As UK waves goodbye to HMS Pembroke, here are five other Navy vessels sold abroad
A former Royal Navy minehunter has been commissioned into the Romanian navy after being sold by the maritime service in September 2023 alongside her sister ship.
The Sandown-class mine countermeasure vessel HMS Pembroke will help Nato's mission supporting security in the Black Sea under her new Romanian flag.
The 52.5m-long ship has gone through a name change and will now be known as Capitan Constantin Dumitrescu following a ceremony in Rosyth, Scotland.
This is not the first vessel that the UK has sold to the Romanian navy, however, as it sold the Type 22 frigate HMS London to Bucharest in 2003.
Much like the football transfer market, which is dominated by clubs selling and buying players (assets), nations' navies sell vessels to other navies or send them to a scrapyard – often in Turkey, in the case of the UK – to be stripped for parts, comparable to releasing a player from their contract.
The UK doesn't just sell Royal Navy warships but also Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels to other nations.
Here, BFBS Forces News highlights five other vessels that have gone to pastures new after being sold or donated by the Royal Navy.
1. HMS Grimsby and Shoreham – Royal Navy to Ukraine (2023) – donated
The ships, which are the same class as HMS Pembroke, were donated to Ukraine to help improve their position in the Black Sea two years ago under former defence secretary Grant Shapps.
The pair have been given new names – Chernihiv and Cherkasy – and have reached Nato standards after they took part in Exercise Sea Breeze near Weymouth.
The Royal Navy's Fleet Operational Standards and Training instructors trained roughly 180 Ukrainian sailors for a year and a half on how to operate the vessels.
2. RFA Fort Austin and RFA Fort Rosalie – Royal Navy to Egypt (2021) – sold
The replenishment ships were sold to Egypt for the first time in more than three decades.
RFA Fort Rosalie, which had previously been known as RFA Fort Grange, was first used during the Falklands War, where she replenished the fleet's ships and the personnel on land. She stayed on following the end of the conflict, arriving back in the UK on 3 October 1982.
RFA Fort Rosalie is now called ENS Abu Simbel, while RFA Fort Austin has been renamed ENS Luxor.
In 2023, ENS Abu Simbel reportedly went to Alexandria Port to be refurbished.
3. HMS Quorn – Royal Navy to Lithuania (2020) – sold
The Hunt-class mine countermeasure vessel was sold to Lithuania, bringing in £1m for the UK, with further fees on top for HMS Quorn's sonar system.
The UK sold other vessels, including HMS Dulverton and HMS Cottesmore, to Vilnius in 2008.
Quorn has undergone a significant upgrade to her mission and sonar systems, search and rescue capability, main engines, generators and propulsion systems as she transitions to become a Skalvis-class ship.
4. RFA Largs Bay – Royal Navy to Australia (2011) – sold
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) paid £65m for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship in 2011.
The 16,000-tonne amphibious Bay-class landing ship dock now goes by the name of HMAS Choules.
Before being bought by the Australian navy, RFA Largs Bay was deployed to Haiti to help with humanitarian relief after the earthquake devastated the country in 2010.
RAN fundamentally refitted the ship for its purposes, altering the main propulsion system, repainting the hull and flight deck, and building a temporary aircraft shelter.
5. HMS Orkney – Royal Navy to Trinidad and Tobago (2000) – sold
At the turn of the millennium, the UK sold HMS Orkney to the Trinidad and Tobago defence force.
The Island-class patrol vessel went on to be utilised by the coastguard.
The vessel, which became known as TTS Nelson, suffered mechanical issues, meaning she did not manage much naval service.
A little under a decade ago, in 2016, Trinidad and Tobago scrapped the ship.
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