Being ready for renewed front-line duties after a spot of TLC is Her Majesty’s Ship Kent, at the moment within the arms of the Royal Navy’s final assessors. Since then she’s performed patrols in dwelling waters and visited her namesake county, earlier than present process a brief however complicated overhaul in her dwelling base. The Portsmouth-based frigate is gearing up for her first deployment since an epic seven months accompanying HMS Queen Elizabeth and her service strike group to the Pacific Rim and again. To make sure the Kind 23 frigate is obtainable for high-tempo operations, a major quantity of effort is regularly required from many organisations throughout the MOD, Royal Navy, ship’s firm and, within the case of Portsmouth-based ships, BAE Methods, all working along with the widespread intention of finishing the overhaul on time.
“HMS Kent’s newest engineering help interval was a fancy mission and whereas there have been emergent engineering challenges, I’m more than happy that the complete workforce – ship’s workers and BAE Methods alike – labored intently collectively to beat all points in brief order,” stated the frigate’s Commanding Officer Commander Jez Brettell.
Commercial
Claudia Roberts, Kind 23 Waterfront Help Supervisor stated: “Finishing HMS Kent’s help interval on time was an excellent achievement for the complete workforce significantly when you think about the extent of the work – which included the removing and upkeep of the diesel generator – required to allow the ship to hold out onward tasking.”
For Kent that meant changing certainly one of her diesel mills and overhauling one other which had handed 12,000 hours (71 weeks or one 12 months and 4 months) operating regularly, each producing 1,700 brake horse energy (the engine on a household automotive usually generates 120-200 bhp). As well as, many functionality upgrades had been accomplished together with to the cutting-edge 997 ‘Artisan’ radar in addition to the ship’s gyro system which offers positioning important enter data to weapons and sensors on board. The help interval additionally offered the chance for important upkeep to be carried out to make sure the ship is totally ready for any potential future tasking. After sea trials to shake off the cobwebs of some weeks alongside, the ship has now switched her consideration to returning to front-line duties, present process Operational Sea Coaching off Plymouth.
HMS Kent is a Kind 23 Duke class frigate of the Royal Navy, and the twelfth ship to bear the title, though technically she is called after the dukedom fairly than the county. Sponsored by Princess Alexandra, The Hon. Woman Ogilvy (daughter of the late Prince George, Duke of Kent), Kent was launched on 28 Could 1998 and commissioned on 8 June 2000. She was the primary ship to enter Royal Navy service within the twenty first century. Kent’s lineage boasts sixteen Battle Honours from the three given to the primary Kent of 46 weapons in-built 1653, to the 5 awarded to the ninth and tenth Kents of World Struggle I and World Struggle II. On 12 August 2019, Kent deployed towards the Persian Gulf to alleviate HMS Duncan and defend industrial delivery within the Persian Gulf area. In 2021, Kent deployed to the Pacific as a part of the Royal Navy’s service strike group.
