HMS Kent returns to Portsmouth after £24m upgrade
Above: Royal Navy frigate HMS Kent returns to Portsmouth following a £24m upgrade in Scotland. Picture: Leading Airman (Photographer) Keith Morgan, Crown Copyright / MoD 2011
HMS Kent has benefited from an overhaul of all her hull, upper deck and her complex weapons systems. Key upgrades include a new 4.5-inch (114mm) medium-range gun plus new 30mm close-range guns on her port and starboard sides.
She has also had a new command system, target control radars and new towed array sonar fitted. The sonar gives the vessel phenomenal capability and makes her a world-leading anti-submarine warfare platform.
Since the 180-strong ship's company moved back on board in September they have completed an extensive number of engineering, equipment and manpower tests and trials in preparation to return to sea.
On leaving Rosyth, HMS Kent conducted inspections, exercises and trials off the east coast of Scotland to put her new systems and equipment to the test.
Her Commanding Officer, Commander Ben Ripley, said: "It is a great honour to bring HMS Kent back to her home port of Portsmouth. The crew have worked for many months away from home, some for over a year, and our return today is a poignant moment for those who have seen her through the entire refit process.
"The ship was fortunate to have had an excellent engineering refit with Babcock in Rosyth and our return to Portsmouth, on time and on budget, shows how the Royal Navy and British industry can work successfully together to a common purpose."
HMS Kent has become the seventh Type 23 frigate to be upgraded with Thales UK’s Sonar 2087 system (above) which the MoD says gives the warship 'phenomenal capability' and makes her a 'world-leading anti-submarine warfare platform'.
Sonar 2087 is a towed-array system that enables Type 23 frigates to hunt the latest submarines at considerable distances and locate them beyond the range from which they can launch an attack.
The system is a low-frequency active sonar, consisting of both active and passive sonar arrays. The system is manufactured at Thales’s sites in Cheadle Heath in Manchester and Templecombe in Somerset in the UK, and in Brest, France.
This type of frigate can also carry the Merlin helicopter which is fitted with the Thales FLASH dipping sonar. The combination of 2087 and FLASH makes the Type 23 a formidable anti-submarine warfare (ASW) platform.
Commander Ripley, said: “HMS Kent will emerge as one of the most capable anti-submarine warfare frigates in the world, and today is our first step in realising this goal.”
John Pollard, Capability Manager for Sonar Systems at the MoD’s Defence Equipment & Support facility, said: “Recent operational deployments using Sonar 2087 against actual ‘threat platforms’ continue to show this to be a very capable ASW system, giving these platforms a significant capability enhancement.”
“HMS Kent will soon enter service alongside the other six Sonar 2087-fitted platforms further extending the Royal Navy’s ASW capability.”
