Tag Archives: PNS Tariq (D 181)

The Last Amazon Endures!

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Coming on the heels of the death knell of the efforts to preserve one of the U.S. Navy’s Cold War-era fast frigates-– with the Bronsteins, Garcias, Brookes, and Knoxes long gone and the final Perrys circling the drain– there is great frigate museum ship news coming out of the UK.

We have also covered plans to create a Falkland’s Heritage Centre on the Clyde, based around the last surviving, great-condition, Falkland’s Task Force warship, the Type 21 frigate HMS Ambuscade (F172).

Ambuscade, the last of the Amazon class, is the sister ship of both HMS Ardent and Antelope, which were lost in the Falklands to Argentine air strikes.

The Pakistani Navy donated Ambuscade to the cause last year. It has served there as PNS Tariq (D181) since 1993. The Falklands vet is to leave the Karachi Naval Dockyard in February 2025 and will be moved to a private mooring so preparation work can begin for her journey back to Britain.

As noted by Navy Lookout: 

A team from the UK will be heading to Karachi to carry out some of the work required. The frigate will subsequently make the 6,000nm journey on a heavy-lift vessel back to the Clyde.

It has not yet been decided exactly where the ship will be berthed in the long term but Glasgow City Council is supportive and there are several sites under consideration. There are two main options, either at Custom House Quay, Inverclyde or at the Govan Graving Docks when renovated. A temporary berth might also be found at the Riverside Museum area close to the tall ship Glenlee.

Last of the Amazons

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The Pakistani Navy recently released a well-done (English language) short documentary about the third PNS Tariq (D 181), which is the former Amazon-class (Type 21) frigate HMS Ambuscade (F172).

Acquired by the Pakistani Navy in 1993 sans installed Exocet and Seacat missiles, she was initially laid down at Yarrow in Scotland (Yard No. 1008) in September 1971 and entered service in 1975.

Among a ton of Cold War exploits, Ambuscade took part in the Falklands War of 1982— firing hundreds of rounds of 4.5-inch shells in NGFS missions and chasing at least two suspected enemy sonar contacts– as well service on the old Armilla Patrol and as the Belize Guardship back in the day.

Of the eight Amazons commissioned in the late 1960s-early 1970s, two (HMS Antelope sunk on 24 May 1982 and HMS Ardent on 22 May 1982) were lost in the Falklands.

The remaining six were transferred to Pakistan after the fall of the Berlin Wall and saw much service there. They have since been decommissioned, with no less than four already disposed of in SINKEXs.

Tariq/Ambuscade was the last of her type to leave service, decommissioned on 5 August 2023, her name to be used for a new corvette.

This “final Amazon” will be sent back “home” for the first time in 30 years and converted to a museum ship on the Clyde along Glasgow’s waterfront, the only Falklands vessel preserved, I believe.

The Pakistan Navy has already donated the now 48-year-old frigate to the Cylde Naval Heritage Group and plans to bring her back to Scotland. 

The good news is that she is still in reportedly good material condition, and was steaming as late as this summer. Further, at just 2,800 tons and 384 feet oal, she has a small footprint. All positive signs for a budding museum ship. 

Let us all hope this works out.