On April 8th, the Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) agency confirmed the sale of one of the former Type 23 frigates of the Royal Navy to Turkey for scrapping and recycling, following 28 years of service in the institution. According to reports, it is the frigate HMS Monmouth, also known as “Black Duke,” the sixth ship of the aforementioned class, built by the Yarrow shipyards in the town of Clyde.
As stated in the official DE&S communication, the decision comes after considering that the ship had already exceeded its service life and that a refitting process would be too costly to carry out, in addition to taking too long to be profitable. In that regard, a bidding process was opened to find a party interested in carrying out the ship’s dismantling, with the Turkish shipyard Leyal Gemi Sokum Sanayi Ve Ticaret Ltd Sti ultimately being selected.
Citing some official statements on the matter, it is worth highlighting those expressed by Richard Whalley, current head of the DE&S Exports and Sales team: “It’s always sad to see a ship that was an important part of your life heading to its final destination, but I’m at least glad that the sale of HMS Monmouth for recycling in Turkey provides an ethical and responsible method of recovering metals and other valuable assets, generating a financial return for the Royal Navy. A fitting end for a ship that served the nation well.”
Briefly reviewing its history, it is worth mentioning that the HMS Monmouth frigate was commissioned in 1993 as a ship specialized in anti-submarine warfare, although it participated in multiple types of missions throughout its service. Among its most notable records, we find its involvement in humanitarian missions during the Sierra Leone Civil War, the fight against piracy off the coast of Somalia, deployments to Antarctica, and a circumnavigation of the globe in 2007; its last major deployment took place in 2018, when it accompanied the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth to the Westlant exercises in U.S. waters. In its final days, it was used as a training ship while remaining in port, until its definitive retirement was decided on June 30th, 2021.
It should be recalled at this point that the Royal Navy is already awaiting the arrival of a new fleet of eight Type 26 (City-class) frigates to move forward with the replacement of the old Type 23 class, to which HMS Monmouth belonged. These are being built by BAE Systems, using its Govan and Scotstoun shipyards in Glasgow. Like their predecessors, their primary role will be anti-submarine warfare, and they currently support over 6,000 jobs across the entire supply chain defined for their construction, with more than 100 suppliers involved.
It is also expected that part of the Type 23 frigate fleet will be replaced by the future Type 31 (Inspiration-class) ships, being built by the Babcock shipyard at its Rosyth facilities. In this case, it is estimated that five vessels will be produced for that purpose, though with highly flexible capabilities to carry out various types of missions. Each unit would feature a displacement of 6,000 tons and a length of 138.7 meters, armament consisting of 57 mm Bofors guns and two 40 mm guns, Sea Ceptor air defense systems, and advanced 4D radars. It will also have hangars for drones and helicopters, as well as equipment for detecting and disabling enemy mines.
Images used for illustrative purposes only.
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