HMS Gurkha (F122) was a Tribal-class

Tribal class frigate

The Type 81, or Tribal class, was a class of seven general-purpose frigates for the Royal Navy designed during the 1950s that served throughout the 1960s and 1970s with limited service during the 1980s.-History:...

 frigate

Frigate

A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

 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...

. She was named after an ethnic group

Gurkha

Gurkha are people from Nepal who take their name from the Gorkha District. Gurkhas are best known for their history in the Indian Army's Gorkha regiments, the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas and the Nepalese Army. Gurkha units are closely associated with the kukri, a forward-curving Nepalese knife...

 located in Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

, and whose people continue to serve in the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

. Gurkha was built by John I. Thornycroft & Company

John I. Thornycroft & Company

John I. Thornycroft & Company Limited, usually known simply as Thornycroft was a British shipbuilding firm started by John Isaac Thornycroft in the 19th century.-History:...

 of Woolston, Hampshire.

Royal Navy service

She was launched on 11 July 1960 and commissioned on 13 February 1963.

Gurkha deployed to a variety of regions, including the Persian Gulf and Far East. In 1975, Gurkha deployed to the West Indies, and was involved in a variety of duties there, including performing fly-the-flag visits. In 1976, Gurkha, like many other Royal Navy warships, took part in the Third Cod War during the long fishery disputes with Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

. Gurkha was often confronted by the aggressive Icelandic gunboats: she was rammed by the Icelandic gunboat Odin an astonishing four times in just one day, and in the following day, Gurkha was again in 'action' when she was rammed by the same gunboat three times.

In 1977, Gurkha, like many warships from a variety of nations, took part in the last, at least so far, Fleet Review of the Royal Navy to honour HM the Queen's

Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...

 Silver Jubilee at Spithead

Spithead

Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds, except those from the southeast...

, home of many Fleet Reviews in the past.

In 1980, Gurkha was placed in Reserve, the Standby Squadron, due to defence cuts imposed in the defence review by the then defence minister John Nott

John Nott

Sir John William Frederic Nott KCB is a former British Conservative Party politician prominent in the late 1970s and early 1980s...

. In response to 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...

 in 1982, Gurkha underwent a refit before returning to active service to deployed around Home Waters to fill the gaps by the many warships that had deployed to the South Atlantic. The following year, Gurkha became the Gibraltar Guardship.

Indonesian Navy service

In March 1984 Gurkha was decommissioned and subsequently sold to Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

. She was renamed Wilhelmus Zakarias Yohannes, a doctor who became the first rontgen specialist and had a great influence on developing doctoral knowledges in Indonesia. Wilhelmus Zakarias Yohannes was decommissioned from Indonesian service in 1999 and remains laid up at Surabaya Naval Base to await scrapping.

See also