HMS Monmouth sold to Turkey for recycling after 28 years of Royal Navy service
HMS Monmouth, a Type 23 frigate who has served in the Royal Navy's fleet for 28 years, has been sold to Turkey for recycling.
Experts from the Defence, Equipment and Support (DE&S) exports and sales team sold the ship, who had sailed beyond her intended lifespan.
This made the ship uneconomical to repair, with the frigate needing time-consuming and costly refits to have remained in service.
The sale was advertised by DE&S's team, for recycling only, with a focus on sustainability.
Expressions of interest were requested from recycling yards on a European list of ship recycling facilities, with ship recycling company Leyal Gemi Sokum Sanayi Ve Ticaret Ltd Sti awarded the contract.
Richard Whalley, who is head of the exports and sales team at DE&S, served as a lieutenant on HMS Monmouth for her first commission.
He said it is always a "sad day when you see a ship that was a significant part of your life heading for disposal".
But he said he was happy the vessel would be recycled in an "ethical and responsible method of recovering metals and other valuable assets, which provides a financial return for the Royal Navy".
"A fitting end for a ship that has served the nation well," he added.
The ship was originally commissioned in 1993 as a Cold War submarine hunter.
She was nicknamed Black Duke and, during her service, HMS Monmouth helped to provide humanitarian aid during the Sierra Leone Civil war and hunted pirates off the Somalian coast.
She was deployed across the world including the Antarctic, a circumnavigation across the globe, the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean.
After being briefly used as a harbour training ship, her last major deployment came in 2018 when she accompanied HMS Queen Elizabeth to the United States.
HMS Monmouth was taken out of service on 30 June 2021 after being stripped of her weapons and sensors.
She left Portsmouth Harbour on 3 April 2025 to be towed to her final destination.
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