HMS Bacchante (F69) was a Leander-class

Leander class frigate

The Leander class, or Type 12I frigates, comprising twenty-six vessels, was among the most numerous and long-lived classes of frigate in the Royal Navy's modern history. The class was built in three batches between 1959 and 1973...

 frigate of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. Bacchante was built by Vickers

Vickers

Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...

 on the Tyne, launched on 29 February 1968 and commissioned on 17 October 1969.

In 1970, Bacchante joined Standing Naval Force Atlantic (STANAVFORLANT), with which she visited a variety of ports and performed naval exercises. The following year, in 1971 Bacchante deployed to the West Indies. While there, she participated in a number of naval exercises, including an exercise with the carriers HMS Ark Royal

HMS Ark Royal (R09)

HMS Ark Royal was an Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and, when she was decommissioned in 1978, was the Royal Navy's last remaining conventional catapult and arrested-landing aircraft carrier...

 and USS America

USS America (CV-66)

The USS America was one of four Kitty Hawk-class super carriers built for the United States Navy in the 1960s. Commissioned in 1965, she spent most of her career in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, but did make three Pacific deployments serving in the Vietnam War. She also served in operations...

. She acted as West Indies Guardship in 1973.

While serving with STANAVFORLANT in 1975, Bacchante suffered superficial Damage in a collision with HNLMS Holland. The following year, Bacchante participated in the Third Cod War as part of the Fishery Protection Squadron

Fishery Protection Squadron

The Fishery Protection Squadron is a front-line squadron of the Royal Navy with responsibility for patrolling the UK's Extended Fisheries Zone...

. Bacchante later took part in an International Fleet Review at New York in celebration of the USA's Bicentennial. In 1977, Bacchante began a refit that was completed the following year. Upon returning to service, Bacchante joined STANAVFORLANT and helped rescue the crew of a fishing vessel in the English Channel

English Channel

The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...

. She later shadowed the large Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 aircraft carrier Kiev

Soviet aircraft carrier Kiev

Kiev was a heavy aircraft carrying cruiser that served the Soviet and Russian navies from 1975 to 1993. It was built from 1970 till 1975 at Chernomorski factory in Nikolayev and was the first ship of its class -Service life:The Kiev was laid down on 21 July 1970 and launched on 26 December 1972...

. In 1979, Bacchante rejoined the STANAVFORLANT.

Shortly after the Iran–Iraq War, Bacchante was deployed to the Persian Gulf

Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...

. In 1982, Bacchante became the Gibraltar Guardship and subsequently deployed to the South Atlantic

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 to undertake duties around the Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...

 in the aftermath of the Falklands War

Falklands War

The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...

. Later that year, Bacchante was decommissioned from the Royal Navy and subsequently sold to the Royal New Zealand Navy

Royal New Zealand Navy

The Royal New Zealand Navy is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force...

 (RNZN). She was renamed Wellington. She decommissioned from the RNZN in 2000.

On decommissioning she was bought from the New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 Government for one dollar by the "Sink F69 Trust". On 13 November 2005, after cleaning and the removal of all environmentally unfriendly materials, she was sunk as an artificial reef and dive attraction. She now lies in approximately 25 metres of water about 800 metres offshore from Island Bay

Island Bay, Wellington

Island Bay is a suburb of Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, situated 5 km south of the city centre.Island Bay lies on the bay which shares its name, one of numerous small bays west of Lyall Bay...

, a southern suburb of Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

, the capital city of New Zealand.