HMS Cumberland (F85)

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Career

Ordered:
Laid down:	12 October 1984
Launched:	21 June 1986
Commissioned:	10 June 1989
Decommissioned:
Fate:	Active in service as of 2006.
Struck:
General Characteristics
Displacement:	5,300 tons
Length:	148.1 m
Beam:	14.8 m
Draught:
Propulsion:	2 x Rolls Royce Spey gas turbines (high speed) 2 x Rolls Royce Tyne gas turbines (cruising)
Speed:	cruise 18 knots (33 km/h), max 30 knots (56 km/h)
Range:
Complement:	250 (max 301)
Armament:	114mm (4.5 inch) MK 8 gun Goalkeeper close-in weapons system (CIWS) Sea Wolf anti-missile system 2 x Quad Harpoon missile launchers 2 x 20 mm Close range guns NATO Seagnat Decoy Launchers
Aircraft:	Lynx MK 8 helicopters armed with: Sea Skua anti-ships missiles Stingray anti-submarine torpedoes Mk 11 depth charges Machine guns
Motto: Tenacious of Justice

HMS Cumberland (F85) is a Type 22 frigate of the Royal Navy. She was on station during the First Gulf War. On 26 September 2000 Cumberland worked with local fishermen to aid the rescue of survivors of the Greek ferry Express Samina which ran aground two miles off the island of Paros. Cumberland is currently part of the 2nd Frigate Squadron based at Devonport Dockyard.

[edit] Service

In 2003 HMS Cumberland (in partnership with RFA Wave Knight) seized 3.6 tonnes of cocaine in the mid-Atlantic as part of an anti-drug operation. In October 2005 HMS Cumberland intercepted and boarded a speed boat in the Caribbean Sea off Nicaragua from which they seized two tonnes of cocaine, and detained four suspects. The cocaine is estimated to have a street value of £200 million.

[edit] Points of interest

Chris Cranmer, the first registered Satanist serving in the Royal Navy, was a technician on board this vessel as of 2004.

On May 18, 2006, the Cumberland escorted Dee Caffari, sailing Aviva, across the finish-line (at Lizard Point) as she became the first woman to sail single-handedly non-stop around the world "the wrong way" (against the prevailing wind and tide) - a feat first achieved by Chay Blyth.

See HMS Cumberland for other ships of the same name.