HMS ''Cadiz'' 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 ...

. She was named after the Battle of Cádiz, in which the French besieged the Spanish town in 1810, which was eventually lifted in 1812 after the French defeat at the

Battle of Salamanca The Battle of Salamanca (in French and Spanish known as the Battle of the Arapiles) took place on 22July 1812. An Anglo-Portuguese Army, Anglo-Portuguese army under the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Earl of Wellington (future ...

. She was transferred to 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 ...

in 1956, and commissioned as PNS ''Khaibar''. She was sunk off her home port of

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

by the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

missile boat A missile boat or missile cutter is a small, fast warship armed with anti-ship missiles. Being smaller than other warships such as destroyers and frigates, missile boats are popular with nations interested in forming a navy at lower cost. They ...

, during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971.

History in the Royal Navy

''Cadiz'' was built by

Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited, was a Scottish shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Glasgow. Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Na ...

. She was launched on 16 September 1944 and commissioned on 12 April 1946. Upon her commissioning, ''Cadiz'' joined the

5th Destroyer Flotilla The British 5th Destroyer Flotilla, or Fifth Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the Royal Navy from 1910 to 1942 and again from 1947 to 1951. History The flotilla was formed in February 1910 and disbanded in 1942. Its first commander ...

, part of the

Home Fleet The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet. Before the First ...

. In 1947, ''Cadiz'', along with her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

, escorted the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

to Norway, where the small group visited a variety of ports in the Scandinavian country. In 1950, ''Cadiz'' along with many other vessels of the Home Fleet, including three aircraft carriers and the

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

, undertook a Spring Cruise, visiting the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

where they performed a number of naval exercises as well as visiting a variety of ports in the region. In 1953, ''Cadiz'' took part in the Coronation Review to celebrate the

Coronation of Elizabeth II The Coronation of the British monarch, coronation of Elizabeth II as queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey in London. Elizabeth acceded to the throne at the age of 25 upon th ...

. ''Cadiz'' was positioned in the middle of her sister-ships and . In the same year, ''Cadiz'' was placed in Reserve, along with the rest of the ships in the 5th Destroyer Squadron.

History in the Pakistan Navy

On 29 February 1956 the Admiralty announced that ''Cadiz'' was being sold to the

. She was refitted and modernized with funds made available by the United States Mutual Defence Assistance Programme and commissioned as PNS ''Khaibar''. The refit was undertaken by Alex Stephens and Sons Ltd, Govan, Glasgow. She was handed over to the Pakistan Navy on 1 February 1957.

The sinking of PNS ''Khaibar''

During the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, the

launched a fast naval strike on the Pakistani Naval Headquarters of

. On the night of 4 December 1971 as a part of Operation Trident, a task group consisting of 3 s from the 25th "Killer" Missile Boat Squadron, , , and , escorted by two anti-submarine s, and . approached Karachi. At 2150 hrs, when the task group was south of

, they detected Pakistani naval vessels. ''Nirghat'' launched 2 SS-N-2 Styx missiles on the largest target, which was ''Khaibar'', 45 miles to its northwest. Both missiles struck the destroyer, sinking it. ''Khaibar'' went down with most hands on board. A Pakistani minesweeper, , was also sunk and another destroyer, was severely damaged, later scrapped as a result. The missile boats then hit the fuel storage tanks at

Karachi Harbour Karachi Harbour is a narrow bay and river estuary located west of the Indus River Delta in Karachi, Pakistan. The harbour lies between the Lyari River delta and Chinna Creek to the north, and the Arabian Sea to the south. Since 1886, sections of t ...

, setting them ablaze.

Notes

Publications

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cadiz (D79) Battle-class destroyers of the Royal Navy Ships built in Govan 1944 ships Cold War destroyers of the United Kingdom Battle-class destroyers of the Pakistan Navy Shipwrecks in the Arabian Sea Maritime incidents in 1971 Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 Ships of the Indo-Pakistani wars 20th century in Karachi 1971 in Pakistan December 1971 in Asia 1971 in India Port of Karachi Military history of Karachi Naval battles of Indo-Pakistani wars