HMS Iron Duke (F234)
HMS Iron Duke, 2013
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Iron Duke |
| Operator: | Royal Navy |
| Ordered: | July 1988 |
| Builder: | Yarrow Shipbuilders |
| Laid down: | 12 December 1988 |
| Launched: | 2 March 1991 |
| Commissioned: | 20 May 1993 |
| Refit: | Major 2012-2014 |
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| Status: | in active service |
| Badge: |  |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Type 23 Frigate |
| Displacement: | 4,900 t (4,800 long tons; 5,400 short tons) |
| Length: | 133 m (436 ft 4 in) |
| Beam: | 16.1 m (52 ft 10 in) |
| Draught: | 7.3 m (23 ft 9 in) |
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| Speed: | In excess of 28 kn (52 km/h; 32 mph) |
| Range: | 7,500 nautical miles (14,000 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h) |
| Complement: | 185 (accommodation for up to 205) |
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HMS Iron Duke is a Type 23 frigate of the Royal Navy, and the third ship to bear the name. Iron Duke was launched on 2 March 1991 by Lady King in the presence of the Duke and Duchess of Wellington. Her affiliated town is Kingston upon Hull, and she is named after Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington (the "Iron Duke"). She was the fifth Duke-class Type 23 frigate to be launched for the Royal Navy, at a cost of £140 million.
The motto of Iron Duke is Virtutis Fortuna Comes (latin: "Fortune is the companion of valour") – inherited from the 33rd (The Duke of Wellington's) Regiment of Foot.
Iron Duke carries a number of weapons and sensors which make her a multi-purpose combat vessel. Like all T23s, her original design role was anti-submarine warfare, but she can be employed in a variety of roles. She carries a Lynx Helicopter which can be used in an anti-submarine and anti-surface role as well as for humanitarian and search and rescue purposes.
Iron Duke has intercepted several large consignments of illegal drugs being sent from the Caribbean to Europe, in many cases with the aid of embarked United States Coast Guard personnel. She was also involved in action off Libya in 2011 on her way back from a patrol in the Persian Gulf.
More recently, Iron Duke has been the First of Class fit for the Royal Navy's new Type 997 Artisan 3D, successfully firing her missile system, using the new radar combined with the updated 'SWMLU' Seawolf missile targeting system, in the English Channel.
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Wikipedia