HMS Zulu (F124)

Career

Ordered:
Laid down:	13th December 1960
Launched:	3rd July 1962
Commissioned:	17th April 1964
Decommissioned:	1984
Fate:	Sold to Indonesia.
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HMS Zulu (F124) was a Tribal-class frigate of the Royal Navy (RN). She was named after an ethnic group located primarily in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Zulu was built by Alex Stephens & Sons Shipbuilders; of Govan. She was launched on the 3rd July 1962 and commissioned on the 17th April 1964.

In 1972, a United States Navy (USN) P-3 Orion aircraft crashed on a mountain in northern Morocco. Zulu sent her Westland Wasp helicopter to the wreckage sight, where the helicopter sadly found five dead bodies. All fourteen of the aeroplane's crew were killed. In 1974, Zulu deployed to the West Indies. In 1975, while in the western hemisphere, Zulu patrolled the coast of Belize, which was at that time threatened by it's neighbours, specifically Guatemala, who had desires to annex a large amount of Belizean territory.

In 1977, Zulu took part in the last, so far, Fleet Review of the Royal Navy. It took place in honour of HM the Queen's Silver Jubilee. Later that year, Zulu, along with her sister-ship Mohawk, was part of the eight-ship Group 6 deployment, led by the cruiser Tiger, that deployed to the Far East, visiting a variety of ports in fly-the-flag visits, as-well as performing naval exercises. Zulu returned home, along with the rest of the Group, in 1978, via the Mediterranean, where the group, minus Mohawk, which had suffered slight hull damage in an accident in Malta, performed naval exercises before returning to the UK.

In 1979, Zulu was placed in Reserve, the Standby Squadron, and was placed on the disposal list in 1981. The following year, in response to the Falklands War, Zulu was taken out of Reserve, so that she could fill in the gaps in Home Waters created by the many warships that had deployed to the South Atlantic to take part in the war. The following year, Zulu became the Gibraltar Guardship. In 1984, Zulu was decommissioned and subsequently sold to Indonesia along with two of her sister-ships. Zulu was renamed Martha Kristina Tiyahahu. Martha Kristina Tiyahahu remains in service with the Indonesian Navy.

See HMS Zulu for other ships of the name.