After withdrawing the HMS Iron Duke from active service, the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy now has only five operational Type 23 frigates.
The information was shared by the website NavyLookout. According to the report, the vessel Iron Duke has been stripped of its weapons and sensors and has not been at sea since October 2024, although no formal decommissioning announcement has been made.
The withdrawal comes less than three years after an extensive refit that cost £103 million. The work took 49 months and was described as the most complex ever carried out on a Type 23-class ship.
The Iron Duke had been based in Portsmouth since 2017 and arrived in Devonport in such poor condition that structural work on its hull was almost twice what had been required on any previous ship in the class.
Luke Pollard, Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, had previously confirmed that the ministry had abandoned plans to equip the Iron Duke with a Type 2087 towed array sonar from a decommissioned sister ship.
The Type 23 fleet has been steadily shrinking as ships reach the end of their service life. Meanwhile, the departure of the Iron Duke leaves the Royal Navy increasingly stretched ahead of the entry into service of the City Type 26-class frigates.
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