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HMS Kent, c. 1963 (IWM)
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History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Kent |
Namesake | Kent |
Ordered | 6 February 1957 |
Builder | Harland & Wolff, Belfast |
Laid down | 1 March 1960 |
Launched | 27 September 1961 |
Commissioned | 15 August 1963 |
Decommissioned | 1980 |
Stricken | 1993 |
Identification | Pennant number: D12 |
Fate | Sold for scrap in 1998 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | County-class destroyer |
Displacement | 6,200 tons (6,800 tons full load) |
Length | 158.6 m (520 ft 4 in) |
Beam | 53 ft (16 m) |
Draught | 20 ft (6.1 m) |
Propulsion | COSAG (Combined steam and gas) turbines, 2 shafts |
Speed | 31.5 knots (58.3 km/h) |
Range | 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km) |
Complement | 470 |
Armament |
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Aircraft carried | 1× Lynx or Wessex helicopter |
Aviation facilities | Flight deck and enclosed hangar for embarking one helicopter |
HMS Kent was a batch-1 County-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She and her sisters were equipped with the Sea Slug Mk-1 medium-range surface-to-air missile SAM system, along with the short-range Sea Cat SAM, two twin 4.5-inch gun turrets, two single 20mm cannon, ASW torpedo tubes, and a platform and hangar that allowed her to operate one Wessex helicopter. The County class were large ships, with good seakeeping abilities and long range, and were ideal blue-water ships for their time.