Four continents, and eight countries and British dependencies — not to mention temperatures varying from -5°C to +35°C.

That was the fascinating variety of experiences for the 187-strong complement of HMS Lancaster during her recent successful five-month Atlantic Patrol Tasking (South) deployment.

Sponsored by the Queen (the Duke of Lancaster), the present ship has been in service for more than twelve years and is the fourth of her class (Type 23 Duke Class frigate) to be built.

She is the sixth ship to hold the name Lancaster: the first was built in 1694.

Officers on board have one- or two-berth cabins, enabling each cabin to double as an office. The Senior Rates are accommodated in two, four or six-man cabins, and the Junior Rates live in four mess decks, each with 18, 26, 30 or 39 men in them.

Each mess — all containing televisions, stereos and entertainment systems — has a separate living and sleeping space.

Keeping everyone on their toes whilst aboard is the ship’s Physical Training Instructor, who provides a variety of daily work-outs and circuits, as well as running an inter-mess sports trophy competition.

Lancaster made history during her deployment by being the first Type 23 to deploy with a Merlin helicopter embarked — greatly increasing the ship’s potential capabilities, with the enhanced over-the-horizon and anti-submarine elements which the Merlin provides
Sierra Leone, Ghana, St Helena, The Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Uruguay and Brazil were all part of Lancaster’s itinerary.

Whilst deployed, she exercised with the Ghanaian and Brazilian Navies and participated in a number of joint exercises with the British Army and Royal Air Force in and around the Falklands.

This location provided an opportunity to practise Naval gunfire support.

It also gave the Merlin a chance to practise its airborne observation post role.

Apart from military exercises and initiatives, the ship’s company also made time to help out various worthwhile causes.

Especially poignant for Cmdr Paul Chivers, Lancaster’s commander, was the week-long disembarkation to Pebble Island in the Falklands, where a team repaired the memorial to HMS Coventry — one of the ships lost in the 1982 conflict. He was a midshipman on the ship when it sank.

Although the ship’s company saw an abundance of wildlife throughout the deployment (ranging from giant tortoises to whales), perhaps inevitably it was Sunny, Lancaster’s infamous “swearing parrot” who proved the centre of attention for press and visitors with her sometimes politically incorrect catchphrases . . .

In a busy period since her return to the UK, Lancaster has undertaken a maintenance period and sailed to Liverpool for a home-town visit to Lancaster and then Cardiff.

Last month, she hosted the Queen and Prince Philip in Portsmouth and is now preparing to enter a docking period in Plymouth.

The ship is due to return to operational service early next year.

Facts and Figures
Class:	Type 23 Duke Class
Pennant number:	F229
Builder:	Yarrow Shipbuilders, Clyde
Launched:	May 24, 1990
Commissioned:	May 1, 1992
Displacement:	4,000 tonnes
Length:	133 metres
Beam:	16 metres
Speed:	28 knots
Complement:	187 (17-22 officers, 55 senior rates, 110 junior rates plus 27 TOPMAST), plus 2 civilians.
Machinery:	Two Rolls Royce Spey SM1A gas turbine; 4 Paxman 1.3 MW diesel generators and 2 GEC 1.5 MW electric propulsion motors.
Weapons:	Vertical launch Sea Wolf close-range air defence missile system; Harpoon anti-ship missile; 4.5in Mk 8 gun for surface and naval gunnery support; 30mm gun point defence; 7.62 machine guns and Stingray anti-submarine torpedo.
Aircraft:	One Merlin with Stingray torpedo and depth charges
Sensors:	996 long-range radar; 911 target tracker; 1007/8 navigation radar; 2031 towed array sonar; 2050 bow dome sonar
Role:	Primarily an anti-submarine frigate. Also multi-role, capable of naval gunfire support, search and rescue, disaster relief and the ever-important role of acting as a platform displaying the ability and presence of the British Armed Forces.
Mascot:	Sunny, African Grey parrot

(Ship of the Month April 2004)

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