The Royal Navy’s longest-serving Type 23 frigate which has a close association with Morecambe Bay has been retired from the fleet.
HMS Lancaster, known as the Queen’s frigate, was sponsored by Her Majesty and visited by Queen Elizabeth II on multiple occasions.
Officers and crew from the frigate were regular visitors to the city which fostered close ties with the ship.
Civic events included Freedom of the City ceremonies which saw her crew march through the city centre were held and civic leaders spent time aboard the ship when she was in UK waters.
But after almost 35 years service, nearly double her expected 18 year life span, the navy have taken the decision to retire her.
The ship has spent the past three years active in the Middle East based in Bahrain as part of Operation Kipion, a mission to secure trade routes and tackle smuggling.
Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Steve Moorhouse, a former commanding officer of HMS Lancaster, said efforts would be made to return as many of the ship’s company as possible home in time for Christmas and paid tribute to their recent achievements.
“Most recently, this has seen her forward-deployed in the Middle East, where her operational output has been simply exceptional,” he said. “Just over three years in the region, supporting allies and partners, she was the first ship on task in the Red Sea during the heightened threat activity in December 2023.
“And she seized over £150m of narcotics, the latest of which was only a few weeks ago.”
HMS Lancaster was built on the Clyde as the fourth Duke class, Type 23 frigate and joined the fleet in 1992.
Originally focusing on anti-submarine operations her role included taken part in deployments aimed at frustrating drug smuggling operations in the Caribbean. During one of these operations a Royal Marines sniper disabled a fast boat from the ship’s helicopter, something repeated just a few weeks ago in the Gulf.
Unusually the ship will not be returning to the UK to be decommissioned.
Instead the RN says arrangements are being made to dispose of her in Bahrain ending an association with Lancaster that goes back over three decades.
