HMS Norfolk (D21)

	HMS Norfolk
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Norfolk
Ordered	5 January 1965
Builder	Swan Hunter
Laid down	15 March 1966
Launched	16 November 1967
Commissioned	7 March 1970
Decommissioned	1981
Identification	Pennant number: D21
Fate	Sold to Chile on 6 April 1982
Chile
Name	Capitán Prat
Acquired	April 1982
Decommissioned	11 August 2006
Fate	Sold for scrap September 2008
General characteristics
Class and type	County-class destroyer
Displacement	6,200 tons; 6,800 tons (full load);
Length	522 ft (159 m)
Beam	53 ft (16 m)
Draught	20 ft (6.1 m)
Propulsion	Combined steam and gas turbines, 2 shafts
Speed	32 knots (59 km/h)
Range	4,000 nautical miles (7,000 km) at 28 knots (52 km/h)
Capacity	470
Armament	2 × Twin 4.5-inch (113 mm) guns (1 pair removed after refit); 2 × 20 mm Oerlikon guns; 1 × Twin Sea Slug launcher; 2 × Quad Sea Cat missile launchers; 4 × Exocet missile launchers (added after refit);
Aircraft carried	1 × Westland Wessex helicopter

HMS Norfolk (pennant D21) was a County-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was the fourth Group 2 and the last of the County-class built.

The fifth ship named Norfolk, she was laid down on 15 March 1966 by Swan Hunter and launched by Lavinia, Duchess of Norfolk on 16 November 1967. She was commissioned on 7 March 1970.

In 1982 she was sold to Chile and served in their navy as Capitán Prat until 2006 and subsequently sold for scrap.

Design

Norfolk is described as a

third world

bushfire wars and recruitment. Eventually such ships could be sold to the third world to aid British interests in South America, the Middle East and Asia where Britain was withdrawing its own forces.

Royal Navy service

Norfolk was first commissioned on 7 March 1970 and was present at Portsmouth Navy Days.

Sea Cat and Sea Slug. Norfolk recommissioned in 1974. She had a displacement of 6,200 tons and was quite a large ship, considering she was classified as a destroyer. She undertook numerous deployments to the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and South Pacific

Ocean. By the mid-1970s it was clear that the Mk 2 Sea Slug did not represent a significant improvement over the earlier version, because it was even less reliable and attempts to develop successful sustainer motors had failed. There was only money to fit new computer command and control to the three other second group County class, so Norfolk was reduced to increasingly marginal and third line roles.

In September 1976, one of the highlights of her relatively peaceful career came, when she flew the

Court Martial in over 10 years. The visit itself was made to commemorate 150 years of the founding of Western Australia

.

In September 1976, Norfolk took over the UK's commitment to

Standing Naval Force Atlantic. She decommissioned in 1981 to become the Dartmouth Training Ship at Britannia Royal Naval College. Now of marginal naval value in the North Atlantic with even the Exocets being a light short ranged missile compared with the Soviets, Norfolk was inevitably a candidate for early pay off to be sold to third world or Commonwealth countries. She was first offered to New Zealand

about the start of 1981. Its main selling point was seaworthiness, good range and current datalinks giving interoperability with both the RN and USN.

Chilean Navy service

Norfolk was sold to

Cougar attack helicopter

.

On 24 February 2006, Capitán Prat was laid up; she was decommissioned on 11 August 2006. In September 2008, she sailed to Mexico for scrap.

Commanding officers

Notable commanding officers include JWD Cook (1971-1972), Anthony J Whetstone (1977-1978) and A D Hutton (1978-1980).

References

^ Programme, Navy Days Portsmouth, 29th-31st August 1971, p11.

Publications

ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8
.

Marriott, Leo, 1989. Royal Navy Destroyers since 1945, Ian Allan Ltd.
ISBN 0 7110 1817 0

McCart, Neil, 2014. County Class Guided Missile Destroyers, Maritime Books.
ISBN 978-1904459637

[1] Programme, Navy Days Portsmouth, 29th-31st August 1971, p11.

[2] Acquired as a source of spare parts for the other destroyers.

[3] Renamed as Almirante Riveros.

[4] Not commissioned, it was sunk in the Battle of Jutland in 1916.

[5] Later renamed as Lientur.

[a]

[b]

[c]

[d]

v t e County-class destroyers
Royal Navy	Devonshire Hampshire Kent London Fife Glamorgan Antrim Norfolk
Chilean Navy	Capitán Prat (ex-Norfolk) Almirante Cochrane (ex-Antrim) Almirante Latorre (ex-Glamorgan) Blanco Encalada (ex-Fife)
Pakistan Navy	Babur (ex-London)
Preceded by: Daring class Followed by: HMS Bristol
List of destroyers of the Royal Navy