HMS Edinburgh (D97)

HMS Edinburgh, on patrol near the Falkland Islands.
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Edinburgh
Builder:	Cammell Laird
Laid down:	8 September 1980
Launched:	14 April 1983
Sponsored by:	Ann Heseltine; wife of Michael Heseltine
Commissioned:	17 December 1985
Decommissioned:	6 June 2013
Homeport:	HMNB Portsmouth
Identification:	Pennant number: D97 Deck code: EB International callsign: GBBE
Nickname(s):	"Fortress of the Sea"
Status:	Scrapped
Badge:	On a Field White, upon a mount of rock in base Proper, a castle, triple turreted, mason White. The flags, windows and portcullis Red.
General characteristics
Class and type:	Type 42 destroyer
Displacement:	5,200 tonnes
Length:	141 m (463 ft)
Beam:	15.2 m (50 ft)
Propulsion:	COGOG (Combined Gas or Gas) turbines, 2 x Rolls Royce Olympus, 2 x Tyne, 2 shafts 2 turbines producing 36 MW (48,000 hp)
Speed:	34 kn (63 km/h; 39 mph)
Complement:	269
Armament:	1 × Twin Sea Dart missile launcher (total of 40 missiles) 1 × 4.5 in (110 mm) Mk 8 gun 2 × 20 mm Oerlikon guns 2 × Phalanx Close-in weapon system (CIWS) 2 × Triple anti-submarine torpedo tubes
Aircraft carried:	Lynx Mk 8 SRU armed with: 3 × anti ship missiles 2 × anti submarine torpedoes

HMS Edinburgh was a Type 42 (Batch 3) destroyer of the Royal Navy. Edinburgh was built by Cammell Laird of Birkenhead. She was launched on 14 April 1983 and commissioned on 17 December 1985. The largest of the Type 42 destroyers, Edinburgh was known as the "Fortress of the Sea". Edinburgh was the last of the Type 42 destroyer to serve in the Royal Navy and was decommissioned on 6 June 2013.

Edinburgh was readily distinguished by her distinctively different forecastle. When it was decided to fit the Phalanx CIWS to this class of warships, it was intended that Edinburgh should carry a single CIWS unit, mounted forward between her 4.5-inch gun and the Sea Dart launcher. To this end, her breakwaters were enlarged and she was fitted with a raised bulwark, very like those carried on the Type 22 frigates.

This location proved to be an unsuitably wet one for the Phalanx system despite the modifications to this warship, and Edinburgh was later fitted with a pair of wing-mounted CIWS as carried by the other ships of the class, but she retained her distinctive bulwark and enlarged breakwaters.

Edinburgh also differed from some ships of her class in carrying her badges flush to the funnel sides rather than on the funnel wing platforms.

In 1990, Edinburgh completed a refit, which included the fitting of the Phalanx Close-in weapon system (CIWS). In 1994, Edinburgh was present at a Fleet Review to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the D-Day landings in 1944. In 1998, Edinburgh deployed to the South Atlantic, where she patrolled the waters around the Falkland Islands, as well as making 'fly-the-flag' visits to various South American ports.

On 27 September 2002, Edinburgh sailed into the River Mersey to escort the yachts at the end of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.