HMS Chatham was a Batch 3 Type 22 frigate of the British Royal Navy. She was decommissioned on 8 February 2011.

Chatham had the rare honour of a motto in English; Up and at 'em, being the rallying cry of the Medway town football and rugby teams. The motto has subsequently been translated back into Latin as Surge et vince.

Operational history

1990–1999

Chatham joined Operation Sharp Guard to enforce the embargo against the former Yugoslavia in 1993. Her most notable action was on 1 May 1994 and the capture of the Maltese freighter Lido II, which was suspected of smuggling fuel to Montenegro. The British frigate assisted the Dutch frigate , who had forced the merchant to stop.

Three Yugoslav missile boats challenged the NATO operation and one of them attempted to ram Chatham. The corvettes were driven off by the actions of the British warship, supported by Italian Tornado aircraft which scrambled from an airbase at Gioia Del Colle. Lido II underwent repairs after sabotage to the ship's engine room by her crew, before being diverted to Italy. The leaking was contained by an engineering party from Chatham. Seven Yugoslav stowaways were found on board.

Under the command of Captain Christopher Clayton, she was guardship to the royal yacht during the withdrawal from Hong Kong in 1997

On 18 April 2005, Chatham sent a party ashore at Alexandria in Egypt to provide a burial for the recently uncovered remains of thirty British sailors and officers who had died during or after the 1798 Battle of the Nile.

On 31 October 2006, she visited the town of Chatham, Massachusetts, on her way to Boston.

In 2008, Chatham was responsible for the capture of six tonnes of the 23-tonne narcotic haul seized by the Royal Navy between January and August 2008. As of March 2010, she was the NATO flagship for international naval operations against Somali piracy.

2010–2011

On 17 May 2010, Chatham destroyed two pirate boats in the Somali Basin, forcing the pirates to return in the mother ship to Somalia.

Decommissioning and disposal

As a result of defence cuts, HMS Chatham arrived in Plymouth for the last time on 27 January 2011. The ship was decommissioned in February 2011. She was stripped of equipment and laid up at Portsmouth and in July 2013 sold to Turkish company Leyal for scrapping.

In autumn 2013, Chatham was towed to the Leyal shipyard in Turkey on her final voyage for breaking.

Affiliations

Chatham was affiliated to a number of military and civil bodies:

Ship's Sponsor: Lady Oswald

  • 3 Regiment, Army Air Corps
  • Medway Council
  • Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors
  • Chatham Dockyard Historic Trust
  • Chatham Dockyard Historic Society
  • Royal Naval Association, Chatham
  • TS Cornwallis (Medway Town Sea Cadet Unit)
  • 5th Medway Scouts
  • 1404 Chatham Squadron (Air Training Corps)

Notable commanding officers

Almost all the commanders of Chatham subsequently achieved flag rank including James Morse, Ian Forbes, Tony Hogg, Paul Boissier, Christopher Clayton, Martin Connell (Dec 2006 - Jan 2009), Trevor Soar and George Zambellas.

References

  • HMS Chatham Commissioning Book (PDF)