Shortly before the completion of HMS Chatham in 1989, the new ship’s staff decided to look into the provision of a motto.

They felt the traditional Chatham Dockyard cry of “Up and at ‘em”, familiar from soccer and rugby pitch touchlines, fitted the fill and the Ships Names and Badges Committee agreed.

So it is that the Type 22 frigate has the rare honour of an English motto, subsequently translated into Latin – Surge et vince, or “Arise and conquer” – which maintains the ship’s strong links with the Medway.

The Broadsword-class vessel has just entered her first refit, after nearly ten years of active service.

The last couple of years have proved particularly interesting, and Chatham has notched up a number of firsts for Batch 3 Type 22s such as Armilla Patrol and Flag role, underlining the ship’s effectiveness as a general-purpose frigate.

One of her proudest moments was during the Ocean Wave deployment, when she was guardship for the Royal Yacht for the handover of Hong Kong.

On the way home, she visited Cape Town, where she was the UK’s representative for the 75th anniversary of the South African Navy.

This year saw Chatham as command platform (flagship) for two major exercises, one held during February gales off the Western Isles of Scotland.

She also managed to fit in a visit to her home town port in Kent, act as guardship for British National Day at Expo 98 in Lisbon, as flagship for the Second Sea Lord at Cowes Week, and call into Cork, apart from the usual round of training and exercises.

In the 18 months before the start of her refit, Chatham has visited 20 countries and gained four splices of the main brace from members of the Royal family.

Her refit will keep her out of circulation until the end of the summer, by which time several of her systems, particularly electronics will have been upgraded.

The Devonport-based ship, part of the Second Frigate Squadron, will then be ready to take on the full range of commitments her powerful sensors, communications and weaponry put within her capabilities.


A Dozen Assorted….

There have been a dozen or so HMS Chathams before the current frigate, but many were small fry, such as the sheer hulk of 1694 which was actually built as a hulk, or the eighth, a ten-gun sloop hired between 1793-95.

But among them stand some notable vessels.

The fifth Chatham, a six-gun yacht launched in 1741, served as the Commissioner’s Yacht at Chatham; she and her company of ten had the honour of transporting Nelson’s body from HMS Victory at the Nore to Greenwich, where it lay in state before the funeral.

The sixth Chatham won the name’s first Battle Honour; the 1758 50-gun fourth rate took part in the 50-hour bombardment of shipping in Le Harve in 1759 and Admiral Hawke’s subsequent victory over a French fleet in Quiberon Bay.

Her successor, a four-gun survey brig of 1788, took part in Vancouver’s voyage of discovery in the Pacific.

The 12th Chatham was the nameship of a class of 5,400-ton light cruisers, built in 1911 and seeing much service in the First World War.

She won the name’s second Battle Honour in the Dardanelles operation in 1915-16, and despite being damaged by a mine in 1916 she saw out the war.

Facts and Figures
Class:	Batch 3 Type 22 frigate
Pennant number:	F87
Builder:	Swan-Hunter
Launched:	January 20, 1988
Commissioned:	May 4, 1990
Displacement:	4,850 tonnes (full)
Length:	148.1 metres
Beam:	14.8 metres
Draught:	6.4 metres
Complement:	237
Main Machinery:	Two Rolls-Royce Spey gas turbines; two Rolls-Royce Tyne gas turbines, two shafts
Aircraft:	Two Lynx, one Sea King or one Merlin
Weapons:	Two quadruple Harpoon launchers, GWS 25 Mod 3 Seawolf anti-missile missile system, 4.5in gun, two 20mm guns (after refit), Goalkeeper, two triple torpeedo tubes
Sensors:	Type 2050 sonar (after refit), Type 1006 navigational radar, Type 967 and 968 surveillance radars, UAT electronic surveillance system (after refit)

(Ship of the Month January 1999)

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