HMS Cardiff (D108)
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.
HMS Cardiff in Portsmouth, c. 2005 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Cardiff |
| Namesake | Welsh capital city of Cardiff |
| Builder | Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering |
| Laid down | 6 November 1972 |
| Launched | 22 February 1974 |
| Commissioned | 24 September 1979 |
| Decommissioned | 14 July 2005 |
| Homeport | HMNB Portsmouth |
| Identification |
|
| Motto |
|
| Nickname(s) | "The Welsh Warship" |
| Honours and awards |
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| Fate | Scrapped |
| Badge | |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Type 42 destroyer |
| Displacement | 4,000 t (3,900 long tons; 4,400 short tons) |
| Length | 125 m (410 ft) |
| Beam | 14.3 m (47 ft) |
| Draught | 5.8 m (19 ft) |
| Propulsion | 2 × COGOG turbines producing 36 MW (48,000 shp), driving 2 shafts |
| Speed | 56 km/h (30 kn) |
| Range | 7,400 km (4,000 nmi) at 33 km/h (18 kn) |
| Complement | 287–301 |
| Electronic warfare & decoys | UAA1 |
| Armament |
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| Aircraft carried | Lynx HAS.3 |
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.