HMS Brazen (F91)

HMS Brazen was a Type 22 frigate of the Royal Navy. She was completed three months ahead of schedule due to the Falklands War.

HMS Brazen (F91)
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Brazen (F91)
Operator:	Royal Navy
Builder:	Yarrow Shipbuilders
Laid down:	18 August 1978
Launched:	4 March 1980
Commissioned:	2 July 1982
Decommissioned:	30 August 1996
Honours and awards:	"Kuwait 1991"
Fate:	Sold to Brazil 18 November 1994
Brazil
Name:	Bosisio (F-48)
Namesake:	Almirante Paulo Bosísio
Operator:	Brazilian Navy
Acquired:	18 November 1994
Commissioned:	30 August 1996
Decommissioned:	29 September 2015.
Stricken:	Sunk as target, July 2017
Homeport:	Rio de Janeiro
Identification:	MMSI number: 709360424 Callsign: PWBO
General characteristics
Class and type:	Type 22 frigate
Displacement:	4,400 tons
Length:	131.2 m (430 ft)
Beam:	14.8 m (48 ft)
Draught:	6.1 m (20 ft)
Propulsion:	2 shafts, COGOG 2 × Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B boost gas turbines (54,600 shp) 2 × Rolls-Royce Tyne RM1C cruise gas turbines (9,700 shp)
Speed:	18 knots (33 km/h) cruise 30 knots (56 km/h) top speed
Complement:	222
Armament:	2 × 2x torpedo tubes for Mk-46 torpedoes 2 × 6 GWS25 Seawolf surface-to-air missile launchers 4 × 1 Exocet surface-to-surface missile launchers 2 × 40 mm Bofors AA guns 2 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
Aircraft carried:	2 × Lynx MK 8 helicopters
Aviation facilities:	Helipad and hangar

Royal Navy service

Brazen served on the Armilla Patrol which became a task force during the Gulf War. For this she received the battle honour "Kuwait 1991".[1] During the war, her Lynx helicopter attacked fast patrol boats.[2]

Following a patrol in the South Atlantic Brazen ran aground in the Patagonian Canal on 11 September 1994. The ship was refloated four days later and taken to Talcahuano for repairs, which lasted a month. She then returned to the UK under her own power for reinstatement of combat system equipment damaged in the incident.

Brazilian service

She was purchased from the United Kingdom by the Brazilian Navy on 18 November 1994, and renamed Bosísio. The ship was commissioned into the Brazilian Navy on 30 August 1996.[3]

In June 2009, Bosísio participated in the recovery mission for the wreckage of Air France Flight 447.

She was decommissioned from Brazilian navy service on 23 September 2015.[4]

She was sunk as a target in July 2017 during the Brazilian Navy Operation 'MISSILEX 2017'.[5]

References

1. "Written answers 1993 Gulf War". Hansard.
2. "The Royal Navy and the Gulf War". Archived from the original on 18 November 2006.
3. F Bosísio - F 48 Archived 22 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine Navios de Guerra Brasileiros. Retrieved on 3 June 2009.
4. Poder Naval OnLine. Retrieved on 27 September 2015.
5. Poder Naval OnLine. Retrieved 1 de agosto de 2017.

Publications

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.