HMS ''Aurora'' 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 ...

(RN). Like other ships of the class, ''Aurora'' was named after a figure of mythology,

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

being the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess

Eos In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Eos (; Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek ''Ēṓs'', Attic Greek, Attic ''Héōs'', "dawn", or ; Aeolic Greek, Aeolic ''Aúōs'', Doric Greek, Doric ''Āṓs'') is the go ...

History

''Aurora'' was built by

John Brown & Company John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a Scottish Naval architecture, marine engineering and shipbuilding firm. It built many notable and world-famous ships including , , , , , and ''Queen Elizabeth 2 (ship), Queen Elizabeth 2''. At its heig ...

, shipbuilders of

Clydebank Clydebank () is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Milton beyond) to the w ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. ''Aurora'' was launched on 28 November 1962 and commissioned on 9 April 1964. ''Aurora'' became the leader of the 2nd Frigate Squadron in 1964. From 1967 to 1968, Derek Bazalgette served her as Commanding Officer. On 17 April 1968, her

Westland Wasp The Westland Wasp is a small 1960s British turbine-powered, shipboard anti-submarine helicopter. Produced by Westland Helicopters, it came from the same Saunders-Roe P.531 programme as the British Army Westland Scout, and is based on the ea ...

ASW helicopter from

829 Naval Air Squadron 829 Naval Air Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm. Before it was decommissioned in March 2018, it operated the AgustaWestland Merlin HM2 helicopter. History 1940–1942 829 Naval Air Squadron first formed on 15 June 1940 as ...

crashed off South Africa. It was replaced by an aircraft from . In August 1969, ''Aurora'', together with the American destroyer and the French destroyer , took part in the commemorations at

Théoule-sur-Mer Théoule-sur-Mer (; Occitan: ''Teula de Mar'' or simply ''Teula''), popularly known as Théoule, is a resort village in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. It lies to the east of th ...

of the 25th anniversary of

Operation Dragoon Operation Dragoon (initially Operation Anvil), known as Débarquement de Provence in French ("Provence Landing"), was the code name for the landing operation of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Provence (Southern France) on 15Augu ...

, the

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

invasion of Southern France. From 1970 to 1971,

Paul Greening Rear admiral (Royal Navy), Rear Admiral Sir Paul Woollven Greening (4 June 1928 – 5 November 2008) was a Royal Navy officer and courtier, who served as Naval Secretary and Master of the Household. Naval career Educated at Lancing College#Lanci ...

served as her Commanding Officer. On 19 September 1972, while on patrol near the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

during the

Second Cod War The Cod Wars (; also known as , ; ) were a series of 20th-century confrontations between the United Kingdom (with aid from West Germany) and Iceland about fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each of the disputes ended with an Icelandic victo ...

, ''Aurora'' came to the aid of the

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic fishing vessel ''Jon Eiriksson'' that had caught fire, rescuing the five-person crew of the fishing vessel with the frigate's helicopter. Soon after this incident, ''Aurora'' underwent modernisation which included the addition of the

Ikara Ikara is a town and local government area (LGA) in Kaduna State, northern Nigeria, located around (85 km) north-east from the city of Zaria Zaria is a List of Nigerian cities by population, metropolitan city in Nigeria, located at ...

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations ar ...

(ASW) missile launcher that in effect changed the Batch One ships, of which ''Aurora'' was part, into a specialised ASW batch rather than its original role as a general-purpose batch. The modernisation was completed in 1976. In 1978, ''Aurora'' joined the

Fishery Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish far ...

Protection Squadron, undertaking patrols and other duties in support of British fishing interests around the UK. She remained with the squadron until she was eventually transferred to the 7th Frigate Squadron, which was stationed in the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

, just as the RN presence in that region was being reduced. Further duties were undertaken by ''Aurora'' across the world and in 1982 she took part in the Armilla Patrol and in 1983 was deployed to the Far East, Australia and New Zealand during the Royal Navy's 'Orient Express' deployment along with

HMS Invincible Seven ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS ''Invincible''. * was originally the French 74-gun ship of the line ''L'Invincible'', captured off Cape Finisterre in 1747. She was the first purpose-built 74-gun ship of the line to serve in the ...

, HMS Rothsay and other RN Ships. However in 1987, due to defence cuts, as well as manpower shortages, a common problem for the RN at that time, ''Aurora'' was decommissioned.

References

HMS ''Aurora'' (Clydebuilt Ships Database)
(Retrieved February 2010) * 1967–1969 Ship's Logs. National Archives, Kew

Publications

* * Marriott, Leo, 1983. ''Royal Navy Frigates 1945-1983'', Ian Allan Ltd. {{DEFAULTSORT:Aurora (F10) Leander-class frigates 1962 ships Ships built on the River Clyde