HMS Devonshire (D02)
{{short description|1962 County-class guided missile destroyer of the Royal Navy}}
{{other ships|HMS Devonshire}}
{{more citations needed|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2017}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=HMS Devonshire (39577006140).jpg |Ship caption=HMS Devonshire during Portsmouth Navy Day, 1980 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} |Ship name=HMS Devonshire |Ship namesake= |Ship ordered=24 January 1956 |Ship builder=Cammell Laird |Ship laid down=9 March 1959 |Ship launched=10 June 1960 |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=15 November 1962 |Ship decommissioned= 1978 |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship honours= |Ship identification=Pennant number: D02 |Ship fate= Sunk as a target on 17 July 1984 |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship captured= |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class={{sclass2|County|destroyer}} |Ship type= |Ship displacement= 6,200 tons full load |Ship length= {{convert|158.6|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship beam= {{convert|53|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught= {{convert|20|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship depth= |Ship propulsion=COSAG (Combined steam and gas) turbines, 2 shafts |Ship speed= {{convert|31.5|kn|km/h}} |Ship range= {{convert|3500|nmi|km}} |Ship endurance= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship troops= |Ship complement=470 |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=*1× Seaslug GWS.2 twin-arm SAM launcher(36 missiles)
|Ship armour= |Ship aircraft=1× Lynx or Wessex helicopter |Ship aircraft facilities=Flight deck and enclosed hangar for embarking one helicopter |Ship notes= }} |
HMS Devonshire was the first of the {{sclass2|County|destroyer|0}} destroyers and the first Batch 1 ship of the Royal Navy. The ship was built by Cammell Laird in Birkenhead near Liverpool. With a displacement of 6,200 tons full load, Devonshire was named after the English county of Devon. She was launched on 10 June 1960 and delivered to the navy two years later.
Operational service
File:HMS Devonshire, 1962 (IWM).jpg
In 1962 Devonshire was commissioned and became the first operational Royal Navy ship to fire the Seaslug missile.{{Cite web | url=http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Ops-Events1961-70.htm | title=Royal Navy, including Administration, 1961-1970 }} Following work up, she sailed for the Mediterranean, followed by a return to her home port of Portsmouth. From here she then sailed for Bermuda and the United States.Commissioning Book, HMS Devonshire 1962-1964, HMSO She returned to Portsmouth just before the end of 1962.
Captain George Cunningham Leslie OBE, served as Commanding officer from 1965 to 1966.
On 31 August 1966, Devonshire collided with the tanker British Sovereign off the mouth of the River Elbe. No-one was injured on either ship.{{cite news|title=Collision court acquittal|newspaper=Navy News|date=November 1966|page=15|url=https://issuu.com/navynews/docs/196611|accessdate=17 August 2018}}
Captain Peter Buchanan served as Commanding Officer from 1973 to 1974. Devonshire was involved in patrol duties in the Persian Gulf and the Caribbean Sea, but was not involved in any armed conflict of the United Kingdom. Like the other first batch of County-class ships, Devonshire was fitted with the Seaslug anti aircraft missile defence system. She attended the 1977 Silver Jubilee Fleet Review off Spithead when she was part of the First Flotilla.Official Souvenir Programme, 1977. Silver Jubilee Fleet Review, HMSO
Decommissioning and disposal
Devonshire was decommissioned under defence cuts in 1978, though was immediately offered for sale to Egypt, but the sale did not go through. Laid up in Portsmouth harbour for six years, the ship was used as a target, first for testing the new Sea Eagle anti-ship missile, then sunk by {{HMS|Splendid|S106|6}} as a target on 17 July 1984 (two days after the Sea Eagle test) in the North Atlantic, whilst testing the Mark 24-Mod-2 Tigerfish torpedo.
References
{{Reflist}}
Publications
- {{Cite Colledge2006}}
- Marriott, Leo, Royal Navy Destroyers since 1945, Ian Allan, {{ISBN|0-7110-1817-0}}
- McCart, Neil, 2014. County Class Guided Missile Destroyers, Maritime Books. {{ISBN|978-1904459637}}
External links
{{Commons category|HMS Devonshire (D02)|HMS Devonshire (D02)}}
- [http://www.britishpathe.com/video/seaslug-on-test-aka-firing-of-seaslug-from-hms-dev/query/hms+devonshire|First firing of Seaslug from HMS Devonshire]
{{County class destroyer}}
{{1984 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devonshire (D02)}}
Category:County-class destroyers of the Royal Navy
Category:Ships built on the River Mersey