A ROYAL Navy frigate has embarked upon her final voyage to a scrapyard in Swansea.

HMS Cornwall will be dismantled and recycled by Swansea Drydocks Ltd.

The Type-22 frigate, built in 1985 and commissioned in Falmouth in 1988 by Diana, Princess of Wales, was being towed from Portsmouth, Hampshire, yesterday morning.

The 5,300-tonne vessel is the only one of her class being broken in the UK.

 

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Her sister ships Chatham, Campbeltown and Cumberland were sold to a recycling premises in Turkey — the same scrapyard which bought the Ark Royal aircraft carrier .

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed the sale of the four frigates raised just under £3 million.

In August this year, jubilant Swansea Drydocks bosses said they had beaten competitors to win the HMS Cornwall contract.

Managing director Karl Dunn said at the time: “It has taken us several years of hard work and significant investment to be in a position to win this tender.

“Developing Swansea Drydocks into a world-class ship repair and recycling facility has been a huge challenge.” The dismantling contract is expected to create 20 to 25 jobs at the city’s dry docks-based premises.

The company also repairs and refurbishes ships.

An MoD spokesman said this month: “Following competitions, two contracts have been awarded to recycle four former Type-22 frigates (Cumberland, Campbeltown, Chatham and Cornwall).

“A contract for three of the ships has been awarded to the Turkish recycling company Leyal Ship Recycling.

“The contract for the fourth ship (Cornwall) has been awarded to Swansea Drydocks.”

It also said former ice patrol ship HMS Endurance would be scrapped after the cost of repairing the vessel, which flooded off the coast of Chile in 2008, was too great.

The Post contacted Swansea Drydocks to ask when HMS Cornwall was scheduled to arrive, but it declined to comment.