View source for HMS Norfolk (D21)

{{Short description|County-class guided missile destroyer of the Royal Navy and Chilean Navy}}
{{Other ships|HMS Norfolk}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=March 2012}}
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{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=[[File:HMS Norfolk USS Claude-V-Ricketts(DDG-5) HNLMS De-Ruyter DN-SC-82-08446.jpg|300px|HMS Norfolk]]
|Ship caption=HMS ''Norfolk''
}}
{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=United Kingdom
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
|Ship name=HMS ''Norfolk''
|Ship namesake=
|Ship ordered=5 January 1965
|Ship builder=[[Swan Hunter]]
|Ship laid down=15 March 1966
|Ship launched=16 November 1967
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=7 March 1970
|Ship decommissioned= 1981
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck=
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship honours=
|Ship identification=[[Pennant number]]: D21
|Ship fate= Sold to Chile on 6 April 1982
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{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=Chile
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Chile|navy}}
|Ship name= ''Capitán Prat''
|Ship namesake=
|Ship acquired=April 1982
|Ship commissioned=
|Ship decommissioned= 11 August 2006
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
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|Ship honours=
|Ship fate= Sold for scrap September 2008
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Ship class={{sclass2|County|destroyer}}
|Ship displacement=*6,200 tons
*6,800 tons (full load)
|Ship length={{convert|522|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam= {{convert|53|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship height= 
|Ship draught= {{convert|20|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship depth=
|Ship propulsion=[[Combined steam and gas]] turbines, 2 shafts
|Ship speed= {{convert|32|kn|km/h|0}}
|Ship range= {{convert|4000|nmi|km|-3}} at {{convert|28|kn|km/h|0}}
|Ship endurance=
|Ship boats=
|Ship capacity=470
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|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=*2 × Twin [[QF 4.5 inch Mk I – V naval gun|4.5-inch (113 mm) guns]] (1 pair removed after refit)
*2 × [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|20 mm Oerlikon guns]]
*1 × Twin [[Sea Slug (missile)|Sea Slug]] launcher
*2 × Quad [[Sea Cat]] missile launchers
*4 × [[Exocet]] missile launchers (added after refit)
|Ship armour=
|Ship aircraft=1 × [[Westland Wessex]] helicopter
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'''HMS ''Norfolk''''' (pennant '''D21''') was a {{sclass2|County|destroyer|3}} of the Royal Navy. She was the fourth Group 2 and the last of the County-class built.

The fifth ship named Norfolk, she was laid down on 15 March 1966 by [[Swan Hunter]] and launched by [[Lavinia Fitzalan-Howard, Duchess of Norfolk|Lavinia, Duchess of Norfolk]] on 16 November 1967. She was commissioned on 7 March 1970.

In 1982 she was sold to Chile and served in their navy as '''''Capitán Prat''''' until 2006 and subsequently sold for scrap.

==Design==
{{unreferenced section|date=April 2023}}
''Norfolk'' is described as a [[destroyer]], rather than a [[cruiser]], because the Royal Navy and First Sea Lord [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Earl Mountbatten]] had seen guided missile destroyers as easier to gain approval from the [[HM Treasury|Treasury]] than cruisers, when the class originated in the late 1950s. By the late 1960s the armament being fitted to ''Norfolk'' was dated and limited with no more than the guns of a mid-1950s destroyer and a supposedly improved [[Sea Slug (missile)|Sea Slug missile]] which was untested at the time work on ''Norfolk'' started. By the mid-1960s the Minister of Defence [[Denis Healey]] and the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] Government were reducing the size of the Royal Navy and rejecting the idea of broken back conventional or limited nuclear war in the Atlantic. The Labour defence doctrine was one of tighter nuclear deterrence with the main armament, tactical nuclear and anti-submarine emphasis. Norfolk did not really fit with this strategy and was built to keep shipyards open and as a low level cruiser for low level defence, diplomacy, [[third world]] bushfire wars and recruitment. Eventually such ships could be sold to the third world to aid British interests in South America, the Middle East and Asia where Britain was withdrawing its own forces.

==Royal Navy service==
[[File:NAVO-Smaldeel bezoekt haven van Amsterdam-33218.ogv|thumb|left|Dutch newsreel video of HMS ''Norfolk'' visiting Amsterdam in 1976]]
''Norfolk'' was first commissioned on 7 March 1970 and was present at Portsmouth Navy Days.<ref>Programme, ''Navy Days Portsmouth, 29th–31st August 1971'', p11.</ref> In 1972 ''Norfolk'' began a refit to replace 'B' turret with four [[Exocet]] launchers. She was thus the first [[Royal Navy]] warship to be armed with the Exocet missile system. She also became the first warship to carry three independent missile systems: Exocet, [[Sea Cat]] and Sea Slug. ''Norfolk'' recommissioned in 1974. She had a displacement of 6,200 tons and was quite a large ship, considering she was classified as a destroyer. She undertook numerous deployments to the [[Indian Ocean]], [[Mediterranean Sea]] and [[Pacific Ocean|South Pacific]] Ocean. By the mid-1970s it was clear that the Mk 2 Sea Slug did not represent a significant improvement over the earlier version, because it was even less reliable and attempts to develop successful sustainer motors had failed. There was only money to fit new computer command and control to the three other second group County class, so Norfolk was reduced to increasingly marginal and third line roles.

In September 1976, one of the highlights of her relatively peaceful career came, when she flew the [[Queen's Colour]] in [[Sweden]] and [[Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden|King Carl XVI Gustaf]] unveiled a plaque to commemorate the British [[James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez|Admiral James de Saumarez]]. During the ship's visit to [[Fremantle]], Australia in 1979, she had an unwelcome milestone – she became the first warship afloat to hold a [[Court Martial]] in over 10 years. The visit itself was made to commemorate 150 years of the founding of [[Western Australia]].

In September 1976, ''Norfolk'' took over the UK's commitment to [[Standing Naval Force Atlantic]]. She decommissioned in 1981 to become the Dartmouth Training Ship at [[Britannia Royal Naval College]]. Now of marginal naval value in the North Atlantic with even the Exocets being a light short ranged missile compared with the Soviets, ''Norfolk'' was inevitably a candidate for early pay off to be sold to third world or Commonwealth countries. She was first offered to [[New Zealand]] about the start of 1981. Its main selling point was seaworthiness, good range and current datalinks giving interoperability with both the RN and USN.

==Chilean Navy service==

{{other ships|Chilean ship Capitán Prat}}

''Norfolk'' was sold to [[Chile]] on 6 April 1982 and renamed ''Capitán Prat'', after [[Arturo Prat]], commander of the Chilean ship {{ship||Esmeralda|1855|2}} during the [[War of the Pacific]]. In 1996, her Sea Cat launchers were removed and she was fitted with the [[Barak SAM]]. In 2001, her Sea Slug system was removed and she was refitted as a Helicopter Destroyer with a [[Eurocopter AS 532|Cougar attack helicopter]].

On 24 February 2006, ''Capitán Prat'' was laid up; she was decommissioned on 11 August 2006. In September 2008, she sailed to Mexico for scrap.

==Commanding officers==
Notable commanding officers include [[James Dunbar Cook|JWD Cook]] (1971–1972), [[Anthony Whetstone|Anthony J Whetstone]] (1977–1978) and [[Tony Hutton|A D Hutton]] (1978–1980).

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Publications==
* {{Cite Colledge2006}}
*Marriott, Leo, 1989.  ''Royal Navy Destroyers since 1945'', Ian Allan Ltd.  {{ISBN|0 7110 1817 0}}
*McCart, Neil, 2014. ''County Class Guided Missile Destroyers'', Maritime Books. {{ISBN|978-1904459637}}

{{County class destroyer}}
{{Chilean destroyers}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norfolk (D21)}}
[[Category:County-class destroyers of the Royal Navy]]
[[Category:1967 ships]]
[[Category:Cold War destroyers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:County-class destroyers of the Chilean Navy]]
[[category:Ships built by Swan Hunter]]