HMS ''Active'' was a of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. Built by

Vosper Thornycroft VTG (formerly VT Group) is a privately held United States defense and services company, with its origins in a former British shipbuilding group, previously known as Vosper Thornycroft. The British part of VTG was integrated into Babcock Interna ...

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, England, she was completed with

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

launchers in 'B' position, the first of the class to be so fitted.

Royal Navy service

''Active'' participated in the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

, setting out from

HMNB Devonport His Majesty's Naval Base, Devonport (HMNB Devonport) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Portsmouth) and is the sole nuclear repair and refuelling facility for the Roya ...

on 10 May 1982 as part of the

Bristol Group The Bristol group was a group of British warships that were sent to the "Total Exclusion Zone" as reinforcements late in the Falklands War. The majority sailed from the UK on 10 May 1982. The group consisted of: Destroyers *, Type 82 *, Type 42 ...

, reaching the task force on 21 May. ''Active'' formed part of the main British Fleet, well east of the Falklands during the day, while escorting supply convoys to

San Carlos Water San Carlos Water is a bay/fjord on the west coast of East Falkland, facing onto the Falkland Sound. Name Despite its Spanish language, Spanish-sounding name, there is a wide discrepancy with the Spanish usage, for in Spanish "Estrecho de San C ...

or carrying out shore bombardment missions at night. On the night of 13/14 June, ''Active'' shelled on Argentine positions during the

Battle of Mount Tumbledown Mount Tumbledown, Mount William, and Sapper Hill are located to the west of Port Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands. Due to their proximity to the capital, these positions held strategic importance during the 1982 Falklands War. On ...

.Marriott 1983, p. 104. HMS ''Active'' took part in five NGS (naval gun supports) at Bluff Cove, Fitzroy, Berkley Sound, Mount Tumbledown, and Port Stanley. By the mid-1980s, in common with the other surviving Type 21s, ''Active'' suffered from hull cracking. When the ship was next refitted steel plating was welded along each side of the ship to repair and reinforce the weak points. At the same time modifications were made to reduce hull noise. When

Hurricane Gilbert Hurricane Gilbert was the second most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Atlantic basin in terms of barometric pressure, only behind Hurricane Wilma in 2005. An extremely powerful tropical cyclone that formed during the 1988 Atlantic hurri ...

struck

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

and

Grand Cayman Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the location of the territory's capital, George Town, Cayman Islands, George Town. In relation to the other two Cayman Islands, it is approximately 75 miles (121 km) southwest of L ...

, ''Active'', supported by

RFA RFA may refer to: Groups, organizations * Radio Free Asia, a private news broadcaster and publisher in East Asia, funded in part by the U.S. government * Renewable Fuels Agency, a former UK renewable fuel regulatory agency * Renewable Fuels A ...

''Oakleaf'', arrived in the area on 13 September 1988 to provided emergency relief, before leaving seven days later.

Pakistan Navy service

''Active'' decommissioned and was sold to

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

on 23 September 1994, being renamed ''Shah Jahan''. Exocet was not transferred to Pakistan and ''Shah Jahan'' had her obsolete Sea Cat launcher removed.

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 Signaalapparaten ...

DA08 air search radar replaced the Type 992 and SRBOC chaff launchers and 20 mm and 30 mm guns were fitted. Her flag was sold on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

programme ''

Bargain Hunt ''Bargain Hunt'' is a British television programme in which two pairs of contestants are challenged to buy antiques from shops or a fair and then sell them in an auction for a profit. It has aired on BBC One since 13 March 2000 in a daytime ...

''. ''Shah Jahan'' remains in service with the

Pakistan Navy The Pakistan Navy (PN) (; ''romanized'': Pākistān Bahrí'a; ) is the naval warfare branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The Chief of the Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Com ...

. Between 11 and 21 May 2008, ''Shah Jahan'' participated in Exercise Inspired Union, a multi-national exercises in the

North Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

. Other Pakistani warships included the frigate ''Badr'' and the replenishment tanker ''Nasr'', as well as the Pakistan Air Force explosive ordnance disposal team, and the American destroyers and . ''Shah Jahan'' was sunk as a target on 12 January 2021 as part of a Pakistan Navy live firing exercise.

Civilian connections

''Active'' was the adopted ship of the town of

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, North-West

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The ship and its crew were granted the freedom of the town in 1989. Part of the town's inner ring-road between Westgate and the traffic lights at the Church Street junction with

Colne Colne () is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. The town is northeast of Nelson, Lancashire, Nelson, northeast of Burnley and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. The ...

Road is called Active Way. One of Active's anchors is displayed at the Anchor Retail Park next to Active Way.

References

Publications

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Active Type 21 frigates Cold War frigates of the United Kingdom Falklands War naval ships of the United Kingdom 1972 ships Ships built in Southampton