HMS Bristol (D23)
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 & awards | Falklands 1982 |
| Fate | Sold for scrap |
| Badge | |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & 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) |
| Sensors & processing systems | ADAWS-2 combat direction system
Type 965 air search radar (until 1984) Type 1022 2D air search radar (from 1984) Type 992Q low-angle search radar 2x Type 909 Sea Dart target illumination Type 978 navigation radar Type 170 search sonar Type 184 target indication sonar |
| Electronic warfare & decoys | UAA1
Corvus chaff launcher (from 1979) Mark 36 SRBOC (from 1982) |
| Armament | 4.5-inch (113mm) Mk 8 gun
GWS 30 Sea Dart SAM launcher (38 rounds + 10 additional warheads) Ikara A/S launcher (at least 24 rounds)(until 1984) Mark 10 'Limbo' A/S mortar (until 1979) 2 × twin Oerlikon/BMARC GCM-A03 30 mm guns (from 1983) 2 × Oerlikon/BMARC GAM-B01 20 mm guns (from 1983) 2 × Oerlikon 20 mm guns (from 1979) |
| Aircraft carried | None (able to support heavy lift helicopters |
| Aviation facilities | Flight deck added when Limbo removed and mortar well plated over |
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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.
Following a long career that included the Falklands War, she was converted into a training ship in 1987. While part of the Dartmouth training squadron, she suffered a boiler explosion in 1991 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, and her ship's bell was given to the Lord Mayor's Chapel in Bristol where it can be seen when the chapel is open.