Romanian frigate Regele Ferdinand (F221)

Regele Ferdinand is a Type 22 frigate of the Romanian Naval Forces, formerly a Royal Navy ship named HMS Coventry. She was originally intended to be named Boadicea but was named Coventry in honour of the previous Coventry, a Type 42 destroyer sunk in the Falklands War. Following service in the Royal Navy she was sold to the Romanian Navy in 2003.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Coventry.

HMS Coventry
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Coventry
Operator: Royal Navy
Builder: Swan Hunter
Laid down: 29 March 1984
Launched: 8 April 1986
Commissioned: 14 October 1988
Decommissioned: 17 January 2002
Identification: Pennant number: F98
Fate: Sold to Romania on 14 January 2003
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type: Type 22 frigate
Displacement: 4,800 tons
Length: 146.5 m (481 ft)
Beam: 14.8 m (49 ft)
Draught: 6.4 m (21 ft)
Propulsion:
Speed:
  • 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) (cruise)
  • 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) (max)
Range: 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km; 9,200 mi)
Complement: 273
Armament:
Aircraft carried: 2 × Lynx MK 8 helicopters
Romania
Name: Regele Ferdinand
Namesake: King Ferdinand of Romania
Laid down: 29 March 1984
Launched: 8 April 1986
Acquired: 14 January 2003
Commissioned: 9 September 2004
Identification: F221
Status: In active service
General characteristics
Class and type: Type 22 frigate
Displacement: 5,300 tons
Length: 148.1 m (486 ft)
Beam: 14.8 m (49 ft)
Draught: 6.4 m (21 ft)
Propulsion: 4 x Rolls Royce gas turbine engines
Speed:
  • 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) (cruise)
  • 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) (max)
Range: 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km; 5,200 mi)
Complement: 250
Armament: 76/62 Oto Melara Super-Rapid gun
Aircraft carried: IAR-330 Puma Naval

Operational Service

Royal Navy

Between 1990 and 1996 Coventry was the leader of the 1st Frigate Squadron.

Romanian Navy
Regele Ferdinand in 2005
For other ships with the same name, see Romanian ship Regele Ferdinand.

She was purchased from the United Kingdom by the Romanian Navy on 14 January 2003, and renamed Regele Ferdinand (King Ferdinand) after Ferdinand I of Romania. The ship was handed over to Romania on 19 August 2004, and underwent sea trials at the same time. Regele Ferdinand was commissioned into the Romanian Navy on 9 September 2004 with the pennant number F221, and is the current flagship of the Romanian Navy. There has since been some controversy over the price at which she was bought.[1]

On 22 March 2011, President of Romania Traian Băsescu said, after a CSAT meeting, that Romania will send the frigate Regele Ferdinand with 205 mariners and two officers on board to enforce an arms embargo in the Mediterranean Sea, as part of the 2011 military intervention in Libya - Operation Unified Protector.[2] During their run in the NATO naval group acting on Operation Unified Protector - 2011, the frigate has traveled over 17,400 nautical miles (32,200 km) and carried out around 770 specific tasks.[3]

Since entry into service of the Romanian Navy, Regele Ferdinand has performed a series of tasks among which the most important are deployments to Operation Active Endeavour in 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010 in the Mediterranean Sea, the exercise in Bulgaria "Breeze -CertExam" 2007, 2008, the exercise "Noble Midas" in Croatia in 2007 and 2008 in Italy.[3]

Since 13 September 2012 Regele Ferdinand has participated in Operation Atalanta. The ship embarked naval commandos of Grupul Naval de Forțe pentru Operații Speciale (GNFOS).[4]

In August 2014, Regele Ferdinand sailed alongside Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 Task Unit 2 which operated in the Black Sea as part of Exercise Sea Breeze.[5]

In July 2019, the Romanian authorities announced the selection of Naval Group and its partner Santierul Naval Constanta (SNC) for the programme to build four new Gowind multi-mission corvettes and to modernise the T22 frigates.

Commanding officers
Royal Navy captains[6]
FromToCaptain
19881990Captain Edward Hackett RN
19901991Captain Roger C. Lane-Nott RN
19911993Captain Stephen E. Saunders RN
19931994Captain Christopher D. Stanford
19941996Captain Thomas Morton RN
19992001Captain Philip Jones RN

See also

References
  1. Evans, Rob; Leigh, David (13 June 2006). "We paid three times too much for UK frigates, Romania says". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  2. "Traian Basescu: Romania va trimite fregata Regele Ferdinand cu 205 militari in Mediterana pentru operatiuni de blocare a oricarei nave suspecte ca transporta armament" (in Romanian). HotNews.ro. 22 March 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  3. Archived 20 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Martinescu, Darius (12 September 2012). ""Regele Ferdinand" a plecat la război în Golful Aden". Romania Libera (in Romanian). Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  5. Pugliese, David (6 January 2015). "HMCS Fredericton arrives in Portugal, HMCS Toronto to be back in Canada in late January". Defence Watch. Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  6. Mackie, Colin. "II: Royal Navy- Captains Commanding Warships". British Armed Forces (1900–). Retrieved 19 January 2014.
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