Type 23 frigate HMS Kent is the Royal Navy's latest operational warship, and her Armilla Patrol is her first operational deployment.

She is the 14th of 16 Duke-class frigates, with a displacement of 4,200 tons when fully loaded.

Kent - pennant number F78 - was built by Yarrows on the Clyde, and launched on May 27, 1998, and was only commissioned in June of 2000.

Although nominally intended as anti-submarine ships, modern frigates can fulfil a number of roles, and as such she has a range of weapons, from a Vickers 4.5in gun to Harpoon andti-ship and Seawolf sea-to-air missiles.

She can launch Stingray torpedoes, and her aircraft - currently a Lynx, but she is also designed to take a Merlin - can also join the fray with Sea Skua missiles, Stingray torpedoes or depth bombs.

Kent is powered by two Rolls Royce Spey gas turbine engines and four Paxman diesels, allowing speeds up to 28 knots or quieter running while towing sonar.

The frigate is due home in Portsmouth, the base for the Fourth Frigate Squadron, in March 2002.

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