HMS Active (F171)

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For other ships with the same name, see HMS Active.

Career

Ordered:
Laid down:	23 July 1971
Launched:	23 November 1972
Commissioned:	19 July 1977
Decommissioned:	23 September 1994
Fate:	Sold to Pakistan on 23 September 1994.
Struck:
General Characteristics
Displacement:	3,250 tons full load
Length:	384 feet (117 m)
Beam:	41 ft 9 in (12.7 m)
Draught:	19 ft 6 in (5.9 m)
Propulsion:	Two Rolls-Royce Olympus gas turbines, plus two Rolls-Royce RM1A Tyne gas turbines for cruising
Speed:	32 knots (59 km/h)
Range:	4,000 nautical miles at 17 knots (7,400 km at 31 km/h), 1,200 nautical miles at 30 knots (2,200 km at 56 km/h)
Complement:	177
Armament:	One Mk8 4.5 in (114 mm) gun Two 20 mm Oerlikon guns Four SeaCat SAMs Two Corvus chaff launchers One Type 182 towed decoy
Aircraft:	One Westland Wasp when built, refitted later for one Westland Lynx
Motto:	Festina lente (Hasten slowly)

HMS Active (F171) was a Type 21 frigate of the Royal Navy. She was completed with Exocet launchers in 'B' position, the first of the class to be so fitted.

Active participated in the Falklands War and by the mid-1980s, as with the other surviving Type 21s, was suffering from cracking in the hull. She was taken in for refitting, with a steel plate being welded down each side of the ship. At the same time modifications were made to reduce hull noise.

Active decommssioned and was sold to Pakistan on 23 September 1994, being renamed Shah Jahan. Exocet was not transferred to Pakistan and Shah Jahan had her obsolete Sea Cat launcher removed. A Chinese LY 60N missile launcher was fitted in place of the Exocet launchers. Signaal DA08 air search radar replaced the Type 992 and SRBOC chaff launchers and 20 mm and 30 mm guns were fitted.

Shah Jahan remains in service with the Pakistani Navy.

Type 21 frigate