Help Bring the Last Type 21 Frigate Home
Type 21 frigate PNS Tariq, (formerly HMS Ambuscade)
A campaign to save HMS Ambuscade, the last surviving Type 21 frigate, has reached a critical stage, with the ship facing the possibility of disposal unless funds can be found to bring her back to the UK.
Ambuscade was one of eight Type 21 frigates built for the Royal Navy. Seven of the eight ships served with distinction in the 1982 Falklands conflict, with HMS Amazon arriving just after the conflict. Two of the ships, HMS Ardent and HMS Antelope, were lost during the conflict with many lives lost.
After leaving Royal Navy service in 1993, Ambuscade was transferred to the Pakistan Navy and renamed PNS Tariq, continuing in service for another 30 years before being decommissioned in 2023.
The Pakistan Navy subsequently agreed to donate the ship to the charity Clyde Naval Heritage, whose ambition is to return her to the River Clyde, where she was built, and preserve her as the centrepiece of a new naval and shipbuilding heritage museum.
That ambition is now under considerable pressure.
According to the BBC, the Pakistan Navy has required the vessel to leave Karachi by the end of September. The estimated cost of returning her to Scotland has risen to around £2 million, with insurance and shipping costs among the factors behind the increase.
If the project succeeds, Ambuscade would become much more than a preserved warship. As the sole surviving Type 21, she would provide a tangible link with an entire class of ships and the men who built and served in them.
For the HMS Ardent family, that connection has particular significance.
Four Type 21s served in the Falklands Task Force. Ardent and Antelope were both lost, while Ambuscade and Arrow returned home. Twenty-two members of Ardent's ship's company were killed on 21 May 1982 and two men were lost aboard Antelope.
Clyde Naval Heritage intends the preserved Ambuscade to help tell the story of the Falklands Conflict, the Type 21 frigates and the people who served aboard them.
A GoFundMe appeal has now been launched to help meet the cost of bringing the ship home.
The HMS Ardent Association is pleased to help publicise the appeal. Preserving Ambuscade would preserve a unique part of our shared Type 21 history and provide future generations with a physical connection to the ships and people whose stories might otherwise gradually disappear.
Those wishing to support the campaign can find the GoFundMe appeal below.
You can also read the BBC report on the campaign and the threat facing HMS Ambuscade below.
