HMS Bristol (D23)
HMS Bristol (D23) was a Type 82 destroyer, the only vessel of her class to be built for the Royal Navy. Bristol was intended to be the first of a class of large destroyers to escort the CVA-01 aircraft carriers projected to come into service in the early 1970s but the rest of the class and the CVA-01 carriers were cancelled as a result of the 1966 Defence White Paper which cut defence spending.
Bristol in 1982 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | |
| Name | Bristol |
| Namesake | Bristol |
| Ordered | 17 April 1963 |
| Builder | Swan Hunter, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom |
| Laid down | 15 November 1967 |
| Launched | 30 June 1969 |
| Commissioned | 31 March 1973 |
| Decommissioned | 28 October 2020 |
| Identification | Pennant number: D23 |
| Honours and awards | Falklands 1982 |
| Fate | Disposal and Reserve Ships Organisation (DRSO) |
| Badge | |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Type 82 destroyer |
| Displacement | 6,300 tons (standard), 7,100 tons (full) |
| Length | 155 m (507 ft) |
| Beam | 17 m (55 ft) |
| Draught | 7.5 m (24 ft 7 in) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 28 knots (52 km/h) |
| Range | 5,750 nautical miles (10,650 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h) |
| Complement | 397 (30 officers) |
| Armament |
|
| Aircraft carried | None (able to support heavy lift helicopters |
| Aviation facilities | Flight deck added when Limbo removed and mortar well plated over |
Following a long career which included the Falklands War, she was converted into a training ship in 1987. In 1991 while part of the Dartmouth training squadron, she suffered a boiler explosion that damaged the vessel beyond economical repair. No longer having enough value to be sold to another navy, she became a Harbour Training ship at HMS Excellent. She was decommissioned in Portsmouth on 28 October 2020.