Still with pre-refit main gun in 2010Escorting French carrier de Gaulle off Djibouti in 2015On exercise during BALTOPS 20
HMS Kent is a Type 23Duke class frigate of the Royal Navy, and the twelfth ship to bear the name, although formally she is named after the dukedom rather than the county. Sponsored by Princess Alexandra, The Hon. Lady Ogilvy (daughter of the late Prince George, Duke of Kent), Kent was launched on 28 May 1998 and commissioned on 8 June 2000 under the command of then Commander John Clink. She was the first ship to enter Royal Navy service in the 21st century and the first Royal Navy warship with a female Executive Officer, Lt Cdr Vanessa Jane Spiller, appointed in April 2001.[7][8][9]
March 2002 saw Kent return from the Persian Gulf after a five-month mission. Kent seized more than £4million of oil and illegal cargo: a record for the time. This mission also included the boarding of MV Ismael, a vessel which strayed in and out of Iranian waters to avoid capture – waters which Kent was forbidden to enter.[10]
Kent was damaged following a collision with HMS Argyll during a line transfer demonstration off Portsmouth in June 2004.[11]
On 12 June 2006 Kent started a six-month deployment to Gibraltar, Malta and the Suez canal.[12]
Kent was in the Northern Persian Gulf working 22-day patrols safeguarding the oil platforms and checking shipping in the area as per United Nations Security Council Regulations.[13]Kent later conducted a self-maintenance period at Port Rashid, Dubai.[14] After 60 days of patrols, 47 security sweeps of vessels approaching the oil platforms and 515 queries of merchant vessels, Kent left the Northern Persian Gulf and set sail home. A four-day visit to Muscat in Oman followed, which included training with the Omani Navy.[15]
15:00 hours, 5 November 2006 saw Kent hand over her duties to Sutherland in Salalah, Oman.[17][18] Later on her way home, Kent made a goodwill visit to Beirut on Friday 17 November. The ship featured on national news and the crew visited some of the local sites.[19]
In February 2007 the ship was awarded the Thales fleet active ASW award 2005/2006. Due to the busy period of deployments, the award ceremony had to be delayed until 2007.[21]
December 2007 saw Kent preparing for the customary Operational Sea Training period, training with aircraft and sea boat operations.[22]
January 2008 saw preparations for OST continuing afoot ready for the initial materials and safety audit.[23]
Kent was in refit for replacement of two of the four Paxman Valenta diesel engines.[24]
May 2008 saw Kent off the Channel Islands providing a demonstration of the Royal Navy to the local islanders. This was also the first Jersey Boat Show with Kent the largest vessel on show. The following Thursday saw the culmination of Operational Sea Training.[25]
Kent would get underway from 'The Wall' at Portsmouth for a six-month deployment to South Asia and the Far East. This voyage included visits to countries such as Russia, China, Japan and Indonesia, as well as participation in various multi-national exercises.[26][27]
HMS Exeter veterans disembarking HMS Kent, Tandjong Priok 28 July 2008. From left; Rob Rae, George Gaskell, (diver Kevin Denlay), Bill Francis, Joe Asher.
27 July 2008, saw Kent hosting a solemn memorial service over the historic shipwreck of HMSExeter in the Java Sea.[28]Kent left the Indonesian port of Surabaya (just as Exeter had on the evening of 28 February 1942, on her last fateful voyage[29]), performed the ceremony and then continued on to Jakarta. Aboard were a BBC film crew and four of HMS Exeter's veteran survivors (photo below), one of the divers involved in the discovery of the wreck,[30] (who, representing the other three discovery team members, and as part of the memorial service, handed over to the four survivors the Royal Navy Ensign they had 'flown' on the wreck during their discovery dives in February 2007), along with several British dignitaries and high ranking naval officers.[31]
In June 2010, Kent was sent on a mission to Sweden. The celebration of the official Queen's Birthday Party was held on board the British warship in Gothenburg harbour, the first time that the event has been held outside Stockholm. After a stop at Hanö island where tribute was paid to the fifteen British sailors who rest there, Kent then continued to Stockholm to join the celebrations for the Wedding of Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, and Daniel Westling.[citation needed]
In December 2010, Kent was withdrawn from the deployable fleet and entered overhaul. Her Commander, Nick Cooke-Priest moved to command Iron Duke, leaving second-in-command, Lt Cdr Alasdair Peppe in charge.[32]
2011-2020
During overhaul in October 2013
Cdr Ben Ripley assumed command following the 2012 refit and deployed to the Horn of Africa on anti-priracy and anti-drug missions in July 2013, .[33] She worked with the Combined Maritime Forces and returned home in October 2013[34][35]
In October 2014, Kent deployed to the Persian Gulf alongside USSCarl Vinson and other US Navy fleet units in the US Fifth Fleet's area of responsibility to help in efforts against smugglers, pirates, terrorists and also in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The ship visited many countries in the middle east, including Bahrain and Jordan. HMS Kent returned in May 2015.
In late 2016, Kent entered the Frigate Refit Complex in Devonport for an extensive refit which will include the fitting of the SeaCeptor missile system in place of Sea Wolf. After the refit, she was recommissioned in Portsmouth on 5 October 2018 under the command of Cdr Andy Brown, MBE.[36][37]
On 12 August 2019, Kent deployed toward the Persian Gulf to relieve HMSDuncan and protect commercial shipping in the Persian Gulf region.[38][39]
2021–present
In 2021, Kent deployed to the Pacific as part of the Royal Navy's carrier strike group.[40]
On 14 October 2021, Kent visited Chattogram, Bangladesh as part of celebrations of 50 years of Bangladeshi independence.[41] She departed Bangladesh on the 19 October.[42]
Cdr Jeremy "Jez" Brettell assumed command of Kent as her 14th and current Commanding Officer, relieving Cdr Matt J Sykes on 20 January, 2022.[43]
In 2022, Kent spent 127 days at sea.[44] In September 2023, the frigate was again tasked to escort HMS Queen Elizabeth during her "Operation FIREDRAKE" deployment in northern European waters.[45] After some delay, the ship departed Portsmouth in late October.[46]
On 2 September 2000, men and women aboard HMS Kent participated in a Changing Rooms special to give the ship's mess rooms a makeover.[51]
Emily Hamilton's role of Lt Cdr Jenny Howard in the 2004 ITV series Making Waves was influenced by the real life Kent XO, Lt Cdr Vanessa Jane Spiller, then the first and only female XO serving aboard a warship in the Royal Navy.[52]
The Type 23 frigate or Duke class is a class of frigates built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The ships are named after British Dukes, thus leading to the class being commonly known as the Duke class. The first Type 23, HMS Norfolk, was commissioned in 1989, and the sixteenth, HMS St Albans was commissioned in June 2002. They form the core of the Royal Navy's destroyer and frigate fleet and serve alongside the Type 45 destroyers. They were designed for anti-submarine warfare, but have been used for a range of uses. Ten Type 23 frigates remain in service with the Royal Navy, with three vessels having been sold to the Chilean Navy, one being retired in 2021, and two being retired in 2023.
HMS Norfolk was a British Type 23 frigate, the sixth in the Royal Navy to use this name, laid down in 1985 by Yarrow Shipbuilders. She was launched on the Clyde by Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon in July 1987 and named for the Dukedom of Norfolk. She was commissioned on 1 June 1990. Norfolk was the 'first of class', as well as being the first of a new generation of 'lean manned' ships. She was commissioned into the Chilean Navy in 2006 as Almirante Cochrane.
HMS Montrose was the eighth of the sixteen-ship Type 23 or Duke class of frigates, of the Royal Navy, named after the Duke of Montrose. She was laid down in November 1989 by Yarrow Shipbuilders on the Clyde, and was launched on 31 July 1992 by Edith Rifkind, wife of Malcolm Rifkind, Secretary of State for Defence. She was commissioned into service in June 1994.
The third and current HMS Argyll is a Type 23 Duke-class frigate. She is currently the oldest serving Type 23 frigate in the Royal Navy. Like all of her class she is named after a British dukedom, in this case that of Argyll. HMS Argyll was laid down in March 1987 by Yarrow Shipbuilders at Glasgow, and launched in 1989 by Lady Wendy Levene, sponsored by the Worshipful Company of Paviors. She was commissioned in May 1991. Argyll is currently based at HMNB Devonport.
HMS Lancaster is a Duke-class Type 23 frigate of the Royal Navy, launched by Queen Elizabeth II on 24 May 1990. The ship is known as "The Queen's Frigate", the Duke of Lancaster being a subsidiary title of the Sovereign. Being the third ship in the Type 23 class, Lancaster was originally allocated the pennant number F232 until it was noted that the 232 is the Royal Navy report form for groundings and collisions and therefore considered unlucky. She is one of the few ships left in the fleet with some female officers but mess decks which are men-only. It is quite common when she has returned from long operations that she is flown over by the Avro Lancaster bomber which is part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight based at RAF Coningsby.
HMS Iron Duke is a Type 23 frigate of the Royal Navy, and the third ship to bear the name.
HMS Monmouth was the sixth "Duke"-class Type 23 frigate of the Royal Navy. She was the seventh ship to bear the name and was launched by Lady Eaton in 1991, being commissioned two years later.
HMS Westminster is a Type 23 frigate of the Royal Navy, and the second ship to bear the name. She was launched on 4 February 1992 and named after the Dukedom of Westminster.
HMS Northumberland is a Type 23 frigate of the Royal Navy. She is named after the Duke of Northumberland. She is the eighth RN ship to bear the name since the first 70-gun ship of the line in 1679, and the ninth in the class of Type 23 frigates. She is based at Devonport and is part of the Devonport Flotilla.
HMS Richmond is a Type 23 frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 6 April 1993 by Lady Hill-Norton, wife of the late Admiral of the Fleet The Lord Hill-Norton, and was the last warship to be built by Swan Hunter Shipbuilders. She sailed from the builders on the River Tyne in November 1994. She is named for the Dukedom of Richmond.
HMS Somerset is a Type 23 frigate of the Royal Navy. She is the eleventh ship of the class to join the fleet since 1989. She was built by Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd on the River Clyde, in Scotland and was launched in June 1994 by Lady Elspeth Layard, wife of then 2nd Sea Lord Admiral and Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command Admiral Sir Michael Layard. She entered service in 1996. Lady Layard is the ship's sponsor. She is named after the Dukedom of Somerset.
HMS Portland is a Type 23 frigate of the British Royal Navy. She is the eighth ship to bear the name and is the fifteenth and penultimate ship of the 'Duke' class of frigates, and is named for the currently extinct title of the Dukedom of Portland, and more particularly for the third Duke, who was Prime Minister.
HMS St Albans is a Type 23 frigate of the Royal Navy. She is the sixth ship to bear the name and is the sixteenth and final ship in the 'Duke' class of frigates. She is based in Devonport, Plymouth.
HMS Gloucester was a Batch 3 Type 42 destroyer of the Royal Navy, built by Vosper Thorneycroft at Woolston, Southampton and launched on 2 November 1982 by The Duchess of Gloucester. Gloucester was one of the modified last four of the class to be built, having a lengthened hull design giving better seakeeping qualities, greater endurance and an external 'strake' to counter longitudinal cracking, seen on earlier ships of the type. The flight deck recognition letters worn by Gloucester were GC, and her international callsign was GBBF.
HMS Bulwark is the second ship of the Royal Navy's Albion-class assault ships. She is one of the United Kingdom's two landing platform docks designed to put Royal Marines ashore by air and by sea.
HMS Loch Fada was the lead ship of the Loch-class frigates of the British Royal Navy, built by John Brown & Company of Clydebank, Scotland, and named after Loch Fada in the Inner Hebrides.
HMS Daring is the lead ship of the Type 45 or Daring-class air-defence destroyers built for the Royal Navy, and the seventh ship to hold that name. She was launched in 2006 on the Clyde and conducted contractor's sea trials during 2007 and 2008. She was handed over to the Royal Navy in December 2008, entered her base port of Portsmouth for the first time in January 2009 and was formally commissioned on 23 July 2009. As the lead ship of the first destroyer class built for the Royal Navy since the Type 42 in the 1970s, she has attracted significant media and public attention. Her name, crest and motto are a reference to the Roman youth Gaius Mucius Scaevola, famed for his bravery.
HMS Dragon is the fourth ship of the Type 45 or Daring-class air-defence destroyers built for the Royal Navy. She was launched in November 2008 and commissioned on 20 April 2012.
HMS Defender is the fifth of the Type 45 or Daring-class air-defence destroyers built for the Royal Navy. She is the eighth ship to bear the name. Construction of Defender began in 2006, and she was launched in 2009. The ship completed her first sea trials in October and November 2011, and was commissioned during March 2013.
HMS Duncan is the sixth and last of the Type 45 or Daring-class air-defence destroyers built for the Royal Navy and launched in 2010. Duncan is named after Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan, who defeated the Dutch fleet at the Battle of Camperdown on 11 October 1797. The destroyer has served in the Mediterranean, Black, and Caribbean Seas, and in 2019 was deployed to the Persian Gulf in response to increased tensions with Iran in the region.
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