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The Duke Class (Type 23) frigate HMS Westminster has kept a low profile this year after a very hectic time in 2019 that included exercises and conducting maritime security patrols in the Arctic and Baltic as part of Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1).

Other duties last year included being sent out into the English Channel to shadow a Chinese warship passing close to UK shores, a mission followed by a visit to London. At the beginning of 2018, the frigate had kept an eye on two Russian Navy warships making a transit of the same waters.

This summer that duty fell again to HMS Westminster and she shadowed the Anti-submarine Warfare (ASW) destroyer RFS Vice Admiral Kulakov as the latter headed south through the English Channel. Helping to keep tabs on the Russian vessel was the embarked Merlin Mk2 helicopter from 814 Naval Air Squadron (814 NAS) based at RNAS Culdrose.

Portsmouth-based HMS Westminster has stayed close to home throughout 2020, acting as a training platform for future warship Navigators, including time in seas off Scotland and a visit to Belfast in Northern Ireland. She has also trained with P2000 fast craft and been alongside at Devonport Naval Base.

During a 2014-17 refit Westminster received the Sea Ceptor Anti-air Missile (AAM) system and Type 997 ‘Artisan’ radar. The frigate also has cutting edge ASW equipment - the Sonar 2087 towed array - and can embark a Merlin sub-hunting helicopter or a Wildcat general purpose ‘copter. Completed by Swan Hunter on the Tyne in 1993, HMS Westminster is expected to be retired from service in the late 2020s, and replaced by one of the new City Class (Type 26) frigates.

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