HMS Dumbarton Castle (P265)

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Career (UK)

Name:	HMS Dumbarton Castle
Operator:	Royal Navy
Builder:	Hall, Russell & Company
Laid down:	1980
Launched:	3 June 1981
Commissioned:	26 March 1982
Decommissioned:	2008
Fate:	Decommissioned 2008
General characteristics
Class and type:	Castle class patrol vessel
Displacement:	1,427 tonnes
Length:	81 m (266 ft)
Beam:	11.5 m (37 ft)
Draught:	3.6 m (11 ft)
Propulsion:	2 × Ruston 12RKC 5,640 bhp (4.2 MW) diesels, 2 shafts
Speed:	18 knots (33 km/h) max 12 knots (22 km/h) cruise
Complement:	45 (+ accommodation for 25 Royal Marines)
Armament:	Oerlikon / BMARC 30 mm L/75 KCB gun on single Laurence Scott DS-30B mount 4 × L7 General Purpose Machine Guns
Aircraft carried:	Flight deck can support aircraft up to Westland Sea King-size

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Dumbarton Castle.

HMS Dumbarton Castle (P265) was an offshore patrol vessel of the British Royal Navy. Her main role was the protection of the offshore assets of the United Kingdom, including oil and gas installations and fisheries out to the 200 mile (370 km) limit.

She spent much of her time deployed in the South Atlantic as guard ship, patrolling around the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, alternating with her sister HMS Leeds Castle. Her long association with the Falkland Islands resulted in the ship's company being given permission to add her name to the roll of honour written in white rocks on the hillside opposite Stanley in 2007.

Dumbarton Castle was replaced by a River class-based vessel, HMS Clyde, in early 2008.