic 4.5in gun. To counter the submarine threat she carries two tripple-tubed torpedo launchers and a Lynx helicopter which is also capable of strikes against surface vessels.