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DUMBARTON CASTLE

Shipbuildervessel built by Hall, Russell & Company, Limited (Aberdeen, Scotland, 1864 - 1992)

Shipownervessel built for Admiralty

Date3 June 1982

Object NamePATROL VESSEL

MediumSTEEL

ClassificationsShip

Dimensionslength 266' x breadth 38' x depth 11'
gross tonnage 1427 tons

Object numberABDSHIP002668

Keywords

Aberdeen Built Ships

About MeYard: Hall, Russell & Co.
Yard Number: 986
Subsequent Names: BIJOY (2010)

Fate: unknown

Propulsion: Motor
Description: Castle class offshore patrol vessel, 1 x 40 mm Mk 3, with helicopter deck, welded construction

Owner:
1981: Royal Navy, pennant no. P.258, decommissioned 2008.
2010: Bangladesh Navy, pennant no. F35.

General History:

DUMBARTON CASTLE was one of two ships ordered by the Royal Navy to police the offshore installations of Britain with sister ship LEEDS CASTLE with a helicopter landing base. They were designed as a prototype development for a larger ship to replace the Navy's leander class frigate but failed to advance any further. They were twin screw propelled ships. After being used to police the oil rigs they were deployed to patrol the Falkland Islands after the 1982 Falklands War with 3 month rota trips. This role ended in 2008 and laid up at Portsmouth and sold to the Bangladesh Navy in 2010 and underwent a multi million pound upgrade at A&P Hepburn on the Tyne where the main engines, gearbox and shafts were overhauled and new generators and deck cranes were fitted. Missile system is proposed to be fitted later on.
BIJOY suffered electrical failure during sea trials and almost drifted into a breakwater near South Shields on 20 October. The lifeboat and tugs rescued the ship and towed it back to the yard for repairs to the power failure. BIJOY and DHALESHWARI F36 sailed for Bangladesh on 22 November 2010.
(Source: Ships Monthly, Issue January 2011)

Accepted into service by Royal Navy 9 March 1982
"The ships main role is the protection of the offshore assets of the U.K., including our oil and gas installations and fisheries out to the 200 mile limit"
Complement 45 (and accommodation for 25 Royal Marines)
(Source: Royal Navy site)

"Spent much of her time deployed in the South Atlantic... 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".
(Source: wikipedia)

Article from 'Navy News' April 2005:
Background on HMS DUMBARTON CASTLE :
Presently on what is likely to be her final tour of duty in one of Britain’s final remants of Empire, HMS Dumbarton Castle is the constant defender of the UK’s interests in the South Atlantic.
The ship arrived in the Falklands last October, taking over from her sister Leeds Castle which was heading north after nearly four years in the South Atlantic.
Although this is possibly the twilight of DUMBARTON CASTLE ’s career, the pace of operations has actually picked up as 2005 opened.
The 81-metre ship embarked an entire infantry company (normally there’s space aboard the Castle class ships for about 25 embarked personnel) for Exercise Purple Strike, a combined forces war game around the Falklands.
Embarked personnel is nothing unusual for DUMBARTON CASTLE . On almost every sortie a group of soldiers from the RIC – Roulement Infantry Company – stationed in the Falklands goes to sea and is put ashore in the far-flung corners of the islands, either by sea boat or helicopter.
Working with the sister forces based in the Falklands is integral to the guardship’s duties. Air defence exercises are regularly conducted with the RAF’s F3 Tornado jets as are flying exercises involving air force and civilian helicopters.
The ship also frequently drops in on some of the more remote settlements on the hundreds of islands which make up the Falklands.
The Castle class has taken it in turns to rotate duties around the Falklands – three years in the South Atlantic, three years based in the UK – for the past two decades.
Unique in the small ships fleet, the Castles can accommodate a helicopter up to Sea King size.
That helicopter facility will remain in the successor offshore patrol ship just ordered by the Navy to replace Dumbarton and Leeds Castles (see page 3).
Although the core of DUMBARTON CASTLE ’s time is spent around the Falklands, she pays regular visits to the more remote dependency of South Georgia (about twice every three months) and occasional ones to the South Sandwich Islands.
The latter archipelago is about as far south as any warship is permitted to travel – Antarctic waters are off limits to military vessels.
The ship’s company of 50 typically spends six months aboard before returning to the UK.
They are supported by a shore-based team of Royal Navy engineers who ensure the ship is ready for duties.
Today’s DUMBARTON CASTLE is the third British warship to bear the name.
The first was actually a Scottish warship, a sixth-rate frigate which saw action against the French at the beginning of the 18th century. She was added to the RN in 1707 – then captured the following year by the French privateer LE JERSEY whilst guarding merchantmen off Waterford.
It was more than two centuries before the name again appeared, this time as a Castle class corvette in the latter stages of WW II.
Launched in Dundee in September 1943, the second DUMBARTON CASTLE was thrown into convoy operations in the North Atlantic until the war’s end.
After a brief spell as a search-and-rescue ship, she was mothballed in 1946 and finally broken up 15 years later.
Today’s bearer of the name was built in Aberdeen and hurtled down the slipway of the Hall Russell yard in June 1981 and was handed over to the RN nine months later.
She and her sister were immediately sent south when the Falklands crisis flared up one month later, earning the ship a second battle honour.
As ‘Falklands guardship’ – as she’s commonly referred to – it is DUMBARTON CASTLE’s duty to protect the islands and the UK’s territorial waters, including fishery stocks, oil and gas installations, to a 200-mile limit.
Additional tasks include continuing to foster good relations with the islanders, conducting boarding operations of passing ships and boats if needed, and the dispersal of oil slicks should any occur in territorial waters.
Facts and Figures
Class: Castle class Offshore Patrol Vessel
Pennant number: P265
Builder: Hall Russell Ltd
Launched: June 3 1981
Commissioned: March 9 1982
Length: 81m
Beam: 11.5m
Draft: 4m
Top Speed: 18 knots
Range: 10,000 miles at 12 knots
Displacement: 1,427 tonnes
Complement: 50
Embarked forces: accommodation for 25 Royal Marines/soldiers
Engines: 2 x 12 cylinder Rushton diesels
Weapons systems: 1 x 30mm Mk 1 Cannon, 4 x general purpose machine-guns
Sea boats: 2 x Pacific RIBs, 2 x beachable MIBs
(Source: www.navynews.co.uk/ships/dumbartoncastle.asp)

Sold to Bangladeshi Navy 2010. Taken to Tyneside for overhaul by A&P Tyne before delivery.

Notes:
2 Ruston RKCM diesels, 2 cp propellers, 5640 bhp, - 19.5 knots.
cost £10 million (Janes fighting ships 1987-88, p. 675)