HMS Cardiff (D108)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Cardiff.

Grey warship with black towers and red missiles on its bow, city buildings are in the background.
HMS Cardiff in Portsmouth, c. 2005
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Cardiff
NamesakeWelsh capital city of Cardiff[1]
BuilderVickers Shipbuilding and Engineering
Laid down6 November 1972
Launched22 February 1974
Commissioned24 September 1979
Decommissioned14 July 2005
HomeportHMNB Portsmouth
Identification
Motto
  • Acris in cardine rerum
  • (Latin: "Keen in emergency")
Nickname(s)"The Welsh Warship"[5]
Honours and
awards
FateScrapped
BadgeCrest rimmed with golden rope bearing the word Cardiff at the top. On top of the crest is a crown decorated with jewels and golden sails. In the crest is a castle tower on ocean waves, the tower has a golden portcullis.
General characteristics
Class and typeType 42 destroyer
Displacement4,000 t (3,900 long tons; 4,400 short tons)
Length125 m (410 ft)
Beam14.3 m (47 ft)
Draught5.8 m (19 ft)
Propulsion2 × COGOG turbines producing 36 MW (48,000 shp), driving 2 shafts
Speed56 km/h (30 kn)
Range7,400 km (4,000 nmi) at 33 km/h (18 kn)
Complement287–301
Electronic warfare
& decoys		UAA1
Armament
Aircraft carriedLynx HAS.3

HMS Cardiff was a British Type 42 destroyer and the third ship of the Royal Navy to be named in honour of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff.

Cardiff served in the Falklands War, where she was involved in the 1982 British Army Gazelle friendly fire incident. She also shot down the last Argentine aircraft of the conflict and accepted the surrender of a 700-strong garrison in the settlement of Port Howard.

During the 1991 Gulf War, her Lynx helicopter sank two Iraqi minesweepers. She later participated in the build-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq as part of the Royal Navy's constant Armilla patrol, but was not involved in the actual invasion.

Cardiff was decommissioned in July 2005, and sent for scrapping despite calls by former servicemen for her to be preserved as a museum ship and local tourist attraction in Cardiff.

  1. ^ Hamilton, Sir Archie, Minister of State for the Armed Forces (15 May 1989). "Ship-Town Links". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. col. 69W–70W. Retrieved 5 September 2008.
  2. ^ Baron Trefgarne, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Armed Forces (25 October 1983). "The Falklands Campaign: Battle Honours". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Lords. col. 242WA–244WA. Retrieved 5 September 2008.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Viscount Cranborne, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (24 February 1993). "The Gulf Campaign: Battle Honours". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Lords. col. 8WA–15WA. Retrieved 5 September 2008.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ "HMS Cardiff's final visit to city". BBC News. 6 July 2005. Retrieved 9 March 2008.
  5. ^ "HMS Cardiff". Royal Navy. Archived from the original on 9 July 2005.