HMS Newcastle, or the Geordie Gunboat as she is becoming known, is the oldest of the 11 Type 42 destroyers in the Fleet, having been launched on the Tyne by Swan Hunter on April 24, 1975 - yet she can look forward to a good few years of life yet.

Although their older sister HMS Birmingham paid off in 1999, it is thought that Newcastle and the other two remaining Batch 1 ships, Cardiff and Glasgow, will continue in service until the second half of this decade.

Newcastle (D87) is powered by four Rolls-Royce gas turbine engines; two Olympus which help push the ship to a maximum speed of almost 30 knots, and appropriately enough two Tynes, which are used mainly for cruising.

She was designed as an air defence platform, with her main weapons being Sea Dart missiles fired from a twin launcher forward of the bridge.

Newcastle also has a 4.5in gun, effective in shore bombardment as well as against other surface units, and she can also be fitted with torpedo tubes.

Type 42s each have a Lynx helicopter, which can carry torpedoes, depth charges or Sea Skua anti-ship missiles.

The 4,100-ton ship was a key element of Naval Task Group 2000, which saw a flotilla circumnavigate the globe.

(Ship of the Month in June 1997)

HMS Newcastle - Picture Gallery

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