The passing of the Type 42 destroyers – backbone of the Royal Navy since the mid-1970s – will be marked in style when the final ship of the class pays off this spring.
After she returns from her final deployment to the South Atlantic, HMS Edinburgh will conduct a ceremonial farewell tour of the UK before an emotional last entry to Portsmouth and highly-charged decommissioning ceremony.
Last of the old breed… The final Type 42 destroyer in service, HMS Edinburgh, manoeuvres in the Patagonian Canals during her penultimate deployment over the austral summer of 2011-12. Picture: LA(Phot) Kyle Heller
SAILORS past and present are gearing up to bid farewell to the backbone of the Fleet as the trusty Type 42 destroyers prepare to bow out of service after nearly 40 years.
A farewell tour, a ceremonial final entry to Portsmouth – the naval base most associated with the workhorse destroyers – and what promises to be a highly-charged decommissioning ceremony are planned by HMS Edinburgh to close the book on the Type 42 story.
Children of the 60s – the first, HMS Sheffield, was ordered in late 1968 – the 16 ships built in what are also sometimes known as the ‘Sheffield class’ after their progenitor, have acted as the shield of the Fleet from the mid-70s until the second decade of the 21st Century.
The Queen launches the first Type 42 destroyer, HMS Sheffield, at the Vickers Yard – now BAE Systems – in Barrow on August 10 1971
In more recent years, and especially with the arrival of their more potent successors, the Type 45 destroyers, the 42s have evolved to become all-purpose warships, as much at home on patrol in the Gulf, South Atlantic or searching for drug-runners in the Caribbean – hence the ‘workhorse of the Fleet’ tag.
But as recently as 2011, they returned to their original role; HMS Liverpool directed aerial missions over Libya.
The sterling service given by the 42s has not been without the highest price. HMS Sheffield and HMS Coventry were both lost in the Falklands in 1982 – Shiny Sheff to an Exocet missile, Coventry to Argentine bombs after her Sea Dart missiles had already taken out several enemy aircraft. Twenty men were lost in each.
A Sea Harrier of 801 Naval Air Squadron banks over HMS Exeter as she ploughs through a rough Mediterranean during the jump jet’s final embarkation on HMS Illustrious at the end of 2005. Picture: LA(Phot) Billy Bunting
Given the ships’ lengthy service and large ship’s companies – nearly 290 in the early days, 240-250 more recently – perhaps as many as 40,000 officers and ratings have served in the Type 42 ‘club’ down the years (put another way, that’s more people than the current strength of the RN/RM).
So given the numbers and the fact that the destroyers are as symbolic of the past four decades of the Royal Navy as the Harrier jump jet and the Invincible-class carriers, their passing will be marked in style.
AB Gavin Hastings helps a four-week-old baby off HMS Gloucester during the 2006 evacuation from the Lebanon
Once Edinburgh returns from the final 42 deployment – a six-month stint in the South Atlantic – in March, she’s lined up to take part in 70th anniversary of the Battle of Atlantic commemorations in London and Liverpool.
She will also visit Leith to end her long, proud association with the Scottish capital and say farewell to her Edinburgh affiliates.
Thereafter, a ceremonial final entry to Portsmouth is planned with a fly past and bands on May 31, followed on June 6 by the formal act of decommissioning alongside in the naval base.
HMS Nottingham bearing down on you during her Atlantic Patrol South deployment in 2008. Picture: LA(Phot) Alex Cave
And as one Type 42 era ends, another begins. The recently-formed Type 42 Association is holding its first reunion at HMS Excellent on July 13 featuring live music, raffles, food, a specially-brewed Type 42 bitter, and above all oppos and four decades of 42 dits.
Entry is £10 for full members of the association or £20 for non-members; details from T42A Reunion, PO Box 4, Havant, PO9 1JN or see www.type42association.co.uk
Navy News will also be marking the end of the 42s with a special supplement – probably our June or July edition. We’re looking for some of your favourite (clean, unclassified!) stories of experiences aboard and photographs.
If you’re interested in helping, email words/images to edit@navynews.co.uk or snail mail to Navy News, Leviathan Block, HMS Nelson, Portsmouth, PO1 3HH, and mark your submission ‘Farewell to the Type 42s’.
