HMS Richmond F239

Ordered: December 1989 Laid down: 16 February 1992 Launched: 6 April 1993 Commissioned: 22 June 1995

General Characteristics
Displacement: 4,900 tonnes Length: 133 m (463 ft) Beam: 16.1 m (52.9 ft) Draught: 7.3 m

Propulsion: CODLAG (Combined Diesel-eLectric And Gas) 2 Rolls-Royce Spey boost gas-turbines 4 Paxman Valenta diesel engines 2 GEC electric motors Speed:28 knots, 15 knots on diesel-electric Range: 7,800 miles at 15 knots Complement: 185 Armament: 2 ASuW Harpoon quad launchers
Vertical launch system Sea Wolf missiles BAE 4.5 inch (110 mm) Mk 8 gun
2 Oerlikon 30 mm guns 4 Sting Ray torpedo tubes
Seagnat and DFL3 decoy launchers Aircraft: MERLIN HM MK1 Motto: ‘A Deo et Rege’ translated as ‘from God and the King.’
HMS Richmond (F239) is a Type 23 frigate of the Royal Navy (RN). She was launched 6 April 1993 by Lady 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.
Richmond was first deployed in 1997 to the Far East as part of the 'Ocean Wave 97' Task Group. One of the most interesting visits she made was to the Russian port of Vladivostok, an important Russian naval base, where she became the first Royal Navy vessel to visit in over 100 years. Also that year Richmond escorted the royal yacht HMY Britannia on the ship's final leg of her final tour of the United Kingdom prior to her decommissioning.
In 1998 Richmond participated in two significant NATO naval exercises and arrived in New York where she was involved in the US Navy Fleet Week. In 1999 Richmond was dispatched to the South Atlantic as part of Atlantic Patrol Task (South) and underwent a major overhaul which concluded in 2000. In 2001 Richmond joined the NATO multi-national squadron Standing Naval Force Mediterranean. In 2002 she arrived in the Caribbean where she performed tasks including obligatory "fly-the-flag" duties to the Commonwealth countries in the region as well as undergoing trials.