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HMS Broadsword (F88) was the lead ship and first Batch 1 unit of the
Type 22 frigateThe Type 22 Broadsword class is a class of frigate built for the Royal Navy. Fourteen of the class were built in total, with production divided into three batches. Four Batch 3 ships remain in service with the Royal Navy...
s of the
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
.
Service
While on sea trials,
Broadsword was called into service as the command ship during the large rescue operation required after storms struck the
1979 Fastnet raceThe 1979 Fastnet race was the twenty-eighth Fastnet race, a yachting race competition held since 1925, generally every two years. In 1979, it was the climax of the five-race Admiral's Cup competition, as it had been since 1957....
.
Broadsword took part in the 1982
Falklands WarThe Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict/Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
where, on 25 May 1982, she was providing air defence support to
HMS CoventryHMS Coventry was a Type 42 destroyer of the Royal Navy. Laid down by Cammell Laird and Company, Limited, at Birkenhead on 29 January 1973, she was launched on 21 June 1974 and accepted into service on 20 October 1978 at a cost of £37,900,000.The principle role of these Ships is to provide the...
. A technical fault in her
Sea Wolf missileSea Wolf is a naval guided missile system designed and built by BAC, later to become British Aerospace Dynamics . It is an automated point-defence weapon system designed as a final line of defence against both sea-skimming and high angle anti-ship missiles and aircraft...
system allowed two Argentine
SkyhawksThe Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a carrier-capable ground-attack aircraft designed for the United States Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. The delta winged, single turbojet-engined Skyhawk was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, and later McDonnell Douglas...
to sink the
Coventry.
Broadsword was hit by one bomb, which bounced up through the helicopter deck and put out of action a Lynx helicopter, before exiting and exploding harmlessly. She subsequently rescued 170 of the sunken
Coventry's crew.
She shot down one
IAI DaggerThe Israel Aircraft Industries Nesher is the Israeli version of the Dassault Mirage 5 multi-role fighter aircraft...
during the war .
She was decommissioned on 31 March 1995 and was sold to the
Brazilian NavyThe Brazilian Navy is a branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces responsible for conducting naval operations. It is the largest navy in Latin America, with a 32,800-ton aircraft carrier, the NAe São Paulo , British-built frigates, locally-built corvettes, coastal diesel-electric submarines and many...
on 30 June 1995 and renamed
Greenhalgh.
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