HMS Euryalus (F15)
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HMS ''Euryalus'' (F15) 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 the rest of the class, ''Euryalus'' was named after a figure of mythology. ''Euryalus'' was built by Scotts Shipbuilders of
Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...
. ''Euryalus'' was launched on 6 June 1963, and commissioned on 16 September 1964. This ''Euryalus'' was the sixth of the name and had a strong liaison with the
Lancashire Fusiliers The Lancashire Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that saw distinguished service through many years and wars, including the Second Boer War, and the World War I, First and World War II, Second World Wars. It had many diffe ...
, whose motto (''Omnia Audax'') she bore from the 4th ''Euryalus'' landing its 1st Battalion at W Beach,
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, where the Regiment "won six
Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...
es before breakfast".


Service history


1964–1969

On commissioning ''Euryalus'' became Leader of the 26th Escort Squadron which was based 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 ...
. While based in the Far East, ''Euryalus'' took part in
Indonesian Confrontation Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...
, with ''Euryalus'' having few incidents during her participation in the conflict, mainly patrolling the waters around
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. In 1966 ''Euryalus'' recommissioned and went into refit in Devonport. In April 1967, after work up, she joined ''
STANAVFORLANT Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1) is one of NATO's standing naval maritime immediate reaction forces. SNMG1 consists of four to six destroyers and frigates. Its role is to provide NATO with an immediate operational response capability. H ...
'', visiting Norway ( Bodø and
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), Sweden (Stockholm), Iceland,
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, Canada (Halifax for the
Canadian Centennial The Canadian Centennial was a yearlong celebration held in 1967 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation. Celebrations in Canada occurred throughout the year but culminated on Dominion Day, July 1. Commemorative coins were m ...
), Montreal for
Expo 67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 28 to October 29, 1967. It was a category one world's fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most s ...
, Quebec and St John's Newfoundland. She deployed to the Far East in December 1967 as Leader of the 1st Frigate Squadron and spent Christmas in Simonstown (South Africa). Early in 1968 she carried out a six-week Beira Patrol followed by a week on Internal Security duty in
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which was approaching independence, which had caused the different racial groups there to jostle violently for position. This deployment to the Far East continued with visits to Sydney, Auckland, Vila in the
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,
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and Yokohama in Japan, and Hong Kong, Indonesia,
Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...
and Singapore before returning home in December 1968 via Auckland, Fiji,
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, San Diego and the Panama Canal. In 1969, ''Euryalus'' again returned to the Far East, which also had a substantial Royal Navy presence at the time.


1970–1979

In 1970, ''Euryalus'' became the
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guard ship, a role that a number of ''Leanders'' performed. In 1972, ''Euryalus'' undertook a Beira Patrol, designed to prevent oil reaching
Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...
via
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. The following year, ''Euryalus'' began her modernisation at Devonport Dockyard, which included the removal of her twin 4.5-in gun to accommodate the Australian-designed
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 (ASW) missile system. The modernisation was completed in 1976. In 1977, the highlight of the year was the taking part in June of the Fleet Review of the Royal Navy, in celebration of HM the Queen's
Silver Jubilee Silver Jubilee marks a 25th anniversary. The anniversary celebrations can be of a wedding anniversary, the 25th year of a monarch's reign or anything that has completed or is entering a 25-year mark. Royal Silver Jubilees since 1750 Note: This ...
. She was positioned in the middle of her sister-ships and . In 1978, ''Euryalus'' was a member of the 2nd Frigate Squadron (F2) more commonly known as the Portland Training Squadron, spending most of her time in and around Portland Naval base. She took part in various exercises, including the dreaded "Thursday War", helping to train warships and auxiliaries of the Royal and Foreign navies as part of maintaining their operational effectiveness. However it was not all work and no play as she carried out visits to
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in France,
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in Denmark, and a "Meet the Navy" visit to her adopted town of
South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman Britain, Roman times as ''Arbeia'' and as ''Caer Urfa'' by the Early Middle Ag ...
where she took part in the activities to commemorate the wartime exploits of , the highlight of which was a visit by
Earl Mountbatten of Burma Earl Mountbatten of Burma is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, created in 1947 for Rear Admiral Louis Mountbatten, who in 1946 had been created the first Viscount Mountbatten of Burma. He was later promoted to Admiral of the Fleet. ...
.


1980–1989

In 1981, ''Euryalus'' undertook a
Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
patrol during the tense times in that region, specifically the
Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...
which had begun the previous year. In 1982, ''Euryalus'', along with her sister-ship , came to the aid of the Portuguese vessel MV ''Ave Maria'' which was ablaze off the Essex coast, rescuing 45 people. In February 1984, ''Euryalus'' joined the
Standing Naval Force Atlantic Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1) is one of NATO's standing naval maritime immediate reaction forces. SNMG1 consists of four to six destroyers and frigates. Its role is to provide NATO with an immediate operational response capability. H ...
(STANAVFORLANT), a
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
multi-national squadron, relieving the destroyer . In 1986, ''Euryalus'' became the leader of the 1st Frigate Squadron. ''Euryalus'' decommissioned on 31 March 1989 and was bought by Devonport Management Limited with the intention of then selling her to a foreign navy, but this was not to be, and in 1990, ''Euryalus'' was sold for scrap and broken up at Millom in Cumbria alongside HMS ''Ajax''.


References


Publications

* * *Marriott, Leo, 1983. ''Royal Navy Frigates 1945-1983'', Ian Allan Ltd. {{DEFAULTSORT:Euryalus Leander-class frigates Ships built on the River Clyde 1963 ships