HMS Apollo (F70)

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Career

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Laid down:	1st May 1969
Launched:	15th October 1970
Commissioned:	28th May 1972
Decommissioned:	31st August 1988 from Royal Navy
Fate:	Sold to Pakistan 1988
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HMS Apollo (F70) was a Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy (RN). She was, like the rest of the class, named after a figure of mythology. Apollo was built by Yarrow Shipbuilders of Scotstoun. She was launched on the 15th October 1970 and commissioned on the 28th May 1972.

She saw her first 'action' during the Second Cod War in 1973, during the fishing disputes with Iceland, when Apollo, while on a Fishery Protection Patrol, was rammed by the Icelandic gunboat Aegir. In 1977, Apollo took part in the last Fleet Review of the Royal Navy so far, in celebration of HM the Queen's Silver Jubilee. Apollo was positioned in the middle of HM ships Hardy and Salisbury.

Apollo was intended to be modernised, which would have included the removal of her one 4.5-in twin gun, which would have been replaced by the Exocet anti-ship missile, but the modernisation was cancelled due to the 1981 Defence Review by the minister John Nott. In July 1982, Apollo was sent to patrol the South Atlantic in the aftermath of the Falklands War and returned home in September. In late 1983, Apollo once again returned to the South Atlantic. In 1988, Apollo's Royal Navy career came to an end when she was decommissioned and subsequently sold to Pakistan, being renamed Zulfiquar and remains in service with the Pakistani Navy as of 2004.