HMS Dumbarton Castle (P265)
{{Short description|Offshore patrol vessel of the British Royal Navy}}
{{other ships|HMS Dumbarton Castle}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2018}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=HMS Dumbarton Castle displays her Paying Off Pennant as she enters Portsmouth Harbour for the last time MOD 45147584.jpg |Ship image size=300px |Ship caption=HMS Dumbarton Castle entering Portsmouth Harbour prior to decommissioning }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag={{Shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} |Ship name=HMS Dumbarton Castle |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Hall, Russell & Company |Ship yard number= |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=12 March 1982 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned=2008 |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification=* Pennant number: P265
|Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship fate=Sold to Bangladesh; currently in service with the Bangladesh Navy as BNS Bijoy |Ship notes= Refitted by A&P Group Tyne facility in 2010 |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Ship class={{sclass2|Castle|patrol vessel}} |Ship tonnage= |Ship displacement=*{{convert|1350|LT|t|0|abbr=on|lk=on}} standard,
|Ship length=*{{convert|81.0|m|ftin|abbr=on}} overall,
|Ship beam={{convert|11.5|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught={{convert|3.42|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship power={{convert|5640|bhp|kW|abbr=on}} |Ship propulsion=2 × Ruston 12RK 320DM, 2 shafts |Ship speed={{convert|20|kn|lk=in}} |Ship range={{convert|19000|nmi|lk=in|abbr=on}} at {{convert|12|kn|abbr=on}} |Ship endurance= |Ship ice class= 1A |Ship boats=2× Avon Searaider dinghies |Ship capacity= |Ship complement=45 (+ accommodation for 25 Royal Marines) |Ship crew= |Ship time to activate= |Ship troops= |Ship sensors=*Kelvin Hughes Type 1006 navigation radar
|Ship EW=*UAN(1) radar warning,
|Ship armament=*Oerlikon / BMARC 30 mm L/75 KCB gun on single Laurence Scott DS-30B mount
|Ship armour= |Ship aircraft=Flight deck can support up to Westland Sea King-size helicopter |Ship aircraft facilities= |Ship notes= }} |
HMS Dumbarton Castle (P265) was an offshore patrol vessel of the British Royal Navy. Her main role was the protection of the offshore assets of the United Kingdom, including oil and gas installations and fisheries out to the {{convert|200|nmi|adj=on|lk=in}} limit.
She spent much of her time deployed in the South Atlantic as guard ship, patrolling around the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, alternating with her sister ship {{HMS|Leeds Castle|P258|6}}. Her long association with the Falkland Islands resulted in the ship's company being given permission to add her name to the roll of honour written in white rocks on the hillside opposite Stanley in 2007.{{cite web |title=HMS Dumbarton Castle: Small Ship, Big Name |date=7 June 2007 |website=MercoPress |url=https://en.mercopress.com/2007/06/07/hms-dumbarton-castle-small-ship-big-name |access-date=8 August 2020}}
Design and construction
The {{sclass2|Castle|patrol vessel|4}} was designed for fisheries protection and oilfield patrol duties in the United Kingdom's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). They were a follow-on to the interim {{sclass2|Island|patrol vessel}} which had been ordered in 1975 when the EEZ was extended to 200 miles, and as a result of initial experience with the Islands, was considerably longer in order to improve seakeeping in heavy seas, with the extra length giving greater speed from the same power as the Islands and allowing a large helicopter deck to be fitted.{{Harvnb|Brown|Moore|2012|pp=135–136}}{{Harvnb|Gardiner|Chumbley|1995|p=357}}
Dumbarton Castle was {{convert|81.0|m|ftin}} long overall and {{convert|75.0|m|ftin|abbr=on}} between perpendiculars, with a beam of {{convert|11.5|m|ftin|abbr=on}} and a draught of {{convert|3.42|m|ftin|abbr=on}}. Displacement was {{convert|1350|LT|t|0|lk=on}} standard and {{convert|1550|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} full load. The ship was powered by two Ruston 12RK 320 DM diesel engines rated at {{convert|5460|bhp|kW|lk=on}} (with a maximum sustained power of {{convert|4380|bhp|kW|abbr=on}}, driving two shafts fitted with controllable pitch propellers. This gave a speed of {{convert|20|kn|lk=in}}. The ship had a range of {{convert|10000|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|12|kn}}.{{Harvnb|Baker|1998|p=944}}
The ship was initially armed with a single Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun,{{harvnb|Moore|1985|p=628}} although by 1990 this had been replaced by an Oerlikon 30 mm gun on a DS30B mount.{{harvnb|Prézelin|Baker|1990|p=716}} The main armament was supplemented by two 7.62 mm machine guns. A large helicopter deck was fitted aft, suitable for landing a Sea King or Chinook helicopter, but no hangar was provided, as the cost of a permanently embarked helicopter would be more than the cost of the ship.{{Harvnb|Brown|Moore|2012|p=136}} She was fitted with Type 1006 navigation radar, which was supplemented with a Type 994 air/surface search radar in 1986, together with a UAN(1) electronic intercept system (based on the Orange Crop system fitted to the Royal Navy's helicopters. The ship had a crew of 6 officers and 39 other ranks, with room for a 25-man detachment of Royal Marines to be carried.{{#tag:ref|Jane's Fighting Ships lists a crew of 50, plus the 25-man Marine detachment. The ship had a crew of 52 when she set out on her 1991 deployment to the Falklands.|group=lower-alpha}}
Dumbarton Castle was laid down at Hall, Russell & Company's Aberdeen shipyard as yard number 986 on 25 April 1980 as the second Castle-class patrol vessel.{{cite web |title=Dumbarton Castle |work=Scottish Built Ships |publisher=Caledonian Maritime Research Trust |url=http://clydeships.co.uk/view.php?year_built=&builder=&ref=52331&vessel=DUMBARTON+CASTLE |access-date=7 August 2020}} This was in advance of a formal order for the two ships being placed, which did not take place until 8 August that year. She was launched on 3 June 1981, and was completed on 12 March 1982.
Service
Dumbarton Castle commissioned at Rosyth on 26 March 1982,{{cite news |title=Castles in the air... |newspaper=Navy News |date=May 1982 |page=19 |url=https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/-/media/royal-navy-responsive/images/navynews/archivepdfs/1980s/1982/navy-news-june-1982-issue-335.pdf#page=19 |access-date=7 August 2020}} and was assigned the pennant number P265. In April 1982, the Falklands War began when Argentine forces invaded the Falkland Islands on 2 April. Dumbarton Castle sailed from her base at Rosyth on 26 April for HMNB Portsmouth to be fitted with additional communications equipment and a desalination plant to better suit her to support the British task force sailing to retake the Falklands. Dumbarton Castle left Portsmouth on 1 May, arriving at Ascension Island on 11 May, where she was employed as a despatch vessel, ferrying stores between Ascension and the Task Force, and between warships of the task force. She returned to Rosyth in August 1982.{{harvnb|Burden|Draper|Rough|Smith|1986|p=430}} Dumbarton Castle was awarded the battle honour "Falkland Islands 1982" for her service in the war.
Both Dumbarton Castle and sister ship {{HMS|Leeds Castle|P258|2}} were employed as guardships for the Falklands as well as for more normal fishery protection duties in home waters. In August 1991, Dumbarton Castle relieved Leeds Castle at the start of a three-year deployment to the Falklands,{{cite news |title=Ships of the Royal Navy: No. 431 : Dumbarton Castle holds the fort on Falklands Patrol |newspaper=Navy News |date=October 1991 |page=5 |url=https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/-/media/royal-navy-responsive/images/navynews/archivepdfs/1990s/1991/navy-news-october-1991-issue-447.pdf#page=5 |access-date=7 August 2020}} and from 1998 to 2000, carried out another three year deployment to the South Atlantic.{{cite news |title=Ship heads home |newspaper=Navy News |date=February 1998 |page=10 |url=https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/-/media/royal-navy-responsive/images/navynews/archivepdfs/1990s/1998/navy-news-february-1998-issue-523.pdf#page=10 |access-date=7 August 2020}}{{cite news |title=Dumbarton Castle enters her third year away |newspaper=Navy News |date=February 2000 |page=13 |url=https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/-/media/royal-navy-responsive/images/navynews/archivepdfs/2000s/2000/navy-news-february-2000-issue-547.pdf |access-date=7 August 2020}} In 2001, Dumbarton Castle was converted to serve as a command ship for mine countermeasures vessels{{Harvnb|Saunders|2002|p=784}}
Dumbarton Castle was replaced by the {{sclass2|River|offshore patrol vessel|1}}, {{HMS|Clyde|P257|6}}, in 2007, returning to Portsmouth after her last patrol on 22 November that year.{{Harvnb|Silverstone|2007|p=10}}
Both Dumbarton Castle and her sister were sold to Bangladesh in April 2010. Dumbarton Castle left Portsmouth on 21 May 2010 towed by the tug Multratug 7, for A&P Group facility in Newcastle upon Tyne for a major regeneration project with her sister ship Leeds Castle. The project was completed in December 2010.
In March 2011, Leeds Castle and Dumbarton Castle were recommissioned as {{ship|BNS|Dhaleshwari}} and {{ship|BNS|Bijoy}} of the Bangladesh Navy respectively.[http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=188981&cid=2]{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} On 4 August 2020 BNS Bijoy, was damaged in the 2020 Beirut Port Explosions while part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
Notes
{{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
Citations
{{reflist}}
References
- {{cite book |editor-last=Baker |editor-first= A. D. III |title=The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World 1998–1999 |year= 1998 |location=Annapolis, Maryland, USA |publisher= Naval Institute Press |isbn=1-55750-111-4}}
- {{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=David K. |last2=Moore |first2=George |title=Rebuilding the Royal Navy: Warship Design Since 1945 |year=2012 |location=Barnsley, UK |publisher=Seaforth Publishing |isbn=978-1-84832-150-2}}
- {{cite book|last1=Burden|first1=Rodney A.|last2=Draper |first2=Michael I. |last3=Rough |first3=Douglas A. |last4=Smith |first4=Colin R. |last5=Wilton |first5=David |title=Falklands: The Air War| year=1986 |publisher=British Aviation Research Group |isbn=0-906339-05-7}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Gardiner |editor1-first=Robert |editor2-last=Chumbley |editor2-first=Stephen |title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995 |year=1995 |location=Annapolis, Maryland, USA |publisher=Naval Instotute Press |isbn=1-55750-132-7}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Prézelin |editor1-first=Bernard |editor2-last=Baker |editor2-first=A. D. III |title=The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World 1990/1991 |year=1990 |location=Annapolis, Maryland, USA |publisher= Naval Institute Press |isbn=0-87021-250-8}}
- {{cite book |editor-last=Moore |editor-first=John |title=Jane's Fighting Ships 1985–86 |year=1985 |location=London |publisher=Jane's Yearbooks |isbn=0-7106-0814-4}}
- {{cite book |editor-last=Saunders |editor-first=Stephen |title=Jane's Fighting Ships 2002–2003 |year=2002 |publisher=Jane's Information Group |location=Coulsdon, Surrey, UK |isbn=0-7106-24328}}
- {{cite magazine |last=Silverstone |first=Paul H. |title=Naval Intelligence |magazine=Warship International |year=2007 |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=9–13 |issn=0043-0374|jstor=44895530}}
External links
- [http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.2146 Royal Navy site]
- [https://www.savetheroyalnavy.org/a-history-the-royal-navys-falkland-islands-patrol-vessels/ A history – the Royal Navy’s Falkland Islands patrol vessels].
{{Castle_class_opv}}
{{Falklands War British ships}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dumbarton Castle (P265)}}
Category:Castle-class patrol vessels