HMS Newcastle (D87)

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

History

United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Newcastle
Builder:	Swan Hunter, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom
Laid down:	21 February 1973
Launched:	24 April 1975
Commissioned:	23 March 1978
Decommissioned:	1 February 2005
Out of service:	1 February 2005
Homeport:	Portsmouth
Identification:	Pennant number: D87
Nickname(s):	"The Geordie Gunboat"
Honours and awards:	Scheveningen 1653 Porto Farina 1655 Santa Cruz 1957 Lowestoft 1655 Four Days Battle 1666 Orfordness 1666 Schooneveld 1673 Texel 1973 Marbella 1705 Sadras 1758 Negapatam 1758 Porto Novo 1759 Spartivento 1940 Burma 1944-1945 Korea 1952-1953
Fate:	Scrapped
General characteristics
Class and type:	Type 42 destroyer
Displacement:	4,820 tonnes
Length:	125 m (410 ft)
Beam:	14.3 m (47 ft)
Draught:	5.8 m (19 ft)
Propulsion:	COGOG (Combined Gas or Gas) turbines, 2 shafts 4 Rolls-Royce (2 Olympus TM3B and 2 Tyne RM1C) producing 36 MW (48,000 hp)
Speed:	30 knots (56 km/h)
Complement:	287–312
Armament:	Twin Sea Dart Surface-to-air missile launcher 1 × 4.5-inch (114 mm) Mk.8 gun 2 × 20 mm Oerlikon guns 2 × Phalanx Close-in weapon system 2 × triple anti-submarine torpedo tubes NATO Seagnat and DLF3 decoy launchers
Aircraft carried:	Lynx HMA8

The eighth HMS Newcastle was a batch 1 Type 42 destroyer of the Royal Navy, launched in 1975. Newcastle was decommissioned on 1 February 2005.

Operational service

On 12 May 1992, Newcastle deployed with the Orient '92 group HMS Invincible, HMS Boxer, HMS Norfolk and RFA Olwen to the Far East. During this time she partook in Joint Exercises in the Malacca Straits and carried out diplomatic visits to The Seychelles, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and the Philipines. She returned on 27 November 1992. In 1993, Newcastle undertook exercises in the northern fjords of Norway during Exercise Battle Griffin '93 and undertook Fleet Ready Escort duties. On 8 September 1993 she deployed for Southlant duties as Falkland Islands Guardship. En route, she called in at Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire and spent Christmas and New Year in and around the Falkland Island patrol areas. She was relieved by the Leander Class Frigate HMS Scylla and returned to UK via the Patagonian Canals, calling in at Valparaiso, Callao and Port of Spain with a fuelling stop at Ponta Delgado before returning to Portsmouth on 8 April 1994. The rest of 1994 was spent in maintenance and navigation training. She paid off into refit in Rosyth in July 1995. On her way north, Newcastle made a final goodwill visit of this commission to the city of her name.

In November 1997, Newcastle made her way to the Caribbean to assume duties as West Indies guard ship. This deployment was concerned primarily with counter narcotics operations and saw the ship embark a US Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) under the command of US Coast Guard District 7 in Miami. Throughout the eight months of the "WIGS" deployment Newcastle rendered assistance to the Governor and people of the British Overseas Territory of Montserrat following a devastating volcanic eruption.^{[Note 1]} Newcastle re-entered Portsmouth Naval Base on 10 July 1998.

In 1999, Newcastle escorted the aircraft carrier Invincible during the Kosovo War, in which Invincible launched attacks on Serbian targets. Newcastle took part in six-month Atlantic Patrol Deployment in 2002. During this deployment, she visited Sierra Leone to display the continuing UK commitment to that country. Despite speculation that four Type 42s would be either decommissioned or mothballed, Newcastle deployed to the Mediterranean in January 2004 for a 7-month tour of duty.

Decommissioning and disposal

Newcastle with Cardiff in the background in 2007, in Portsmouth Harbour

It was announced in July 2004, as part of the Delivering Security in a Changing World review, that Newcastle would be decommissioned in January 2005. Newcastle was decommissioned on 1 February 2005 and placed into inactive reserve. Whilst sitting out at Fareham Creek she was cannibalised heavily to keep the remaining Type 42 destroyers running. On 21 November 2008 Newcastle left Portsmouth for the last time for Aliağa, Turkey under tow of the tug Lore. Demolition took place in the same yard which was scrapping Tuxedo Princess, a former ferry and floating nightclub that had been berthed underneath the Tyne Bridge.

Commanding officers

From	To	Captain
1977	1979	Captain Julian Oswald RN
1987	1989	Commander Robert Davies RN
1990	1992	Commander David Harburn RN
1993	1994	Commander Alan Massey RN
1994	1995	Commander Keith Winstanley RN

Affiliations

Newcastle was the adopted ship of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. Her captain and crew were awarded the freedom of the city, and she was often referred to as the "The Geordie Gunboat".

References

Notes

↑ Liverpool had been the first ship to come to the aid of the people of Montserrat.

Publications

Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.

Type 42 destroyers

Royal Navy	Sheffield Birmingham Cardiff Coventry Newcastle Glasgow Exeter Southampton Nottingham Liverpool Manchester York Gloucester Edinburgh

Argentine Navy Hércules class	Hércules Santísima Trinidad

Preceded by: HMS Bristol Followed by: Type 45 destroyers

List of destroyers of the Royal Navy List of destroyers of the Argentine Navy

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.