HMS Gabbard (D47)
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HMS ''Gabbard'' 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). She was named in honour of the
Battle of the Gabbard The Battle of the Gabbard, was a naval battle fought from 2 to 3 June 1653 during the First Anglo-Dutch War. It took place near the Gabbard shoal off the coast of Suffolk, England, between fleets of the Commonwealth of England and the Dutch Repu ...
, which occurred in 1653, and which resulted in an English victory over the Dutch Fleet. ''Gabbard'' was built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Limited on the
Tyne Tyne may refer to: __NOTOC__ Geography *River Tyne, England *Port of Tyne, the commercial docks in and around the River Tyne in Tyne and Wear, England * River Tyne, Scotland *River Tyne, a tributary of the South Esk River, Tasmania, Australia Peopl ...
. She was laid down on 2 February 1944, launched on 16 March 1945 and completed on 10 December 1946.


Royal Navy service

Upon commissioning, ''Gabbard'' 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 ...
based in the UK. In 1947, ''Gabbard'', while on a visit to
Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...
, Sweden, narrowly avoided collision with the ferry ''Malmohus'' out of
Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...
, Denmark. The harbour at Malmö is in the form of a capital 'E' the central segment being a stone jetty. The destroyer , entered the harbour first and tied up with the stone jetty on her port bow. She was followed by ''Gabbard''. In order to depart, ''Gabbard'' swung round on her bow cable and started to steam ahead. At the same time the ferry entered the harbour. To avoid a collision, ''Gabbard'' went astern at speed. She then went ahead but was still going astern when she hit a ship on the stocks. The
depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited ...
racks which protruded over the stern were forced up over the deck. She then was travelling forward and struck the end of the stone jetty on her starboard side. She suffered serious damage from the 'break' to the stern. In 1948 ''Gabbard'' took part in the Autumn Cruise, which included the two
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 ...
s and , and three other smaller vessels. The cruise deployed to
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
and the
West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...
, performing a number of fly-the-flag visits to a variety of ports, and performing naval exercises and other duties. In 1949, ''Gabbard'', escorting ''Vengeance'' once more, deployed to the cold climate of the
Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...
for experiments in that region. In 1950, ''Gabbard'', along with a number of other vessels of the Home Fleet, including three aircraft carriers, such as , 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 the Group performed a number of fly-the-flag visits to port, and naval exercises. In 1953, ''Gabbard'' decommissioned, and was subsequently placed in Reserve.


Sale to Pakistan

On 29 February 1956 the
Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...
announced that ''Gabbard'' was being sold 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 ...
. She was refitted and modernized with funds made available by the United States Mutual Defence Assistance Programme and commissioned as PNS ''Badr'' (D-161). The refit was undertaken by Palmers Hebburn, Yarrow. She was handed over to the Pakistan Navy on 24 January 1957 and sailed from
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 ...
to
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 ...
on 17 February 1957. During the war of 1965 ''Badr'' participated in
Operation Dwarka Operation Dwarka was a naval operation by the Pakistan Navy to attack the Indian coastal town of Dwarka on 7 and 8 September 1965. This instance was the first engagement by the Pakistan Navy in any of the Indo-Pakistan Wars, Indo-Pakistan wars ...


Notes


Publications

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gabbard (D47) Battle-class destroyers of the Royal Navy Ships built by Swan Hunter Ships built on the River Tyne 1945 ships Cold War destroyers of the United Kingdom Battle-class destroyers of the Pakistan Navy