HMS Broadsword in Portsmouth Harbour, 1982
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Broadsword
Operator	Royal Navy
Builder	Yarrow Shipbuilders
Laid down	7 February 1975
Launched	12 May 1976
Commissioned	4 May 1979
Decommissioned	31 March 1995
Homeport	HMNB Devonport
Identification	Pennant number: F88
Fate	Sold to Brazil 30 June 1995
Brazil
Name	Greenhalgh
Operator	Brazilian Navy
Identification	MMSI number: 710405000 Callsign: PWGH Pennant number: F46
Status	Decommissioned 10 August 2021[1]
General characteristics
Class and type	Type 22 frigate
Displacement	4,400 tons
Length	131.2 m (430 ft)
Beam	14.8 m (48 ft)
Draught	6.1 m (20 ft)
Propulsion	2 shafts, COGOG 2 × Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B boost gas turbines (54,600 shp) 2 × Rolls-Royce Tyne RM1C cruise gas turbines (9,700 shp)
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h) cruise 30 knots (56 km/h) top speed
Complement	222
Armament	2 × 2x torpedo tubes for Mk-46 torpedoes 2 ×6 GWS25 Seawolf SAM launchers 4 × 1 Exocet SSM launchers 2 × 40 mm Bofors AA guns 2 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
Aircraft carried	1 × Lynx Lynx HAS.2 helicopter

HMS Broadsword was the lead ship and first Batch 1 unit of the Type 22 frigates of the Royal Navy.

Construction

Broadsword was ordered from Yarrow Shipbuilders on 8 February 1974 and was laid down at Yarrow's Scotstoun shipyard on 7 February 1975. She was launched on 12 May 1976 and commissioned on 3 May 1979.^[2]

Royal Navy service

While on sea trials, Broadsword was called into service as the command ship during the large rescue operation required after storms struck the 1979 Fastnet race.^[3]

Broadsword took part in the 1982 Falklands War. On 25 May 1982, she was paired with HMS Coventry to draw Argentine aircraft away from the landings at San Carlos. If Coventry's long range Sea Dart missiles missed, then Broadsword's shorter range Sea Wolf missile system could engage aircraft (and missiles). Two pairs of Argentine aircraft attacked the ships at low level. Coventry was not able to achieve a missile lock on the first pair and Broadsword's Sea Wolf system shut down. Broadsword was hit by one bomb from the first pair, which bounced up through the helicopter deck, hitting the Westland Lynx helicopter, before exiting and exploding harmlessly. The other pair of aircraft targeted Coventry which made a turn to reduce her profile—this took her into the line of fire of Broadsword's Sea Wolf system, preventing Broadsword from firing on the aircraft. Bombs from the two Argentine Douglas A-4 Skyhawks damaged and sunk the Coventry.^[4] Broadsword subsequently rescued 170 of the sunken Coventry's crew.

She shot down one IAI Dagger of FAA Grupo 6 and shared an Douglas A-4C Skyhawk kill with HMS Antelope's SeaCat, land-based Rapiers and Blowpipe surface to air missiles.^[5]

Captain G W R Biggs commanded Broadsword between 10 April 1985 and 15 May 1986 and Commander M W G Kerr who commanded between 27 July 1988 and 18 May 1990 both subsequently became flag officers.

In 1993 Broadsword took part in the naval operation in support of Operation Grapple (Yugoslavia), in the Adriatic Sea. Upon completion on 8 July 1993, a fire broke out in the aft auxiliary machinery room which resulted in the deaths of two on-watch engineers.^[6]

By July 1994, HMS Broadsword was serving as the West Indies Guard Ship until she returned to the United Kingdom in March 1995 for decommissioning.^[7][8]

Brazilian service

In November 1994, Broadsword was sold to Brazil alongside her sisters HMS Brazen, HMS Brilliant, and HMS Battleaxe for £116,000,000.^[9] She was official decommissioned from Royal Navy service on 31 March 1995 and entered the Brazilian Navy on 30 June 1995 as Greenhalgh.

Greenhalgh was the first Brazilian navy ship to integrate in a U.S. strike group in July 2008 during a Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPUTEX) led by USS Iwo Jima.^[10]

On 10 August 2021, Greenhalgh was decommissioned from Brazilian service.^[11]