(March 7th 2002)
HMS Fearless to Retire
The amphibious assault ship HMS Fearless (L10) is to be retired after nearly four decades of service.
She will be withdrawn from service when she returns home to Portsmouth on March 18th, following the completion of her role in Operation Veritas, the British contribution to the war against terror.
Fearless - the last steam driven ship in the Royal Navy - was scheduled to remain in service until November 2002, as her replacement, HMS Albion, will not enter service until January 2003. However, her recent lengthy deployment to the Arabian Sea, coupled with her age, meant the cost of keeping her in service for another eight months couldn't be justified.
Adam Ingram, Minister of State for the Armed Forces, said:
"HMS Fearless has had a long, proud and hugely successful career. She has served in very many operational theatres but, in this the 20th anniversary year of the Falklands conflict, perhaps her most memorable role was the one she played in the recovery of the Islands. We celebrate her past, salute her today and look to the future in the shape her highly capable replacements, HMS Albion and Bulwark."
Above: HMS Fearless (L10) off Gibraltar. © Crown Copyright.
Considering the cutbacks endured by the fleet during her 37 years of service, it is perhaps surprising Fearless has lasted this long. She was originally earmarked for disposal - without replacement - under the notorious 1981 Defence Review but was spared from the scrapyard by the Falklands conflict the following year. She was subsequently scheduled to retire in 1990, but the delay in ordering replacement vessels saw her remain in service for another decade.
HMS Fearless was built at Harland and Wolff in Belfast and launched in 1963. There followed an illustrious career: In 1968 she hosted talks between Ian Smith and Harold Wilson on the future of Rhodesia; in 1977 she appeared in the closing scenes of the James Bond film 'The Spy Who Loved Me' and in 1983 she supported UN peacekeepers in Lebanon. However her finest hour came in the 1982 Falklands conflict, where she and her sistership, HMS Intrepid, launched the amphibious assault to retake the Islands.
Above: HMS Fearless (L10) comes under Argentine attack in "bomb alley" during the 1982 Falklands War. © Crown Copyright.
In September and October 2001, Fearless participated in Exercise Saif Sareea, a massive tri-service exercise held in conjunction with the Armed Forces of Oman. As a consequence of the terrorist atrocities of September 11th, she remained in the region to participate in the US-led 'war against terror'.
Plans for the disposal of HMS Fearless are currently "under review".