The Type 21 frigate PNS Tariq, ex-HMS Ambuscade is to leave Karachi Naval Dockyard in February and will be moved to a private mooring so preparation work can begin for her journey back to the UK.
HMS Ambuscade was built on the Clyde in 1975 and is one of the few surviving vessels that saw action in the Falklands War. She served in the RN until 1993 until she was sold to Pakistan. The Pakistani Navy has kindly donated the ship to the preservation project, forgoing a considerable sum in potential scrap value.
A team from the UK will be heading to Karachi to carry out some of the work required. The frigate will subsequently make the 6,000nm journey on a heavy-lift vessel back to the Clyde.
Management of the project has now been taken over by the newly established charity, Clyde Naval Heritage (replacing Falls of Clyde International). As we previously reported, it had originally been hoped to bring the ship home in late 2023 but it was held up by some minor legal issues and advice not to proceed as the ship and US-registered Heavy Lift vessel could be a prime target for attack by the Houthis in the Red Sea region.
The ship’s arrival back in the UK is likely to be televised at attract considerable attention. This offers the first of several attractive sponsorship opportunities for companies interested in supporting this project.
CNH aims to raise public awareness of the importance of preserving the history of naval shipbuilding, past and present. Putting HMS Ambuscade on display as a museum ship open to the public will celebrate and showcase the Clyde’s shipbuilding heritage and links to the Royal Navy.
It has not yet been decided exactly where the ship will be berthed in the long term but Glasgow City Council is supportive and there are several sites under consideration. There are two main options, either at Custom House Quay, Inverclyde or at the Govan Graving Docks when renovated. A temporary berth might also be found at the Riverside Museum area close to the tall ship Glenlee.
The University of Bolton, Greater Manchester is hosting a Naval Nexus Event to celebrate return of this historic ship. Dr Muhammad Anwar, the first captain to bring HMS Ambuscade to the UK will be the keynote speaker and the fascinating story of the ship and its connection to British and international naval heritage will be told.
The event is open to the public and will be held in the University’s main lecture theatre in Senate House on Monday 9 December, 6pm – 8.20pm and refreshments are provided. More details here
Hopefully she’s in better condition than some of the later RN frigates.
I hate to be negative but how is this going to succeed when HMS Plymouth failed?
Unlike Plymouth surely Ambuscade must also be very different after 30 years in foreign service to how she was in her Falklands service?
I’d tend to agree.
It is the ongoing maintenance costs that kill this kind of thing unless you have a spare dry dick like Chatham for its ‘O’ submarine so she can be out of the water.
Otherwise you have expensive periodic dry docking for hull coatings and safety inspections.
Obvs she it is in a dry dock then she can be inspected there.
Looks like a \water berth. You may wish to edit your first reference to “dry dock”!
No mate he knew exactly what he meant.
Glasgow should be congratulated on trying to utilise her great shipbuilding history and heritage but shame it is one of the fire hazard 21’s they intend to use due to availability.
🤣🤣🤣
HMS Cavalier at the Historic Dockyard Chatham
I was talking about the O class submarine in the next dock….
Dry dick. Sounds painful lol
“Otherwise you have expensive periodic dry dicking….”? 😂
Cant see this happening. We tried to get ex HMS Edinburgh to Edinburgh, there was so much red tape and so many hurdles and that was in British territorial waters. She will go to the scrapyard before she gets anywhere near The UK.
For a moment I thought they were bringing her back for service, wouldn’t be the most obscure thing to have happened.
Rowan
Good idea!
The Red Sea is quite near to Pakistan = so why not finish off its career on a high note?…
Peter (irate Taxpayer)
As an apprentice engineer I worked on HMS Ambuscade and her sister ships Arrow, Alacrity, Ardent and Avenger, looking forward to seeing her one more time.
I was with HMS AMBUSCADE down the Falklands 🇫🇰 in 1990 whilst on RFA GOLD ROVER. Good memories of her down south. We also visited South Georgia 🇬🇸
My 1st ship in 79….Great ship and ships Company….before we all get excited…..take a breath….still a lot of red tape.
2nd ship 77 / 79 helicopter crew great ship, fantastic ships company, would love to see it again. Phil p
T21 a fine looking boat , maybe more attractive than the later t23
I’m a keen radio control model boat builder and built a large model of a Type 21 using HMS Ardent as my subject. I used photo’s of actual 21’s I took at a Navy Day down in Plymouth many years ago, to complete the model. Being different to a standard naval designed ship, these commercially designed hull’s were a beautiful ship to see and so fast in the water. I can’t wait to see a 21 back in the UK exhibiting our UK Naval heritage.
Vosper Thorneycroft was still a [commercial] warship designer-builder for foreign countrys. It was all Adm Horace Law, the Controller of the Navy’s idea but the RCNC was still responsible for strength and stability and increased the length and beam after the intial design came back
Lovely looking model looks amazing on the water …
Ken
Yours is not a RCMB (Radio Controlled Model Boat) = it is most-definitely a USV!
This is exactly what the RN now needs to boost its total number of surface combatants.
Where can MOD place an order?; how much each?; and how fast can you build them?
Peter (Irate Taxpayer)
🤣🤣🤣
Impressive!
Best ship I ever served on, it will be a great day to be able to step onboard again
They should put her back in service.
Last saw Ambuscade off Burgh Island Friday 9 April 1982 – week after Falklands invasion. Took me some years to be certain as she had no Pennant Number. Gather she’d had to turn back en route South.
Previous story which had a concept plan for the site
https://www.navylookout.com/a-royal-navy-heritage-attraction-on-the-clyde-bringing-the-former-hms-ambuscade-home/
As RM. I hope it goes a head. But the way. Funding is going with the government funding for historically events ie the woke policymakers say no moor
My comments have now been removed which are completely correct thank u a open debate
Thanks you for removing all my comments on this subject
None of your comments were removed. One was held for moderation by automated filters but now approved. We have a major issue with comment spam and the filters sometimes produce false positives.
If we can’t even afford to have a navy the likes we had in Falklands how are we affording this level of red tape. you want a museum, have one over there. If u want one here find a similar vessel already over here. Not saying anything about our honored navy but until I see it I don’t believe we have the funding besides most people these days are to woke to understand our level of heritage anymore (sorry if it upsets anyone but it needs pointing out)
Another foreign troll pretending to be British, and failing miserably.
Hopefully she can be returned to the UK as planned. Then maintained as a fitting tribute to those that paid the “Ultimate Price” and those that served Down South!!
The Type 21s were very active on the Falklands, Arrow firing in support of the attack on Goose Green, Alacrity passing down the sound and of course Ardent in the gun line.
As short as the Senior Service is on hulls right now m, maybe she should be overhauled and recommissioned
Nice gesture from Pakistan
Nice idea that we may finally have a Falklands veteran in preservation. She does look a bit different in some respects (mainly add ons that can be removed) and I’m sure there are various bits of kit she used to have fitted lying around that could be retro-fitted if the will is there. Best of luck to her and the people behind this.
Nice she is returning to the UK, and hats off to the PN for the donation. The article mentioned very hulls left from the Falklands war, aren’t we just about to scrap HMS Bristol? Bristol was a flagship in that war and has only ever served the RN…
But Bristol is massive, knackered and much cut about.
You’d need a large berth for her too….
HMS Ambuscade
22nd (Cheshire) Regiments Sister ship hope they manage to pull this off
Something of a coincidence that two ex RN ships with their current name of “Tariq” sold off to other navies should be considered for preservation in the UK, on two of our West Coast major rivers that have shipbuilding history, wartime history and Merchant Navy history. It seems ex HMS Ambuscade will quite rightly return to Scotland’s Clyde to represent shipbuilding there, but ex HMS Whimbrel will presumably not return to England’s Mersey to represent The Battle of the Atlantic there. A pity ways and means could not be found to bring back Whimbrel from Alexandria to be in Liverpool, especially as HQ Western Approaches and U534 would be part of the story and memorial to the longest sea conflict of WWII.
And I should have added to my reply, agreeing that Amuscade will represent the Naval Battle of the Falklands very appropriately considering the loss of life and sister ships in that more recent conflict.