''Regele Ferdinand'' (F221) is a Type 22 frigate of the Romanian Naval Forces, formerly a Royal Navy ship named HMS ''Coventry''. She was originally intended to be named ''Boadicea'' but was named ''Coventry'' in honour of the previous ''Coventry'', a Type 42 destroyer sunk in the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

. Following service in the Royal Navy she was sold to the Romanian Navy in 2003.

Operational Service

Royal Navy

Between 1990 and 1996 ''Coventry'' was the leader of the 1st Frigate Squadron. The ship received the freedom of the city of Coventry in 1988.

Romanian Navy

She was purchased from the United Kingdom by the Romanian Navy on 14 January 2003, and renamed ''Regele Ferdinand'' (King Ferdinand) after Ferdinand I of Romania. The ship was handed over to Romania on 19 August 2004, and underwent sea trials at the same time. ''Regele Ferdinand'' was commissioned into the Romanian Navy on 9 September 2004 with the pennant number F221, and is the current

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

of the Romanian Navy. There has since been some controversy over the price at which she was bought. On 22 March 2011, President of Romania Traian Băsescu said, after a CSAT meeting, that Romania will send the frigate ''Regele Ferdinand'' with 205 mariners and two officers on board to enforce an arms embargo in the Mediterranean Sea, as part of the

2011 military intervention in Libya On 19 March 2011, a multi-state NATO-led coalition began a military intervention in Libya, to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, in response to events during the First Libyan Civil War. With ten votes in favour and five ...

- Operation Unified Protector. During their run in the NATO naval group acting on Operation Unified Protector - 2011, the frigate has traveled over and carried out around 770 specific tasks.
Since entry into service of the Romanian Navy, ''Regele Ferdinand'' has performed a series of tasks among which the most important are deployments to Operation Active Endeavour in 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010 in the Mediterranean Sea, the exercise in Bulgaria "Breeze -CertExam" 2007, 2008, the exercise "Noble Midas" in Croatia in 2007 and 2008 in Italy. Since 13 September 2012 ''Regele Ferdinand'' has participated in Operation Atalanta. The ship embarked naval commandos of Grupul Naval de Forțe pentru Operații Speciale (GNFOS). In August 2014, ''Regele Ferdinand'' sailed alongside Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 Task Unit 2 which operated in the Black Sea as part of Exercise Sea Breeze. In July 2019, the Romanian authorities announced the selection of Naval Group and its partner Santierul Naval Constanta (SNC) for the programme to build four new Gowind multi-mission corvettes and to modernise the T22 frigates.

Commanding officers

Gallery

File:HMS Coventry F98.jpg, HMS Coventry (F 98), conducts an underway replenishment while on station in the Persian Gulf. File:161029-N-ZE250-034 (30765229502).jpg, The Romanian Navy frigate ''Regele Ferdinand'' (F221) approaches USS Carney (DDG 64) to conduct replenishment-at-sea training in the Black Sea Oct. 28, 2016. File:Regele Ferdinand 26.jpg, Navy helicopter landing on ''Regele Ferdinand''.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Regele Ferdinand Ships built by Swan Hunter Ships built on the River Tyne 1986 ships Type 22 frigates of the Royal Navy Type 22 frigates of the Romanian Naval Forces