HMS Hardy, Pennant number F54, was an anti-submarine warfare frigate of the Blackwood class

Blackwood class frigate

The Type 14, Blackwood, class were a twelve ship class of "second rate" anti-submarine warfare frigates of the Royal Navy, designed and built during the increasing threat from the Soviet Union's large fleet of submarines that roamed the Atlantic Ocean.-Design:They were designed to be cheaper and...

 or Type 14.

She was named, as were the other HMS Hardys, after Thomas Masterman Hardy Captain of at Trafalgar

Battle of Trafalgar

The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....

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HMS Hardy was the first Type 14 frigate built, completed on 8 December 1955, by Yarrow. The after 40 mm gun in these ships were removed early in their careers due to hull strengthening problems. Serving mainly in the Londonderry and Portland areas, she paid off to the Standby Squadron August 1977, then, after another short spell operational service at Portland, became a stores accommodation ship in Portsmouth October 1979. She was used as a target for Exocet missiles and was finally sunk, by torpedo, in the Western Approaches

Western Approaches

The Western Approaches is a rectangular area of the Atlantic ocean lying on the western coast of Great Britain. The rectangle is higher than it is wide, the north and south boundaries defined by the north and south ends of the British Isles, the eastern boundary lying on the western coast, and the...

3 July 1984.