HMS Sheffield (F96)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Sheffield.

The Chilean Navy's Almirante Williams
Career
Name:	HMS Sheffield (F96)
Namesake:	Sheffield (D80)
Operator:	Royal Navy
Builder:	Swan Hunter, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom
Laid down:	29 March 1984
Launched:	26 March 1986
Commissioned:	26 July 1988
Decommissioned:	5 November 2002
Motto:	Deo Adjuvante Labor Proficit ("With God's help our labour is successful")
Fate:	Sold to Chile
Career
Name:	Almirante Williams (FF-19)
Operator:	Armada de Chile
Commissioned:	4 September 2003
General characteristics
Class and type:	Type 22 frigate
Displacement:	5,300 tons
Length:	148.1 m
Beam:	14.8 m
Speed:	33 km/h cruise, 56 km/h sprint
Complement:	250
Armament:	2 x 6 GWS25 Seawolf SAM Launchers 4 x 1 Exocet SSM launchers 2 x Twin 30 mm AA 2 x 20 mm GAM-BO1 guns 4 x 7.62mm GPMG
Aircraft carried:	Lynx Mk.8 helicopter - as HMS Sheffield; Eurocopter Dauphin helicopter - as Admirante Williams.

HMS Sheffield (F96) was a Type 22 frigate of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. She was originally intended to be named Bruiser but was named Sheffield in honour of the previous Sheffield (D80), a Type 42 destroyer sunk in the Falklands War.

History

Sheffield was named and launched on 26 March 1986 by Mrs Susan Stanley, wife of the then Armed Forces Minister, and commissioned at Hull on 26 July 1988. There were several members of previous HMS Sheffields present at the launch. A specially minted Sheffield coin was placed in the keel at the keel-laying ceremony on 29 March 1984.

Late 1998 Sheffield provided assistance after Hurricane Georges, visiting the island of St Kitts and also saved a Honduran woman who had been swept out to sea from her home by the force of Hurricane Mitch.^[1][2]

HMS Sheffield attended the August Bank Holiday 28th - 30th 1999 Navy Days at HMNB Devonport, moored along with HMS Sutherland, HMS Somerset, HMS Monmouth, HMS Montrose, HMS Manchester, HMS Illustrious, HMS Campbeltown, HMS Trafalgar, HMS Triumph and RFA Argus.

May 2000 saw Sheffield deployed on an eight week deployment into the Baltic Sea, which included a two week BALTOPS 2000 - France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, United States, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and the Netherlands all contributed ships to the exercise, which involved aspects of Search and Rescue as well as military joint exercises. Sheffield later visited Kiel, then Gdynia, the Twin city of Plymouth, with the Lord Mayor of Plymouth before visiting St. Petersburg in Russia. Sheffield later visited Kotka in Finland before Klaipėda in Lithuania, as the first major British warship to visit the city. Whilst she was there she gave toys to an orphanage and redecorated a special school. Sheffield returned home on 26 July.^[3]

8 February 2001 saw HMS Sheffield, under Commander Simon Williams, deployed to the Caribbean for a six-month deployment.^[4] Sheffield was deployed to assist the United States Coast Guard, Dutch, French and Venezuelan navies in anti-drug operations and exercises. There were visits to the USA as well as Barbados, Trinidad, Antigua, St Lucia, Curaçao and the Bahamas. Sheffield took part in Exercise Tradewinds, which promoted interoperability between coastguards and law enforcement agencies in the area. Other ships in the exercise included TTS Nelson (the former Standing Naval Force Mediterranean (STANAVFORMED) to replace HMS Chatham. The mission was anti-terrorism by monitoring merchant shipping. There were also visits to Turkey, Sicily, Crete, Spain and Algiers.^[6] Sheffield was the flagship under the command of Commodore Angus Somerville. Tuesday 26 February saw HMS Sheffield assist the Spanish submarine DOGFISH 2002. The submarine needed medicines for a sailor whilst in the Ionian Sea.^[7]

11 October 2002 saw HMS Sheffield visit Kingston upon Hull one last time so that she could be visited by the people of her namesake city of Sheffield.^[8]

HMS Sheffield was decommissioned on 4 November 2002.^[9][10][11] After 14 years service, which included providing humanitarian assistance to Nicaragua and Honduras after Hurricane Mitch (which earned her the Wilkinson Sword for Peace along with HMS Ocean), the Strategic Defence Review of 1998 (updated 2001) saw the end of her career.

She was sold to Chile on 4 September 2003 and renamed Almirante Williams (FF-19) in honour of Juan Williams Rebolledo. She is slated for a major refit in 2008, which will see the installation of a 76mm cannon, surface-to-surface missiles (Harpoon), and more advanced electronics. Some sources state that the Barak anti-missile system VLS will be installed, these having been retrieved (and refurbished) from decommissioned County Class destroyers. The Barak is more advanced than the current Sea Wolf system installed on Type 22 frigates, although they both are for anti-missile defense.

HMS Sheffield at HMNB Devonport Navy day, 1999.

References

1. ^ "HMS OCEAN RETURNS FROM TRIALS IN THE WEST INDIES.". Royal Navy. 1998-12-11. http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.3310/changeNav/3533. 
2. ^ "SIR TRISTRAM - FINALLY HOME AFTER HURRICANE RELIEF OPERATIONS.". Royal Navy. 1998-12-17. http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.3328/changeNav/3533. 
3. ^ "HMS SHEFFIELD RETURNS FROM THE BALTIC SEA.". Royal Navy. 2000-07-25. http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.3382/changeNav/3533. 
4. ^ "HMS SHEFFIELD BOUND FOR THE CARIBBEAN.". Royal Navy. 2001-02-07. http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.3457/changeNav/3533. 
5. ^ "HMS SHEFFIELD DEPLOYMENT UPDATE.". Royal Navy. 2001-06-20. http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.3507/changeNav/3533. 
6. ^ "HMS SHEFFIELD TO TAKE OVER ROLE AS NATO FLAGSHIP.". Royal Navy. 2002-02-07. http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.3576/changeNav/3533. 
7. ^ "HMS SHEFFIELD LYNX HELPS SPANISH SUBMARINE.". Royal Navy. 2002-02-28. http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.3581/changeNav/3533. 
8. ^ "HMS Sheffield's farewell visit.". BBC. 2002-10-11. http://www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/sense_of_place/hms_sheffield/index.shtml. 
9. ^ "WITHDRAWAL FROM SERVICE OF HMS SHEFFIELD.". Royal Navy. 2002-10-09. http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.3651/changeNav/3533. 
10. ^ "HMS SHEFFIELD IS DECOMMISSIONED AT DEVONPORT.". Royal Navy. 2002-11-12. http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.3662/changeNav/3533. 
11. ^ "HMS Sheffield is decommissioned.". BBC. 2002-11-04. http://www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/sense_of_place/hms_sheffield/decommissioning_index.shtml. 

HMS Sheffield Type 22 Frigate (Batch 2A) guide. Directorate of Public Relations (Royal Navy). Printed in UK for HMSO by Roman Press Ltd, Bournemouth. Crown Copyright 1994, London.

Devonport Navy Days guide 1999

External links

• Royal Navy home page

Further reading

• Lofthouse, Alistair (1998). Shiny Sheff – The Story of Sheffield's Fighting Ships. Northern Map Distributors. ISBN 1901587037.  An overall history of the three vessels named HMS Sheffield.

Preceded by D80

HMS Sheffield 1986–2003

Succeeded by none (most recent Sheffield)