HMS Cumberland (F85)
| HMS Cumberland and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| | Career | |
|---|
| Ordered: |
| Laid down: | 12 October 1984 |
| Launched: | 21 June 1986 |
| Commissioned: | 10 June 1989 |
| Decommissioned: |
| Fate: | |
| Struck: |
| General Characteristics |
|---|
| Displacement: | 5,300 tons |
| Length: | 148.1 m |
| Beam: | 14.8 m |
| Draught: |
| Propulsion: | 2 x Rolls Royce Spey gas turbines (high speed)2 x Rolls Royce Tyne gas turbines (cruising) |
| Speed: | cruise 18 knots (33 km/h), max 30 knots (56 km/h) |
| Range: |
| Complement: | 250 (max 301) |
| Armament: | 114mm (4.5 inch) MK 8 gun
Goalkeeper close-in weapons system (CIWS)
Sea Wolf anti-missile system
2 x Quad Harpoon missile launchers
2 x 20 mm Close range guns
NATO Seagnat Decoy Launchers |
| Aircraft: | Lynx MK 8 helicopters
armed with:
Sea Skua anti-ships missiles
Stingray anti-submarine torpedoes
Mk 11 depth charges
Machine guns |
| Motto: Tenacious of Justice |
HMS Cumberland (F85) is a
Type 22 frigate of the
Royal Navy. She was on station during the
First Gulf War. On
26 September 2000 Cumberland worked with local fishermen to aid the rescue of survivors of the
Greek ferry
Express Samina which ran aground two miles off the island of
Paros.
Cumberland is currently part of the
2nd Frigate Squadron based at
Devonport Dockyard.
In 2003 HMS
Cumberland (in partnership with
RFA Wave Knight) seized 3.6 tonnes of cocaine in the mid-Atlantic as part of an anti-drug operation. In
October 2005 HMS
Cumberland intercepted and boarded a speed boat in the
Caribbean Sea off
Nicaragua from which they seized two tonnes of
cocaine, and detained four suspects. The cocaine is estimated to have a street value of £200 million.
Chris Cranmer, the first registered
Satanist serving in the Royal Navy, was a technician on board this vessel
as of 2004.
On
May 18,
2006, the Cumberland escorted
Dee Caffari, sailing Aviva, across the finish-line (at
Lizard Point) as she became the first woman to sail single-handedly non-stop around the world "the wrong way" (against the prevailing wind and tide) - a feat first achieved by
Chay Blyth.
See
HMS Cumberland for other ships of the same name.
*
Cocaine capture
