| Date | To | Details | Comments |
| January | 1973 | Launched Yarrows Scotstoun shipyard by Lady Griffin * | * wife of the Controller of the Navy |
| 1975 | |||
| 5th Sept 1975 | Formally commissioned at Devonport | ||
| Aug-75 | Mid 1976 | Sea Trials | |
| 1976 | |||
| Wilhemshaven | |||
| Bremerhaven | |||
| May-76 | Gibraltar | ||
| Jul-76 | Portland FOST workup | ||
| Jul-76 | 2 days visit to Jersey | ||
| Aug-76 | Devonport | ||
| Sep-76 | Exercise Northern Wedding | Escort of HMS Ark Royal ; Norwegian Sea to Arctic Circle. (No visits) | |
| Nov-76 | Jan-77 | Southampton for Gearbox change | |
| 1977 | |||
| At the start of 1977 F172 was in Southampton dry-dock having repairs done to the main shafts. Apart from the duty watch the crew were billeted in DAEDALUS and bussed to and from the ship each day. | |||
| Shakedown activities off the south coast before sailing for to join STANAVFORLANT | |||
| 17th Mar 77 | 29th Mar | Den Helder | During the stay we had a local bar named after the ship and took part in various sports competitions with other squadron ships. I also recall we played rugby against a Den Helder side that comprised mostly ex-pats working in the Dutch gas & oil industry. Other ships of the squadron included NNS OSLO, USS MILLER, KOLN, CNS MARGAREE, NLNS …… (Flagship), PNS Almirante GIEGO COUTINHO (?) |
| 2nd Apr | 4th Apr | Kristiansand | Everywhere was closed on Sunday! |
| 7th Apr | 12th Apr | Hamburg | Excellent run ashore. Well beaten by the local St Pauli district rugby team. |
| On sailing we tagged the Russians who were exercising off North Norway – got our Blue Nose | |||
| 1st May | Anchored of Unst -Shetlands | Lads went ashore to use landline telephone to home. Some conned Chinese laundryman that there was a large casino on Unst. He was not too pleased on arriving ashore with his case of money to find just a postoffice at Haroldswick!! | |
| 7th May | 11th May | Bremen | Crew discovered that 5p pieces could act as German 1 Mark pieces in the local telephones!!! |
| 12th May | 19th May | Wilhelmshaven | |
| 22nd May | 23rd May | Lista Fjord (at anchor) | Wardroom took barge for run ashore (sight seeing!!). RN Photographer joined us to take shots for RN promotion material while we sailed through various fjords. |
| 25th May | Frederickshaven | postal deliveries & banking | |
| 27th May | 30th May | Oslo | Becks Beer and Acquivit (schnaps/liquor) |
| 3rd June | Hardanger Fjord | photo opportunities and Navex in confined waters | |
| 1st June | 3rd June | Bergen | |
| 4th June | 6th June | Narvik | the ‘can man’, Frank, managed to swap our Watneys light ale (Urgh!!) for crates of Becks and that the Wardroom managed to get some great wine off a neighbouring French ship |
| 9th-10th June | at sea off Lofoten Islands . Disengaged from the squadron so that we could celebrate Queen’s Jubilee day. We held a ‘Village Green’ party on the flightdeck that included: tug-o-war, apple bobbing, fancy dress parade, fancy hat competition, BBQ, and sods opera. It was freezing on deck but we had plenty to do & drink to keep us warm. Fancy dress was won two stokers dressed as Robinson Crusoe and Man Friday while the hat competition was won by the Chief of the Flight with a hat built like a castle (when he pulled a cord the queen appeared on a veranda and waved – brilliant). | ||
| 11th June | Tromso (at sea) – we passed under the harbour bridge but didn’t go alongside | ||
| 13th June | 23rd June | Rosyth | USS Miller left to be replaced by |
| USS Richard E Byrd | |||
| 30th June | St. Johns | not planned but Junior Seaman Tingle had suspected appendicitis. Great Wardroom party with local nurses and trip to ‘hole-in-the-wall’ bar. | |
| 7th July | 11th July | Roosevelt Roads | Very very hot – lots of limers drunk by gangway party. On sailing we went to do live shoots at Vieques Island and take part in major exercise with US Fleet. In San Juan played cricket against ex-pats – played in park opposite the ‘Black Angus’ house of ill repute. |
| (Puerto Rico) | |||
| 20th Jul | 23rd Jul | Charleston South Carolina | Good run ashore…. |
| 25th Jul | 13th Aug | Norfolk Virginia | carried out engine change (I think it was the Tynes) had lots of banyans at Virginia Beach. Won the squadron Sports Trophy (included beating the yanks at Basketball). Went to sing-along at the US Marine base at Little Creek. Held ships company dance in the NCOs mess at Breezy Point (in the Norfolk Naval Base) with live band lots to drink and lots of local nurses etc. On sailing we refuelled and munitioned at Jamestown before an another large exercise. |
| 25th Aug | 28th Aug | Bermuda | Squadron tied up at US port while we went alongside in HMS MALABAR. Fantastic island with great beaches. |
| 29th Aug | 5th Sep 77 | Halifax Nova Scotia | 10 Cooks & Stewards took part in exped to Kejimkujik National Park (bigger than Wales!!). |
| 1978 | |||
| DED Devonport | .Tyne engines uprated to RM1C (first ship so fitted). Cdr Mike Gretton took command”. | ||
| Devonport (Unscheduled return) | Olympus engine change | ||
| 31-May | Helecoptor Cruiser HMS Blake | ||
| Frigates HMS Ambuscade,Hermoine, Juno, Leander | |||
| Nuclear Submarine Conqueror | |||
| Support ships RFA Tidespring, Green Rover, Stromness, Resurgent | |||
| Sailed for Group 7 Deployment to the Western Atlantic and Pacific via the Panama Canalwith HMS Blake & 5th Frigate Squadron | |||
| Brest (Brittany) | visits either side of French Naval exercise Suroit | ||
| 24-Jun | Bermuda | met with Amazon in Hamilton | |
| Cartagena (Colombia ) | |||
| 09-Jul | Panama Canal | 7 hour transit (50 miles) | |
| 20-Jul | 17-Aug | Long Beach Los Angeles | Long Beach outboard of Leander. Devonport FMG flew out and we carried out an AMP everyone had |
| San Diego | Gearbox repair | ||
| Sept | Nanaimo Vancouver Island BC | ||
| Esquimalt -Victoria Canada | |||
| Oct | San Francisco | ||
| Acapulco | towed Leander from Acapulco to the Panama canal | ||
| Panama Canal | |||
| 25-Nov | 27-Nov | Nassau | |
| 29-Nov | South Caicos | ||
| Chagaramas | Trinidad | ||
| Nov | Key West (overnight stop) | Rodman Naval Base | |
| Devonport for Christmas | |||
| 1979 | |||
| 05-Mar | Sailed from Devonport to Scotland | ||
| Liverpool | For ‘Grand National’ | ||
| 09-Mar | Faslane Naval Base Clyde | Nubian parked her bow on Ambuscade flightdeck | |
| visit to Yarrow Shipbuilders in the Clyde | |||
| 13-Mar | 07-Apr | ‘Perisher running’ in Clyde areas | Target for Submarine Comander training |
| Rosyth Navy Days | |||
| DED Devenport | Nubian damage repaired and Mohawk then parked her bow on the flightdeck | ||
| JMC off Iceland | with Bulwark | ||
| 01-Jun | 06-Jun | Malmo | With Hermoine, Juno & Nubian |
| 07-Jun | 11-Jun | Oslo | With Hermoine-Nubian escorted to Copenhagen by Juno with Oil leak |
| 18-Jun | 06-Jul | Fleet Contingency Ship duties | Escorting Soviet Navy Etc |
| 30-Jun | 02-Jul | Douglas , Isle of Man | |
| 03-Jul | 05-Jul | Guernsey | |
| 21-Aug | 01-Sep | ‘Perisher running’ in Clyde areas | Allongside Faslane 27th Aug when Lord Mountbatten was killed |
| 06-Sep | 10-Sep | Antwerp | |
| Sailed for West Indies Guardship | |||
| Azores | |||
| Bermuda | |||
| 27-Oct | 31-Oct | Grand Cayman | for ‘Pirate Week’ |
| Belize | |||
| 09-Nov | 13-Nov | La Guaira Venezuela | |
| 17-Nov | 20-Nov | Tortola | Virgin Islands |
| home of ‘Pussers Rum’ | |||
| 14-Nov | 16-Nov | San Juan Porto Rico | |
| 22-Nov | 26-Nov | Nassau | |
| 07-Dec | back home to Devonport | ||
| 1980 | |||
| Southampton | |||
| ? | Liverpool | ||
| 26-Jan | 27-Jan | O’Porto Portugal | Leixões harbour |
| 1980 | Jan-81 | Major refit at Devonport | 150,000 miles steamed |
| 1981 | |||
| 1980 | 23rd Jan 1981 | Refit at Devonport | Refitted with new EW, Torpedo tubes & for Lynx Helecoptor |
| . | . | followed by Flag Officer Sea Training at Portland | |
| . | Sept | Antwerp | |
| 12th Oct | . | Portland | |
| 19th Oct | sailed for Armilla Patrol | with HMS Glamorgan & RFA ? | |
| 23rd Oct | 26th Oct | Gibtaltar | |
| 29th Oct | Sailed through Medina Straights | ||
| 30th Oct | 2nd Nov | Corfu | |
| 5th Nov | . | Port Said / Suez canal | |
| 7th Nov | 9th Nov | Anchored off Aqaba Jordan | Petra visit |
| 25th Nov | . | Towed GLAMORGAN to Muscat | Glamorgan returned to UK after hitting a rock (see Dits) |
| 28th Nov. | 1st Dec | Baharain | |
| . | 1st Dec | Started Patrol | |
| 19th Dec | crossed equator | ||
| 21st Dec | 11th Jan | Mombasa Kenya | Christmas/New Year |
| 1982 | |||
| Armilla Patrol 81-82 | |||
| 21st Dec ’81 | 11th Jan | Mombassa, Kenya | Christmas/New Year |
| 4th Jan | New Skipper CDR Peter Mosse | Replaced Cdr Bryan Burns | |
| 15th Jan | Sailed Past Socotra | ||
| 27th Jan | 1st Feb | Karachi | Pakistan |
| 5th Feb | entered Red Sea | ||
| 7th Feb | MV Aris fire/salvage Red Sea | See Photographs | |
| 10th Feb | 15/18 th ? | Haifa | Israel |
| 22nd Feb | 23rd Feb | Gibralter | |
| 25th Feb | Anchored off Plymouth Sound | ‘Channel night’ | |
| 26th Feb | Plymouth | DevonPort Dockyard | |
| 9th Apr | Sailed for Gibraltar but returned to Plymouth | ||
| 10th Apr | Sailed for Gibraltar | Large amount of amunition on board to replace ordinance taken by ships heading South | |
| 13th Ap | 19th Apr | Gibraltar | |
| 23rd Apr | 26th Apr | Gibraltar | |
| 26th Gibralter | Sailed for minesweeper escort but returned to Gib | ||
| . | |||
| Falklands Campaign | |||
| 3rd May | Depart Gibraltar for Assension Island | ||
| 4th May | HMS SHEFFIELD hit by Exocet | ||
| 9th May | cross equator | ||
| 10th May | start defence watches | 50% of ship on duty at all times | |
| 11th May | 13th May | Assension Island | Sailed with HMS Antelope |
| 16th May | R/V with British tanker Esk | Unable to fuel because of problem with fuel rig after Antelope RAS. Antelope goes on alone as we wait for MV Tay to repair rig. Last time we see Antelope afloat | |
| 17th May | finally re-fuel at 13:00 and head south | ||
| 21st May | HMS ARDENT sunk Falkland Sound | ||
| 22nd May | Joined the task force | ||
| 23rd May | slight collision with RFA Tidepool when she manoeuvered across Ambuscade when she prepared to refuel | ||
| 24th May | 02:50 Action Stations for suspected Torpedo attack | HMS ANTELOPE sunk San Carlos. | |
| 25th May | Outside Electronic Warfare picket ship of Task Force | .Detected excocet attack and fired chaffe during the Exocet attack that sunk MV ATLANTIC CONVEYOR | |
| HMS COVENTRY lost in air raid | |||
| 30th May | First Naval Gunfire Support (NGS) mission | Fired 58 rounds in region of Port Stanley airfield | |
| 7th Jun | NGS with HMS ARROW | ||
| 8th Jun | SIR GALAHAD lost Fitzroy Settlement | ||
| 9th Jun | Tug repair area to sort out engine problems | ||
| 14th Jun | NGS with HMS ACTIVE,YARMOUTH and AVENGER | 228 rounds fired | |
| 15th Jun | Argentine Forces surrender | White flag over Port Stanley | |
| 27th Jun | 30th Jun | Alongside STENA SEASPREAD | repairs |
| 3rd Jul | Ended defence watches after 52 days | ||
| 4th Jul | Port Stanley | Embark Scots Guards | |
| Embark 42 Commando (25 of whom are billeted in Seaman’s mess-73 people in space for 48!) set course North -homeward bound!! | |||
| 15th Jul | Assension Island | Disembark 42 Commando | |
| 16th Jul | Crossed Equator | ||
| 18th July | Diverted to Dakar Senegal | Disembark crew member with Appendicitis | |
| 23th Jul | Anchor in Plymouth Sound | ||
| 24th Jul | Tie up in Devonport | Fantastic welcome ! | |
| 13th Sep | 16th Sep | Sail local areas | |
| 22nd Sep | Sailed north to West coast of Scotland | ||
| 24th Sep | 27th Sep | Helensburgh -Faslane | |
| 27th Sep | 10th Oct | Local exercises with submarines | |
| 15th Oct | Portland | ||
| 22nd Oct | Plymouth | ||
| 25th Oct ? | Sailed for Portland | ||
| 11th Nov | Sailed north to West coast of Scotland | ||
| 22nd Nov | Helensburgh -Faslane | ||
| ? Nov | 1st Dec | Liverpool | |
| 2nd Dec | Plymouth | ||
| 1983 | |||
| 17th Jan | Sailed for Portland | ||
| 21st Jan | 24th Jan | Portsmouth | |
| 27th Jan | 28th Feb | Plymouth | |
| GULF/FAR EAST Deployment | |||
| 28th Mar | Sailed from Plymouth | ||
| 4th March | 7th March | Gibraltar | |
| 10th March | 12th March | Rhodes | |
| 13th March | Suez | ||
| 19th March | 21st March | Republique De Djibouti | (Horn of Africa) |
| 28th March | 31st March | Cochin | India |
| 7th April | 10th April | Bahrein | |
| 12th April | 16th April | Doha | Qatar |
| 27th April | oops! collided with USS Dale | ||
| 2nd May | 9th June | Bombay (now Mumbai) | For Repairs + 1 week hol in Goa) |
| 13th June | Colombo (Sri Lanka) | (for Refuelling -Exit Soviet ships! | |
| 17th June | Lumut | Malaysia | |
| 19th June | 23rd June | Singapore | |
| 24th June | 23rd June | Penang | Malaysia |
| 29th June | 2nd July | Jakarta | Java |
| 8th July | 11th July | Colombo | Sri Lanka |
| 18th July | Republique De Djbuti | ||
| 25th July | Suez | ||
| 30th July | 31st July | Gibraltar | |
| 3rd August | Plymouth !! | ||
| October | Trawler collision Brixham harbour | ||
| 9th October | Fairlie | (West coast of Scotland) | |
| 12th October | Loch Boisdale | Outer Hebrides | |
| West Indies Guardship | |||
| 3rd Dec | 5th Dec | Bermuda | |
| 8th Dec | 10th Dec | Key West | Florida Keys |
| 12th Dec | Half Moon Key | off Belize (Banyan) | |
| 15th Dec | 19th Dec | Vera Cruz | Mexico |
| 22nd Dec | 4th Jan | St Petersburg Florida for Christmas | |
| 1984 | |||
| From | To | Place | Comments |
| 22nd Dec | 6th Jan | St Petersburg | Florida USA |
| 6th Jan | 9th Jan | Freeport | Bahamas |
| 12th Jan | 13th Jan | Belize | rain, rain, rain! |
| 17th Jan | & 20th Jan | Roosevelt Rhodes US base Puerto Rico | |
| 22nd Jan | . | Anguilla | |
| 31st Jan | . | Porta Delgada | Azores |
| 3rd Feb | 13th Feb. | Gibralter | |
| 20-Apr | 29-Apr | Gibralter | |
| 6th May | 9th May | Rouen | |
| 8th Jun | 11th Jun | Lowestoft | |
| 22-Jun | 1st Jul | Gibraltar | |
| 28th Jul | 30th Jul | Swanage | |
| 10th | 16th | Gibraltar | |
| 17th Aug | 20th Aug | Lisbon | |
| Oct-84 | 1986 | Major Refit at Devonport Exocet added & hull strengthened | 289,500 miles steamed |
| 1986 | |||
| Oct-86 | Mar-87 | 5 Month Falklands Guardship duties in South Atlantic | |
| Ascension Island | |||
| December | South Georgia | ||
| December | Christmas at Mare Harbour | ||
| Dec 31st | New Year’s Eve at Port Stanley | ||
| 1987 | |||
| Oct-86 | Mar-87 | …5 Month guardship duties in South Atlantic | |
| 01-Jan-87 | Port Stanley Falkland Islands | for New Year | |
| Martinique | |||
| Willimington | Delaware USA | ||
| 20th March | Devonport Plymouth | ||
| Amsterdam | |||
| 1988 | |||
| West Indies Guardship | |||
| APRIL | |||
| 1st | 9th | Passage to Bermuda | |
| 9th | 11th | Bermuda | |
| 14th | 20th | Miami | (Tragically, we lost two shipmates in a civvy boating accident) |
| 28th | 30th | Nassau | |
| MAY | . | ||
| 6th | 9th | Key West | |
| 12th | 25th | Galveston Texas | SMP |
| 28th | 3rd June | Belize | |
| JUNE | |||
| 6th | 10th | Ocho Rios Jamaica | |
| 11th | 14th | Grand Cayman | |
| 16th | 20th | Cartagena | |
| 24th | 27th | Tortola Virgin Islands | |
| 30th | 4th July | Willemsted (Curraco) | |
| JULY | |||
| Banyan in Grenadines | |||
| 7th | 10th | Port of Spain (Trinidad) | |
| 13th | 18th | Bridgetown (Barbados) | |
| 20th | 26th | La Guiara (Venezuela) | |
| AUGUST | |||
| 2nd | 7th | Free Port (Bahamas) | |
| 11th | 17th | Bermuda | handover to HMS ACTIVE |
| 17th | 26th | Passage to UK | |
| OCTOBER | |||
| 10th | 14th | Portland | PWO training |
| 21st | 24th | Portsmouth | |
| 28th | 1st Nov | Birkenhead (Liverpool) | |
| NOVEMBER | |||
| 4th | 14th | Gibraltar | |
| 21st | 25th | Portland | PWO training |
| 1989 | |||
| DEVONPORT | Drydock -Maintenance | ||
| . | Portland | ||
| September | Gibralter | Gun firings | |
| 1990 | |||
| Feburary | Falklands Guard Ship | ||
| St Helena | Fueling stops | ||
| Banyan off Bequia | small island in the Grenadines | ||
| Tortola | |||
| St Lucia | |||
| Wilmington | Delaware USA | ||
| July | Devonport | ||
| Gibraltar | |||
| October | Oporto | ||
| Copenhagen | |||
| Hamburg | |||
| 1991 | |||
| January | Birkenhead | . | |
| January | Oslo | Funeral of King of Norway | |
| February | Devonport / Sea Trials | ||
| March | Sailed for West Indies Guardship duties | ||
| March | Azores | ||
| March | Bermuda | ||
| March | Miami | Escorted Royal Yacht Britannia | |
| March | Tampa (Florida) | 2-weeks | |
| April | Norfolk Virginia | ||
| April | Bermuda | Queen’s Birthday | |
| April | Belize | ||
| May | Colombia | ||
| May | Monserrat | ||
| June | Dominican Republic | ||
| June | Grand Cayman | ||
| June | St Croix | ||
| June | St Thomas | ||
| June | St Vincent | ||
| June | Grenada | ||
| June | St Marteen | ||
| July | Miami | ||
| July | Tortola | ||
| July | Bermuda | ||
| August | Handed over to HMS ARROW | ||
| Azores | |||
| 8th August | Devonport | ||
| November | Birkenhead Liverpool | ||
| Christmas at home | |||
| 1992 | |||
| Jan | Feb | Portland Workup | |
| Feb | JMC Norway areas | ||
| March | Hamburg | ||
| April | May | Devonport | |
| June | SOUTH ATLANTIC deployment | ||
| Gibraltar | 8 hour stopover | ||
| Dakar – Senegal | 6 hour stopover | ||
| Banjul – Gambia | 4 days | ||
| Abidjan – Ivory Coast | 4 days | ||
| July | Ascension Island | Refuel stop | |
| 22nd July | started Falkland Patrol | ||
| August | On Patrol | ||
| September | South Georgia | ||
| Punta Arenas – Chile | 5 days | ||
| October | handed over to HMS AMAZON | ||
| November | Maceio – Brazil | 4 days | |
| St Lucia | 5 days | ||
| November | December | Barbados 2 weeks’ RnR | |
| December | Azores | Refuel stop | |
| Devonport | |||
| 1993 | |||
| London | |||
| Hull | |||
| Amsterdam | |||
| SOLD to PAKISTANI NAVY (PNS TARIQ) | |||