HMS Leeds Castle (P258)
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| Career
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| Ordered:
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| Laid down:
| 18th October 1979
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| Launched:
| 22nd October 1980
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| Commissioned:
| August 1981
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| Decommissioned:
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| Fate:
| In service
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| Struck:
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| General Characteristics
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| Displacement:
| 1,427 tonnes
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| Length:
| 81 m (266 ft)
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| Beam:
| 11.5 m (37 ft)
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| Draught:
| 3.6 m (11 ft)
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| Propulsion:
| 2 x Ruston 12RKC 5640 hp (4.2 MW) diesels, 2 shafts
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| Speed:
| 18 knot (33 km/h) max, 12 knot (22 km/h) cruise
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| Range:
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| Complement:
| 45 (Temporary accommodation for an additional twenty-five Royal Marines)
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| Armament:
| 30 mm Cannon, 4 x General Purpose Machine Guns
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| Aircraft:
| One Lynx or Westland Sea King
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| Motto:
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The second HMS Leeds Castle is a Castle-class patrol ship built by Hall Russell Co. Ltd of Aberdeen, Scotland. Her sister-ship is HMS Dumbarton Castle, which was commissioned in 1982. Leeds Castle was launched in October 1980 and commissioned into the Royal Navy the following August. She was involved in the 1982 Falklands War, operating between the British territories of Ascension Island, South Georgia, and the Falkland Islands as a dispatch vessel.
Since that conflict, the Leeds Castle has spent much time performing fishery protection duties around the United Kingdom, as-well as being used as a guard-ship in the Falkland Islands. In 2000, Leeds Castle underwent an eight-month refit, returning to the fleet in early 2001.
She is currently serving as the Falkland Islands Patrol Vessel, a deployment that will encompass all of the South Atlantic Overseas Territories. This deployment is expected to last three years. HMS Glasgow, HMS Endurance and RFA Gold Rover are also currently in the area as of March 2004. Leeds Castle will remain in the area throughout her deployment but the crew will be rotated every six months.
See HMS Leeds Castle for other ships of the name.
