The Royal Navy has formally confirmed the retirement of frigates HMS Iron Duke and HMS Richmond alongside minehunter HMS Chiddingfold, with their roles passing to the incoming Type 26 and Type 31 frigates and to autonomous mine-hunting systems, the service stated today.
The announcement confirms departures that had been widely reported over recent months. HMS Richmond’s decommissioning was confirmed in January, while HMS Iron Duke was withdrawn from active service earlier this year having been stripped of weapons and sensors, with the Navy declining at the time to confirm her fate. The service says retiring the older Type 23s now, as the cost and risk of maintaining them continues to increase, allows reinvestment in the next generation of warships and autonomous capabilities.
HMS Richmond’s anti-submarine warfare role will be carried forward by the Type 26 City-class frigates, led by HMS Glasgow, which the Navy says will bring enhanced capabilities for operating in increasingly contested environments. HMS Iron Duke’s responsibilities transition to the Type 31 Inspiration-class frigates currently under construction, described as offering greater flexibility and operational capacity across a range of global tasks. HMS Chiddingfold’s mine warfare mission passes to autonomous and remotely operated systems that are already being deployed and tested operationally, which the service says allows mine countermeasures to be conducted more effectively while reducing risk to personnel.
“HMS Richmond, HMS Iron Duke and HMS Chiddingfold have each played a key role in safeguarding the UK’s security and interests worldwide. As they are retired from service, their legacy continues through the next generation of warships and advanced autonomous systems,” said Vice Admiral Steve Moorhouse, Fleet Commander, as quoted in the announcement. “This marks a significant step in the Royal Navy’s evolution towards a Hybrid Navy, combining cutting-edge technology with proven capability to meet future maritime challenges. We honour their service and look forward to the advantage the future fleet will provide.”
The three ships accumulated more than a century of combined service. HMS Richmond most recently escorted HMS Prince of Wales on the Carrier Strike Group’s Indo-Pacific deployment in 2025, while HMS Iron Duke had been among the Fleet’s most frequently tasked vessels, conducting repeated operations to monitor Russian warships approaching areas of national interest. HMS Chiddingfold spent much of the past two decades operating from Bahrain in support of maritime security in the Middle East.
Commander Craig Clark, the minehunter’s penultimate Commanding Officer, said: “HMS Chiddingfold’s story is one of service, adaptability, and people. For more than 40 years she represented the Royal Navy across the globe, from NATO exercises and home waters to enduring operations in the Middle East.” Her true legacy, he added, lies with the generations of sailors who served in her, and as the Navy transitions to new mine-hunting capability, “HMS Chiddingfold can rightly be regarded as part of the foundation upon which that future has been built.”
The transition is supported by the Defence Investment Plan, which commits £1.3 billion to the hybrid fleet and £1.1 billion to the Mine Hunting Capability programme, as the Navy moves towards a force combining crewed warships, submarines and aircraft with uncrewed platforms.
Will the last Matlot out of the base please remember to shut off the lights and lock the gate
“HMS Iron Duke’s responsibilities transition to the Type 31 Inspiration-class frigates currently under construction, described as offering greater flexibility and operational capacity across a range of global tasks”
Wonderful if any of them had left the builder yard; had gone on builders trials or maybe even accepted in service.
I am increasingly impressed that the effect that RN vessels in a builder yard can have on UK defensive readiness. Given how effective they seem to be from the yard maybe sending ships to sea is no longer necessary?
IRL this is beyond belief.
SB,
Wow, impressive restraint exercised by Vice Admiral Steve Moorhouse in the delivery of those remarks. Would gladly pay to read the unedited version. Must be an instance of the famed British stiff upper lip displayed during adversity. Amazing that within living memory (now barely), the Royal Navy was considered the preeminent maritime service. Another casualty of the infamous “peace dividend.” Hope historians seriously reevaluate which side “won” CW I.
I suspect the poor guy is having a stiff drink after having come out with that tosh.
Really, all RN can do is keep moving forwards now. And forwards is T26 and T31 and do everything they can to get that right.
There are no other options as everything else has been scrapped or sold.
I was going to say the good news is there is only 5 Type 23’s left so the MoD are going to run out of ships to scrap soon. Getting all the Type 45’s off the wall (including Daring) and as you say the first of the new ships out of the builders yards is critical.
However, the statement is laughable, the look to our allies is awful and the gap in capability is criminal.
The vessels in the builders yard and no less effective than those NOT in the builders yard so it’s immaterial really. At least the ones in the builders yard have a chance of coming out one day.
Let us not forget Chiddingfold’s capability as a ram, with two comparable ships rendered hors de combat out in the Middle East. Perhaps that’s a capability our new drone ships should include.
Good Day,
A very grave situation!The Navy needs help! It needs to be rapidly rectified! At least another tranch of Type 26 (wishful thinking) or Type 31/32…. The Navy needs to build up immediately together with being strengthened with Common Combat vessels and Type 9x etc.
Why are the politicians not taking Putins war Games seriously?
Starmer is almost gone what will Burnham do?
Nick
The destruction of the Royal Navy at the hands of the Labour Party is quite impressive.
How is this Labour’s fault? Do you want them to go back in time and purchase frigates?
The Labour Party have now decommissioned ten Royal Navy assets and replaced them with the grand total of Zero – they choose to decommission those assets no one else.
They have decimated the Royal Navy since taking office.
We couldn’t even deploy a single ship when Cyprus came under attack – 🤦♂️
And again, what were they supposed to do about that? The reason the replacements are not ready is because the previous government chose not to order them in time, and so there’s now a frigate gap. Labour can’t go back in time to order the frigates earlier, and they can’t just throw money at a bottleneck requiring multiple years of investment to solve.
As why they’re being decommissioned, do you want RN sailors going to sea in knackered and therefore dangerous ships? For goodness sake, one of the decommissioned frigates literally broke its keel shortly after being removed from service.
The dense can’t be educated
This is actually the fault of the Conservatives. The replacement program for the T23s and Invincibles started under the Blair/Brown government.
Then the Conservatives constantly let the replacement date of both ships/programs slip, with the Type 26 slipping by 10 years and from a like for like replacement to just replacing the ASW ones with T26, and the GPs with T31s. The QEs were marginally better, only slipping behind by 3-4 years instead.
Combine that with cuts to maintenance, and the already worn out ships being asked to do more and more, and you have an inevitable result.
By the time Labour got back in power, they really have had no choice to retire most of the frigates, with many having hull stress cracks that are uneconomical to repair that will prevent them from being able to put to sea. As much as I hate the labour government, I’ve gotta admit this isn’t their fault, they’ve hardly had enough time to make this their fault.
Moorhouse’s statement might make some semblance of sense if any of the T26 or T31 builds had completed trials and were on the cusp of acceptance into service. But they are nowhere near that. . Absolute drivel from the Admiralty.
Fantastic news, Let’s all just savour the prospect of the Cutting Edge, World Class technological laden T26’s and T31’s together with the latest leap In MCM capability coming so very soon.
I think we’ll be savouring the prospect for a good while yet!
Glad to see all the admirals taking the moral high ground over the state of the Navy and resigning….. oh wait !
Too busy sorting out their post RN careers.
We badly need a full and honest review of what has gone wrong. We have had countless defence reviews of the last 10 or 20 years. Each time a plan is put for equipment and it seems those plans are budgeted for. Then the next review happens and suddenly cuts are required, without any real news capability added or budgeted for. Mistakes happen and budgeting mistakes are common in any industry but it feels these are not even in the ball park of being right. Our war fighting ability isn’t in a mess just because of lack of money, it’s in a mess due to terrible decisions on how to use the money there is and those decisions happening over and over again.
I know I’m talking fantasy world as I’m sure huge corruption at MOD and governmental level would come to light if a review was undertaken independently and no politician is going to commission a review that might come back critising their own party or worse themselves
You’ve got to be kidding me ? For one theses new ship’s aren’t ready ,plus the government should be doing everything possible to keep them going ,where on our knees for heaven’s sake never mind the bloody money ( Madness ) 🙄