HMS Manchester (D95)
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | 19 May 1978 |
| Launched: | 24 November 1980 |
| Commissioned: | 16 December 1982 |
| Decommissioned: | |
| Fate: | Active in service as of 2007 |
| Struck: | |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 5,200 t |
| Length: | 141 m (462.5 ft) |
| Beam: | 15.2 m (50 ft) |
| Draught: | |
| Propulsion: | COGOG (Combined Gas Or Gas). 2 shafts. 2 Olympus gas turbines producing 36 MW for high power, or 2 Tyne gas turbines for speeds up to about 22 knots. |
| Speed: | 30 knots (56 km/h) |
| Range: | |
| Complement: | 287 (max 312) |
| Armament: | Twin Sea Dart Missile launcher 114 mm (4.5 inch) Mk 8 gun |
| Aircraft: | Lynx HMA8 |
| Motto: | Sapere Aude (Dare to be wise) |
The current HMS Manchester (D95) is a Type 42 (Batch 3) destroyer in the 5th Destroyer Squadron of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy.
She was laid down in 1978 at Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering, launched in 1980 and commissioned in 1982. In 1991, during the Gulf War, she participated in numerous operations in the Persian Gulf, aimed at primarily upholding the trade blockade imposed on Iraq during Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. She won the lineage its newest battle honour - Persian Gulf 1991.
Manchester has recently been on a six-month deployment to the Caribbean, mainly on counter-drug operations and a display of security to Britain's Overseas Territories in the region. This deployment ended in December 2003 and culminated in a £19 million drug bust.
In 2004 Manchester acted in the role of Fleet Ready Escort (FRE). In September Manchester sailed from Portsmouth to take part in Exercise Destiny Glory O4, a large NATO exercise in the Mediterranean, as part of an RN naval task force comprising of HMS Invincible, HMS Southampton and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Fort George. During the deployment Manchester visited a number of ports in the Mediterranean.
In the autumn of 2005 HMS Manchester was deployed in the Mediterranean as part of a NATO taskforce. During the four month deployment she was employed in a counter terrorist role alongside other European and American ships.
Her nickname is the "Busy Bee", from the bee emblem on the ship's crest: see Strangeways brewery/ Boddingtons.
| Type 42 destroyer |
| Royal Navy |
| Sheffield | Birmingham | Newcastle | Glasgow | Cardiff | Coventry | Exeter | Southampton | Nottingham | Liverpool | Manchester | Gloucester | Edinburgh | York |
| Argentine Navy |
| Hércules | Santísima Trinidad |
List of destroyers of the Royal Navy |
