HMS Ardent

Eight ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Ardent, whilst another two were planned:

HMS Ardent (F184)

HMS Ardent was a Royal Navy Type 21 frigate. Built by Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd, Glasgow, Scotland. She was completed with Exocet launchers in 'B' position.Ardent took part in the Falklands War, where she was sunk by Argentine aircraft in the Falkland Sound on 22 May 1982.

Falklands War

On 19 April 1982 Ardent sailed from HMNB Devonport near Plymouth for the Falkland Islands. On route, she escorted task force ships that had left late, on their way to Ascension Island, arriving on 3 May and sailing on the morning of the 7 May. On 9 May 1982 while 700 miles south west of Ascension, Ardent closed to within 200 yards of the starboard side of the troopship Canberra and provided a gun power demonstration to the troops sailing south.

On 21 May 1982, whilst lying in Falkland Sound and supporting Operation Sutton by bombarding the Argentine airstrip at Goose Green, Ardent was attacked by at least three waves of Argentine aircraft. The air strikes caused Ardent to sink the next day.

British version

HMS Ardent (1782)

HMS Ardent was a Royal Navy 64-gun third rate. This ship of the line was launched on 21 December 1782 at Bursledon, Hampshire.

Career

In 1784 she was under the command of Captain Harry Harmood, serving as a guard ship at Portsmouth.

In 1793 she was under the command of Captain Robert Manners Sutton, sailing with Vice-Admiral Lord Hood at Toulon in August. She was part of a force detached under Robert Linzee to take part in the attack on Corsica in September.

Fate

In April 1794 Ardent was stationed off the harbour of Villa Franca, to watch two French frigates. It is presumed that she caught fire and blew up. Berwick encountered some wreckage while cruising in the Gulf of Genoa in the summer that suggested fire and an explosion. A part of Ardent's quarter deck with some gunlocks deeply embedded in it was found floating in the area, as was splinter netting driven into planking. No trace was ever found of her crew of 500.

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