HMS ''Dumbarton Castle'' (P265) was an

offshore patrol vessel A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and th ...

of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

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 ...

. Her main role was the protection of the offshore assets of the United Kingdom, including oil and gas installations and fisheries out to the limit. She spent much of her time deployed in the South Atlantic as

guard ship A guard ship is a warship assigned as a stationary guard in a port or harbour, as opposed to a coastal patrol boat, which serves its protective role at sea. Royal Navy In the Royal Navy of the eighteenth century, peacetime guard ships were usual ...

, patrolling around the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

and

South Georgia South Georgia is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. ...

, alternating 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 ...

. Her long association with the Falkland Islands resulted in the

ship's company A ship's company or complement comprises all officers, non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel aboard a naval vessel, excluding civilians and guests. United States Aircraft-capable ships An exception to this rule is the definition of shi ...

being given permission to add her name to the roll of honour written in white rocks on the hillside opposite

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

in 2007.

Design and construction

The was designed for fisheries protection and oilfield patrol duties in the United Kingdom's

exclusive economic zone An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine natural resource, reso ...

(EEZ). They were a follow-on to the interim which had been ordered in 1975 when the EEZ was extended to 200 miles, and as a result of initial experience with the Islands, was considerably longer in order to improve seakeeping in heavy seas, with the extra length giving greater speed from the same power as the Islands and allowing a large helicopter deck to be fitted. ''Dumbarton Castle'' was

long overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also u ...

and

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the ster ...

, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a draught of .

Displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

was standard and full load. The ship was powered by two Ruston 12RK 320 DM

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s rated at (with a maximum sustained power of , driving two shafts fitted with controllable pitch propellers. This gave a speed of . The ship had a range of at . The ship was initially armed with a single

Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun The Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60 (often referred to simply as the "Bofors 40 mm gun", the "Bofors gun" and the like, see name) is an anti-aircraft autocannon, designed in the 1930s by the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors. The g ...

, although by 1990 this had been replaced by an Oerlikon 30 mm gun on a DS30B mount. The main armament was supplemented by two 7.62 mm machine guns. A large helicopter deck was fitted aft, suitable for landing a Sea King or

Chinook Chinook may refer to: Chinook peoples The name derives from a settlement of Indigenous people in Oregon and Washington State. * Chinookan peoples, several groups of Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest ** Chinook Indian Nation, an organiza ...

helicopter, but no hangar was provided, as the cost of a permanently embarked helicopter would be more than the cost of the ship. She was fitted with Type 1006 navigation radar, which was supplemented with a Type 994 air/surface search radar in 1986, together with a UAN(1) electronic intercept system (based on the Orange Crop system fitted to the Royal Navy's helicopters. The ship had a crew of 6 officers and 39 other ranks, with room for a 25-man detachment of

Royal Marines The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...

to be carried. ''Dumbarton Castle'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

Hall, Russell & Company Hall, Russell & Company, Limited was a shipbuilder based in Aberdeen, Scotland. History Brothers James and William Hall, Thomas Russell, a Glasgow engineer, and James Cardno Couper founded the company in 1864 to build steam engines and boile ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

shipyard as

yard number The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly 0.9 ...

986 on 25 April 1980 as the second Castle-class patrol vessel. This was in advance of a formal order for the two ships being placed, which did not take place until 8 August that year. She was launched on 3 June 1981, and was completed on 12 March 1982.

Service

''Dumbarton Castle'' commissioned at

Rosyth Rosyth () is a town and Garden City in Fife, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth. Scotland's first Garden city movement, Garden City, Rosyth is part of the Greater Dunfermline Area and is located 3 miles south of Dunfermline city cen ...

on 26 March 1982, and was assigned the

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

P265. In April 1982, 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 ...

began when Argentine forces invaded the

on 2 April. ''Dumbarton Castle'' sailed from her base at Rosyth on 26 April for

HMNB Portsmouth His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is loc ...

to be fitted with additional communications equipment and a desalination plant to better suit her to support the British task force sailing to retake the Falklands. ''Dumbarton Castle'' left Portsmouth on 1 May, arriving at

Ascension Island Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overs ...

on 11 May, where she was employed as a despatch vessel, ferrying stores between Ascension and the Task Force, and between warships of the task force. She returned to Rosyth in August 1982. ''Dumbarton Castle'' was awarded the

battle honour A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or Military operation, operation on its flags ("colours"), uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible. In ...

"Falkland Islands 1982" for her service in the war. Both ''Dumbarton Castle'' and

were employed as

guardship A guard ship is a warship assigned as a stationary guard in a port or harbour, as opposed to a coastal patrol boat, which serves its protective role at sea. Royal Navy In the Royal Navy of the eighteenth century, peacetime guard ships were usua ...

s for the Falklands as well as for more normal fishery protection duties in home waters. In August 1991, ''Dumbarton Castle'' relieved ''Leeds Castle'' at the start of a three-year deployment to the Falklands, and from 1998 to 2000, carried out another three year deployment to the South Atlantic. In 2001, ''Dumbarton Castle'' was converted to serve as a command ship for mine countermeasures vessels ''Dumbarton Castle'' was replaced by the , , in 2007, returning to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

after her last patrol on 22 November that year. Both ''Dumbarton Castle'' and her sister were sold to Bangladesh in April 2010. ''Dumbarton Castle'' left Portsmouth on 21 May 2010 towed by the tug ''Multratug 7'', for

A&P Group A&P Group Ltd is the largest ship repair and conversion company in the UK, with three shipyards located in Hebburn, Middlesbrough and Falmouth, Cornwall, Falmouth. The company undertakes a wide variety of maintenance and repair work on commerci ...

facility in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

for a major regeneration project with her sister ship ''Leeds Castle''. The project was completed in December 2010. In March 2011, ''Leeds Castle'' and ''Dumbarton Castle'' were recommissioned as and of the

Bangladesh Navy The Bangladesh Navy () is the naval warfare branch of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, responsible for the defence of Bangladesh's of maritime territorial area from any external threat, the security of sea ports and exclusive economic zones of Ban ...

respectively.
/ref> On 4 August 2020 BNS ''Bijoy'', was damaged in the 2020 Beirut explosions, 2020 Beirut Port Explosions while part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.

Notes

Citations

References

* * * * * * * *

External links

Royal Navy site

A history – the Royal Navy’s Falkland Islands patrol vessels
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dumbarton Castle (P265) Castle-class patrol vessels Falklands War naval ships of the United Kingdom 1981 ships Ships built by Hall, Russell & Company