HMS ''Alacrity'' was a

Type 21 frigate The Type 21 frigate, or ''Amazon''-class frigate, was a British Royal Navy general-purpose escort that was designed in the late 1960s, built in the 1970s and served throughout the 1980s into the 1990s. Development In the mid-1960s, the Royal Na ...

of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

. ''Alacrity'' was active during the Falklands War of 1982, where she sank a supply ship, survived Exocet-missile attacks and rescued men from the '' Atlantic Conveyor''. She was transferred to Pakistan on 1 March 1994 and renamed PNS ''Badr''.

Background

Built by

Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited (YSL), often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde. It is now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by BAE Systems, which has also op ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland, she was completed with

Exocet The Exocet () is a French-built anti-ship missile whose various versions can be launched from surface vessels, submarines, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Etymology The missile's name was given by M. Guillot, then the technical director ...

launchers in 'B' position.

Royal Navy service

1977–1981

In 1977, ''Alacrity'' took part in the

Fleet Review A fleet review or naval review is an event where a gathering of ships from a particular navy is paraded and reviewed by an incumbent head of state and/or other official civilian and military dignitaries. A number of national navies continue to ...

, of the Royal Navy at

Spithead Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast. It receives its name from the Spit, a sandbank stretching south from the Hampshire ...

in celebration of HM the Queen's Silver Jubilee. In 1980, "Alacrity" took part in a Far-East deployment. During a visit to Shanghai she was the first British warship to enter the Yangtse river since HMS Amethyst escaped in 1949.

Falklands War

''Alacrity'' participated in the Falklands War, departing Devonport on 5 April 1982 and captained by Commander Christopher Craig. ''Alacrity'' was slightly damaged by an Argentine bomb on 1 May 1982. On the night of 10–11 May 1982 ''Alacrity'' was tasked to establish if the Argentines had mined the north entrance of

Falkland Sound The Falkland Sound ( es, Estrecho de San Carlos) is a sea strait in the Falkland Islands. Running southwest-northeast, it separates West and East Falkland. Name The sound was named by John Strong in 1690 for Viscount Falkland, the name only l ...

. While approaching Swan Islands, she engaged and sank the 3000 ton Argentine supply ship ARA ''Isla de los Estados'' with her 4.5-inch gun. The Argentine transport blew up after a hit ignited her cargo of jet fuel and ammunition. Fifteen crew members and seven servicemen (from all three armed forces and the

coast guard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

) were killed, there were only two survivors. As ''Alacrity'' left the channel just before dawn, her sister ship was waiting to accompany her back to the Task Force, when the Argentine submarine, Captained by Fernando Azcueta fired two SST-4 torpedoes at a range of 5000 yards. One didn't leave its tube, the other missed and was heard to detonate after hitting the sea bottom. On 25 May, ''Alacrity'' sustained damage to her bow, while rescuing survivors from the , which had been struck by two Exocet missiles.

1982–1994

As with the other surviving Type 21 frigates, ''Alacrity'' was suffering from cracking in her hull by the mid-1980s. She was taken in for refitting, and a steel plate was welded down each side of the ship. In 1989, while deployed as West Indies guard ship, ''Alacrity'' was tasked for humanitarian relief on the island of Montserrat in the British West Indies after the island suffered devastation in the wake of Hurricane Hugo. The ship's Lynx helicopter was the sole means of transporting aid ashore as the port was destroyed.

Pakistan Navy service

''Alacrity'' was decommissioned and transferred to

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

on 1 March 1994, being renamed ''Badr''. Exocet was not transferred to Pakistan and ''Badr'' had her obsolete Sea Cat launcher removed and replaced with a Phalanx CIWS.

Signaal Thales Nederland B.V. (formerly Hollandse Signaalapparaten B.V. or in short Signaal) is a subsidiary of the French multinational company Thales Group based in the Netherlands. The firm was founded as ''NV Hazemeyer's Fabriek van Signaalapparate ...

DA08 air search radar replaced the Type 992 and SRBOC chaff launchers and new 20 mm and additional 30 mm guns were fitted. Between 11 and 21 May 2008, ''Badr'' participated in Exercise Inspired Union, a multi-national exercises in the North Arabian Sea. Other Pakistani warships included the frigate ''Shah Jahan'' and the replenishment tanker ''Nasr'', as well as the Pakistan Air Force explosive ordnance disposal team, and the American destroyers and . ''Badr'' was decommissioned in April 2013 by the Pakistan Navy.

References

Publications

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alacrity (F174) Type 21 frigates Falklands War naval ships of the United Kingdom 1974 ships