HMS Brilliant was a Batch 1 Type 22 frigate of the Royal Navy. She was named under the original convention that all Type 22s would bear ‘B’ names following the ‘A’ names of the Type 21 frigates; this policy was revised after the Falklands War to commemorate the destroyers and , both sunk during the War, while the yet‑to‑be‑laid Bloodhound was renamed .

Conceived as a specialist anti‑submarine escort, she combined high speed with an advanced sonar suite and a flight deck for Westland Lynx helicopters. Ordered in February 1976, laid down by Yarrow Shipbuilders at Scotstoun and launched in May 1978, her construction cost was ~£110 million.

She was decommissioned from Royal Navy service in 1996, sold to the Brazilian Navy on 31 August 1996, where she was renamed Dodsworth. Dodsworth was sold for scrap and broken up at Aliağa, Turkey, during July 2012.

Brilliant took part in the only armed ship-to-ship engagement of the Falklands War, when she and chased the Argentine coaster ARA Monsunen, in the Battle of Seal Cove.

Royal Navy service

Falklands War

Brilliant was part of the task force that took part in the Falklands War, with Captain John Coward in command. She sailed south with two WE.177A nuclear depth charges on board, to avoid complications arising from the Treaty of Tlatelolco, these were transferred to on 16 April 1982.

;Operation Paraquet – 25 April 1982

Brilliant was assigned to Operation Paraquet, the effort to retake the island of South Georgia. On 25 April at 08:55, the submarine Santa Fe was located by s Wessex helicopter and engaged with depth charges. One charge bounced off the boat's deck and exploded alongside, rupturing the port ballast tank and piercing an external fuel tank. Now unable to dive Santa Fe reversed course towards Grytviken.

Brilliant launched her Lynx, which dropped a Mk 46 torpedo, but as the weapon was configured for a submerged submarine it passed underneath its target, the Lynx then strafed the submarine with its pintle-mounted 7.62mm Machine Gun.

Wasp helicopters from and fired AS-12 air-to-surface missiles, and Santa Fe retreated back to Grytviken and was abandoned.

;Engagement with Argentine A‑4 Skyhawks – 12 May 1982

During the afternoon of 12 May 1982, Brilliant (Type 22 frigate) escorted (Type 42 destroyer) in a “Type 64” pairing, a tactic designed to lure Argentine aircraft within range of Glasgow’s Sea Dart and Brilliant’s short‑range Sea Wolf defence system.

At around 14:00, four A‑4B Skyhawks from FAA Grupo 5 attacked at low altitude. Glasgow’s Sea Dart failed, leaving Brilliant’s Sea Wolf as the sole operational defence. Brilliant fired three Sea Wolf missiles: two hit and destroyed aircraft C‑206 and C‑208, piloted by Lt Mario Nivoli and Lt Jorge Ibarlucea; a third missile caused Lt Oscar Bustos in C‑246 to crash while jinking. All three were killed. The fourth aircraft, C‑228, flown by Lt Alfredo Vázquez, evaded but later crash‑landed on return due to a salt‑crusted canopy. Damage control plugged the entry hole, but the exit hole was harder to reach and only patched. Limited to 10 knots, Glasgow returned to Portsmouth for repair. Lt Gavazzi was killed by friendly fire over Goose Green on the flight home.

{| class="wikitable"

! style="background:#ccccff;" | Aircraft

! style="background:#ccccff;" | Pilot

! style="background:#ccccff;" | Fate

|-

| C‑206 || Lt Mario Nivoli || Shot down by Sea Wolf

1983–1996

In 1987 she became leader of the 2nd Frigate Squadron. On 14 May 1989, the ship's helicopter, Lynx XZ244, crashed near Mombasa, Kenya, while en route to the city's airport for a period of shore leave. A door had detached when opened inflight and collided with the tail rotor, resulting in the aircraft splitting in half and the death of all nine personnel on board.

In October 1990 she saw the first members of the Women's Royal Naval Service to serve officially on an operational warship. In January 1991, Brilliant deployed to the Persian Gulf as part of the Operation Granby Task Force, in the First Gulf War. Brilliant starred in a BBC documentary series called HMS Brilliant – In a Ship's Company by the journalist Chris Terrill in 1994, while she was undertaking an operational tour off the coast of former Yugoslavia enforcing a United Nations arms embargo in the Adriatic sea.

Brazilian Navy service

She was decommissioned from Royal Navy service in 1996 and sold to the Brazilian Navy on 31 August 1996 and renamed Dodsworth.

F47 Dodsworth was sold for scrap and broken up at Aliağa, Turkey, during July 2012.

The silhouette of HMS Brilliant is painted, with the date 21 May, on the side of Argentine Air Force IAI Finger serial number C-412. Also painted on C-412 is the silhouette of HMS Arrow and the date 1 May. These kill markings (without crossing) have to do with damage to both ships in the Falklands War, HMS Arrow being slightly damaged by cannon fire 1 May 1982 and HMS Brilliant also being slightly damaged by cannon fire on 21 May. C-412's markings were painted soon after the war; they were seen during the November 2005 multi-national Exercise Ceibo in Argentina.

Citations

References

<!-- last updated January 2022 -->

  • AirForces Monthly Magazine February 2006, page 61.
  • Argentine Aircraft Successes against British Ships
  • F47 Dodsworth