HMS Amazon
HMS Amazon was the first Type 21 frigate of the Royal Navy. Her keel was laid down at the Vosper Thornycroft shipyard in Southampton, England. The ship suffered a fire in the Far East in 1977, drawing attention to the risk of building warships with aluminium superstructure. HMS Amazon was sold to the Pakistan Navy 30th September 1993 as PNS Barbur and was decommissioned in December 2014
Commanding Officers
1973-1975 Cdr W John Bingham
1975-1976 Cdr David S Dobson
1976-1978 Cdr A Bruce Richardson
1978-1980 Cdr Robert N Woodard
1980-1981 Cdr Anthony R Peters
1981-1982 Cdr Ian D G Garnett
1982-1983 Cdr Anthony J Bolingbroke
1984-1986 Cdr John E K Ellis
1986-1988 Cdr R John Lippiett
1988-1990 Cdr David A Lewis
1990-1992 Cdr David J M Mowlam
1992-1993 Cdr Patrick H Watson
Royal Navy Service
In 1977 ”Amazon” took part in the Fleet Review, Royal Navy Fleet Review, of the Royal Navy at Spithead in celebration of HM the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. ”Amazon” was the only unit of her class to not participate in the Falklands War, as she was in the Persian Gulf at the time on Operation Armiller, but did arrive on station just after the end of the conflict to assist. By the mid-1980s the surviving Type 21s were suffering cracking in the hull and so 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. Four Exocet launchers were also fitted in ‘B’ position, the last of the class to be so fitted.