HMS Chatham (F87)

1990-2011

Flight Deck:	CM
Call Sign:	GABL
Shipyard:	Swan Hunter (Neptune)

Type 22 (Batch 3) Cornwall class

Timeline

Date	Event
May 12, 1986	Laid down	Swan Hunter (Neptune) Yard No. 126
Jan 20, 1988	Launched	14th and final Type 22 frigate, launched by Lady Oswald
Apr 1989	Trials	Sea trials, c 10 days
May 4, 1990	Commissioned
Nov 1990	Port Visit	Portland Harbour Undergoing Basic Sea Training at Portland until Dec 1990. BOST
Jan 1991	Aircraft	allocated Sea King HAS.6 ZA167/131 of 826 NAS for Ships Flt until c Jan 1992
Oct 21, 1992	Deployment	First RN Vessel to exercise with a Russian warship. Recovered a Ka-27 with a Russian VIP visitor to the ship.
Jan 1993	Aircraft	allocated ex HMS Cornwall Sea King HAS.6 XV696/132 of 826 NAS for Ships Flt until c Jul 1993, when 819 NAS took on the parent role.
Jul 1993	Aircraft	allocated 819 NAS Sea King HAS.6 XV696/699-PW for Ships Flt until c Aug 1994.
Apr 1994	Deployment	involved in challenging the Maltese registered mv Lido II heading for Montenegro with a cargo of fuel oil, violating the conditions of the UN commercial embargo. Operation Sharp Guard
Jun 1997	Port Visit	Victoria Harbour arrived in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong to support the British Transfer of Sovereignty to China on 30 Jun.
May 2000	Deployment	Freetown Port ordered off Freetown, Sierra Leone to support Operation Palliser. Sierra Leone Operation Palliser
Sep 16, 2002	Port Visit	Augusta relieved by HMS Edinburgh from Standing Naval Force Mediterranean duty at Augusta (Sicily).
Jan 16, 2003	Deployment	to support combat operations in Iraq including twin helicopter operations from the single spot flight deck and Naval Gunfire Support, returned to the UK 7 Aug 2003. Operation Telic
Dec 2004	Deployment	ordered to east coast of Sri Lanka, with RFA Diligence, to assist in humanitarian operations following the tsunami, triggered by the Banda Aceh (Indonesia) earthquake of 26 Dec 2004. Operation Garron
Feb 25, 2005	Aircraft	short term assignment of Lynx HMA.8 ZF563 as Ships Flt / 349, until mid Mar. 204 Flt assigned to 815 Squadron
Jun 2006	Deployment	South Atlantic Assigned as APT(S) Jun to Sep 2006, relieved by HMS Edinburgh Atlantic Patrol Task (South)
Jun 1, 2006	Port Visit	joined celebrations for Golden Jubilee of Nigerian Navy, with RFA Gold Rover. Fleet Review: 50th Anniversary of Nigerian Navy
Jul 6, 2007	Port Visit	Vlissingen, Netherlands for navy days 2007. For Michiel de Ruyter 400th anniversary.
Mar 2008	Deployment	departed HMNB Devonport for a 7 month anti-drugs and anti-piracy deployment to the Arabian Gulf, returning on 22 Oct 2008.
Jan 5, 2010	Deployment	left HMNB Devonport for a 7 month deployment to the Arabian Gulf, Horn of Africa and Somali Basin on anti-piracy patrols as part of Ocean Shield, returned 30 Jul 2010.
May 21, 2010	Deployment	Ships Flt Lynx recovered 23 crewmen from the mv Dubai Moon (crippled by a tropical storm), over a period of several hours, returning them in batches to HMS Chatham. Rescue
Oct 2010	Aircraft	assigned 815 NAS Lynx HMA.8 XZ698 as Chatham Flt/348-CM, until Dec 2010.
Jan 20, 2011	Port Visit	arrived in North Shields (Tyneside) for a 4 day farewell visit, prior to decommissioning.
Jan 26, 2011	Port Visit	returned to HMNB Devonport for the last time, to pay off.
Feb 8, 2011	Decommissioned	at HMNB Devonport, in advance of her planned out of service date, following the Oct 2010 Defence Review. In 2004, planned decommissioning date had been 2018.
Apr 2013		Fareham Creek by Apr 2013 was laid up in Fareham Creek
Jul 27, 2013	Fate: scrapped	Aliaga sold for scrap to Layal, Turkey. Departed Portsmouth under tow on 8 Oct 2013 and arrived Aliaga on 23 Oct 2013. Disposal complete by 12 Feb 2014. Shipbreakers

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