HMS Diomede (F16)
{{short description|Type 12I or Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy and Pakistan Navy}}
{{other ships|HMS Diomede}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{more citations needed|date=September 2014}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=Image:HMS Diomede F16.jpg |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} |Ship name=Diomede |Ship namesake=Diomede |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Yarrow Shipbuilders |Ship original cost= |Ship laid down=30 January 1968 |Ship launched=15 April 1969 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=2 April 1971 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= 31 May 1988 |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship captured= |Ship fate= Sold to Pakistan, July 1988 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country=Pakistan |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Pakistan|naval}} |Ship name=Shamsheer |Ship namesake= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= 1988 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship registry= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Scrapped |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Ship class={{sclass|Leander|frigate}} |Ship displacement={{convert|3200|LT|t|0|lk=in|abbr=on}} full load |Ship length= {{convert|113.4|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship beam= {{convert|12.5|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught= {{convert|5.8|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship depth= |Ship decks= |Ship propulsion=2 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers supplying steam to two sets of White-English Electric double-reduction geared turbines to two shafts |Ship speed={{convert|28|kn|lk=in}} |Ship range={{convert|4600|nmi|lk=in|abbr=on}} at {{convert|15|kn}} |Ship endurance= |Ship complement=223 |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=*As built:
|Ship armour= |Ship aircraft=*1 × Westland Wasp helicopter
|Ship aircraft facilities= |Ship notes= }} |
HMS Diomede (F16) was a {{sclass|Leander|frigate}} of the Royal Navy. She was built by Yarrow Shipbuilders in Glasgow. Diomede was launched on 15 April 1969 and commissioned on 2 April 1971. In 1988, the vessel was taken out of service and sold to Pakistan. Renamed PNS Shamsheer, the vessel served with the Pakistan Navy until being scrapped.
Service history
=Royal Navy service=
In 1972, Diomede took part in the Second Cod War during the fishing dispute with Iceland, though Diomede{{'}}s involvement was more quiet than her involvement in the subsequent Cod War. Also that year, Diomede joined the 3rd Frigate Squadron which was then based in the Far East.
In 1974, Diomede, took part in Task Group (TG) 317.2 which was a deployment that caused some controversy back in the UK when the TG, on its way to the Far East/Pacific, visited South Africa, which was at that time under apartheid rule, as well as performing military exercises with the South African armed forces. Diomede, along with the nuclear submarine {{HMS|Warspite|S103|2}}, visited the port of Simonstown while the rest of the TG visited Cape Town. The TG, upon reaching the Far East performed a number of exercises and 'fly the flag' visits with Far East and Pacific countries. They did not visit South Africa on their return, and headed to Brazil for an exercise with the Brazilian Navy. Diomede returned to the UK in June 1975.
The following year, Diomede joined the Fishery Protection Squadron, and took part in the Third Cod War. During that conflict, Diomede collided three times with Icelandic Coast Guard vessels, once with {{ship|ICGV|Týr}} and three times with {{ship|ICGV|Baldur|II|6}}, with the last one inflicting a {{convert|12|ft|adj=on}} gash on Diomede{{'}}s port beam, knocking her out of the conflict.{{Cite book|title=High Stakes: Britain's Air Arms in Action 1945-1990|last=Flintham|first=Vic|year=2008|isbn=978-1473814936|pages=349}}{{Cite book|title=Safeguarding the Nation: The Story of the Modern Royal Navy|last=Roberts|first=John|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|year=2010|isbn=978-1848320437|pages=119}}{{cite news |author1=Mike Smart |title=Okkur tókst að bjarga mynd af drottningunni |url=https://timarit.is/page/1472653 |access-date=16 September 2020 |work=Morgunblaðið |agency=Associated Press |date=31 March 1976 |pages=15, 31 |language=is}}{{cite news |title=Mönnuðum byssum beint að Baldri |url=https://timarit.is/page/2849249 |access-date=16 September 2020 |work=Þjóðviljinn |date=30 March 1976 |pages=1, 8, 14 |language=is}}
In 1977, Diomede took part in the Fleet Review, in honor of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee as part of the 3rd Frigate Squadron.Official Souvenir Programme, 1977. Silver Jubilee Fleet Review, HMSO The ship was adopted by the borough of Langbaurgh in North Yorkshire in 1978.{{cite news|title=Diomede goes North|newspaper=Navy News|date=February 1980|page=3|url=https://issuu.com/navynews/docs/198002|access-date=27 October 2018}}
Also in the 1970s, Diomede was one of the seven Leanders used as the fictional {{HMS|Hero}} for the BBC TV drama series Warship. All members of the crew were given Hero cap tallies for filming purposes.
Her modernisation that would have given her Exocet and Sea Wolf was cancelled due to John Nott's 1981 Defence Review and she was intended to be placed in the Standby Squadron but the decision was repealed due to the 1982 Falklands War. During that year, Diomede was deployed to the Persian Gulf as part of the Armilla patrol.
In 1985 she deployed again to the West Indies as the 'West Indies Guardship' accompanying Queen Elizabeth II aboard {{ship|HMY|Britannia}}. The Queen was so impressed by the way her ship's company performed their duties, that she ordered 'splice the mainbrace'.
Diomede returned to the South Atlantic in 1987 where she performed a number of patrols in the vicinity of the Falkland Islands as well as visiting the Island of South Georgia.
=Pakistan Navy service=
{{other ships|PNS Shamsheer}}
In 1988, Diomede was decommissioned from the Royal Navy and subsequently sold to Pakistan where she was renamed PNS Shamsheer. Shamsheer continued in service for many years until she was decommissioned by Pakistan Navy in 2003 and scrapped.
References
{{reflist}}
Publications
- {{Cite Colledge2006}}
- Marriott, Leo, 1983. Royal Navy Frigates 1945-1983, Ian Allan Ltd. {{ISBN|07110 1322 5}}
{{Leander class frigate}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diomede}}
Category:Leander-class frigates
Category:Ships built on the River Clyde
Category:Ships of the Fishery Protection Squadron of the United Kingdom