HMS ''Exeter'' was a

Type 42 destroyer The Type 42 or ''Sheffield'' class, was a class of fourteen guided-missile destroyers that served in the Royal Navy.Marriott, Leo: ''Royal Navy Destroyers since 1945'', , Ian Allan Ltd, 1989 A further two ships of this class were built for and s ...

, the fifth ship of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

to be named ''Exeter'', after the city of Exeter in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

. The vessel fought in the Falklands War and the first

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

, she was scrapped in 2011.

Design and construction

''Exeter'' was the first of the slightly modified 'Batch 2' Type 42 destroyers which had weapons and sensor upgrades with no discernible hull modifications. The weapons and sensors fit was the first grouping of the 1022, 992Q and 1006 radars in a British warship. The ship was built by

Swan Hunter Swan Hunter, formerly known as Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, is a shipbuilding design, engineering, and management company, based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. At its apex, the company represented the combined forces of three powe ...

, and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 19 September 1980. In 1981 , fired the last Mk 1 Sea Slug missiles to allow ''Exeter''s new radars to fully integrate and align the superior

Sea Dart missile Sea Dart, or GWS.30 was a Royal Navy surface-to-air missile system designed in the 1960s and entering service in 1973. It was fitted to the Type 42 destroyers (United Kingdom and Argentina), Type 82 destroyer and s of the Royal Navy. Originally ...

against, high and low missile targets. Early in her first commission, ''Exeter'' had a turquoise hull on and below the waterline; this was an experimental

co-polymer In polymer chemistry, a copolymer is a polymer derived from more than one species of monomer. The polymerization of monomers into copolymers is called copolymerization. Copolymers obtained from the copolymerization of two monomer species are some ...

paint which was only available in a few non-standard colours at the time. The light-blue 'boot topping' visible on the waterline was eventually repainted to standard brick red/black during her first docking period, after the Falklands War.

Operational history

1981-1990

The ship saw service in the Falklands War, deploying from the Caribbean after the loss of . During the conflict, ''Exeter'' shot down three Argentine aircraft (two

A-4C Skyhawk The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a single-seat subsonic carrier-capable light attack aircraft developed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps in the early 1950s. The delta-winged, single turbojet engined Skyhawk was designed a ...

s on 30 May, and a

Learjet 35A The Learjet Model 35 and Model 36 are a series of American multi-role business jets and military transport aircraft manufactured by Learjet. When used by the United States Air Force they carry the designation C-21A. The aircraft are powered by ...

on 7 June; all with Sea Dart missiles). She may also have shot down an

Exocet The Exocet () is a French-built anti-ship missile whose various versions can be launched from surface vessels, submarines, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Etymology The missile's name was given by M. Guillot, then the technical director ...

missile on 30 May. Between 1982 and 1984 she was commanded by Captain Hugh Balfour.

1991-2000

''Exeter'' also served in

Operation Granby Operation Granby, commonly abbreviated Op Granby, was the code name given to the British military operations during the 1991 Gulf War. 53,462 members of the British Armed Forces were deployed during the conflict. The total cost of operations w ...

during the 1991

, under the command of Captain

Nigel Essenhigh Admiral Sir Nigel Richard Essenhigh (born 8 November 1944) is a former Royal Navy officer who served as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff from 2001 to 2002. He served as a navigating officer before commanding the Type 42 destroyer and ...

. Among her roles was the air defence of the US battleships bombarding enemy positions. In autumn 1998, she emerged from a major refit in

Rosyth Rosyth ( gd, Ros Fhìobh, "headland of Fife") is a town on the Firth of Forth, south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to the census of 2011, the town has a population of 13,440. The new town was founded as a Garden city-style suburb ...

dockyard. After post refit trials she undertook Operational Sea Training in the spring of 1999 and a Joint Maritime Course with Sea Dart high seas firings in June of that year. September 1999 saw her deploy on Armilla patrol. She was alongside in Dubai for the Millennium and remained on station until relieved by a large Task Group led by the aircraft carrier in February 2000, arriving back at Portsmouth the following month.

2001-2008

As the last remaining Royal Navy ship in commission to have served in the Falklands, ''Exeter'' attended the 25th-anniversary commemorations of the Falklands War in

Newquay Newquay ( ; kw, Tewynblustri) is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, in the south west of England. It is a civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries, spaceport and a fishing port on the North Atlantic coast of ...

, Cornwall in 2007. In May 2008, ''Exeter'' visited London to provide the centerpiece for the launch of a new James Bond novel; the day before '' Devil May Care'' was launched, the press party to publicise the launch of the book included Tuuli Shipster bringing copies up the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

on a speedboat for a party on ''Exeter'', while two Lynx helicopters circled the ship.

Disposal

On 30 July 2008, ''Exeter'' was placed in a state of 'extended readiness' at HMNB Portsmouth, until being decommissioned there on 27 May 2009. In early 2010, ''Exeter'' was used to assist with the training of new naval base tugs. She was put up for sale by auction on 28 March 2011 and finally towed away to be scrapped at Leyal Ship Recycling in Turkey on 23 September 2011, provoking some criticism from former crew members who were upset that the Ministry of Defence had apparently failed to inform them of the ship's fate.

Affiliations

The Rifles The Rifles is an infantry regiment of the British Army. Formed in 2007, it consists of four Regular battalions and three Reserve battalions, plus a number of companies in other Army Reserve battalions. Each battalion of The Rifles was formerl ...

Exeter College, Oxford (Let Exeter Flourish) , old_names = ''Stapeldon Hall'' , named_for = Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter , established = , sister_college = Emmanuel College, Cambridge , rector = Sir Richard Trainor ...

Worshipful Company of Plaisterers The Worshipful Company of Plaisterers is one of the livery companies in the City of London. The Plaisterers' Company was incorporated under a Royal Charter in 1501 and whilst the spelling used in the charter was "Plaisterer", some later charters ...

References

External links

Navy News article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Exeter (D89) Cold War destroyers of the United Kingdom Falklands War naval ships of the United Kingdom 1978 ships Type 42 destroyers of the Royal Navy Gulf War ships of the United Kingdom Ships built by Swan Hunter Ships built on the River Tyne