HMS Bristol (D23)

Bristol in 1982
History
United Kingdom
Name	Bristol
Namesake	Bristol
Ordered	17 April 1963
Builder	Swan Hunter, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom
Laid down	15 November 1967
Launched	30 June 1969
Commissioned	31 March 1973
Decommissioned	28 October 2020
Identification	Pennant number: D23
Honours and awards	Falklands 1982
Fate	Disposal and Reserve Ships Organisation (DRSO)
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type	Type 82 destroyer
Displacement	6,300 tons (standard), 7,100 tons (full)[1]
Length	155 m (507 ft)
Beam	17 m (55 ft)
Draught	7.5 m (24 ft 7 in)
Propulsion	COSAG, 2 standard range geared steam turbines 30,000 hp (22,000 kW) 2 Bristol-Siddeley Olympus TM1A gas turbines 30,000 hp, 2 shafts, 2 boilers
Speed	28 knots (52 km/h)
Range	5,750 nautical miles (10,650 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h)
Complement	397 (30 officers)
Sensors and processing systems	ADAWS-2 combat direction system Type 965 air search radar (until 1984) Type 1022 2D air search radar (from 1984) Type 992Q low-angle search radar 2x Type 909 Sea Dart target illumination Type 978 navigation radar Type 170 search sonar Type 184 target indication sonar
Electronic warfare & decoys	UAA1 Corvus chaff launcher (from 1979) Mark 36 SRBOC (from 1982)
Armament	4.5-inch (113mm) Mk 8 gun GWS 30 Sea Dart SAM launcher (38 rounds + 10 additional warheads) Ikara A/S launcher (at least 24 rounds)(until 1984) Mark 10 'Limbo' A/S mortar (until 1979) 2 × twin Oerlikon/BMARC GCM-A03 30 mm guns (from 1983) 2 × Oerlikon/BMARC GAM-B01 20 mm guns (from 1983) 2 × Oerlikon 20 mm guns (from 1979)
Aircraft carried	None (able to support heavy lift helicopters
Aviation facilities	Flight deck added when Limbo removed and mortar well plated over

HMS Bristol (D23) was a Type 82 destroyer, the only vessel of her class to be built for the Royal Navy.^[2][3] Bristol was intended to be the first of a class of large destroyers to escort the CVA-01 aircraft carriers projected to come into service in the early 1970s but the rest of the class and the CVA-01 carriers were cancelled as a result of the 1966 Defence White Paper which cut defence spending.

Following a long career which included the Falklands War, she was converted into a training ship in 1987. In 1991 while part of the Dartmouth training squadron, she suffered a boiler explosion that damaged the vessel beyond economical repair. No longer having enough value to be sold to another navy, she became a Harbour Training ship at HMS Excellent. She was decommissioned in Portsmouth on 28 October 2020.