HMS Portland is the fastest and most fearless Type 23 frigate in the Royal Navy. She is also one of the youngest Type 23 frigates in the Royal Navy.
Hms Portland was accepted into service by the Royal Navy on 15 December 2000 and was commissioned on 3 May 2001. Present at the commissioning ceremony was Portland's sponsor Lady Brigstoke, wife of Admiral Sir John Brigstoke, a former Second Sea Lord, who had also launched the ship in 1999.
During sea trials Portland attained a top speed of 30.8 knots (57.0 km/h), the fastest speed attained by any Type 23 frigate.
In June 2011 she sailed to Edinburgh to take part in Armed Forces Day (See HERE and HERE for pics). She is to be the first major warship in the Royal Navy to be commanded by a woman; Lt Cdr Sarah West will assume command of HMS Portland in April 2012 as Commander Sarah West. She will take command of the ship at Rosyth during the later stages of this refit.
The ship’s last deployment was a seven-month deployment (March – November 2010). During this deployment she visited the South Atlantic, South America, Eastern Pacific, Caribbean and West Africa spending 217 days away from her home port of Plymouth. Her previous deployment was in 2009 when she was engaged in operations in the Gulf of Aden to deter pirates.
