HMS Naiad Association
The History
Learn more about the history of the four HMS Naiad's commissioned by the Royal Navy since the 18th century.
Leander Class
The anti-submarine frigate, was launched in 1963 and commissioned in 1965. She served as leader of the Northern Ireland Squadron, participated in Beira Patrol, The Cod Wars and was one of the first ships deployed on Armilla Patrol during the first Iran/Iraq war.
Paid off in 1987, she was finally sunk in 1990 as a weapons target.
Naiad Flight
The Westland Wasp was a British small first-generation gas-turbine powered, shipboard anti-submarine helicopter. It came from the same programme as the British Army Westland Scout, and was based on the piston-engined Skeeter. It met the requirement for a helicopter small enough to land on the deck of a frigate carrying two homing torpedoes.
Dido Class
The light cruiser was launched in 1939 and joined the 15th cruiser squadron in 1940. Utilised in North Sea maritime trade protection and convoy defence, she was later deployed to evacuate Crete and to protect the Malta convoys. In 1942, as she was performing her duties she was attacked and sunk by a U-boat losing 77 members of the 659 crew.
HulVul
HMS Naiad paid off at Portsmouth in 1987 and was subsequently utilised as a floating test-bed for trials of design and construction developments resulting from the lessons of the Falklands War. These were essentially Hull Vulnerability tests. Trials continued until the Autumn of 1990 when, as planned, she was sunk as a target.
Apollo Class
The protected cruiser was launched in 1890 and served in the Mediterranean during World War I. From 1901 she served in the Mediterranean Fleet, transferring later to South Africa, participating in the Second Boer War. She was later converted to a mine layer with 150 mines before being converted into a depot ship and sold in 1922.
Amazon Class
The Amazon class ship was commissioned in 1798. One of the earliest types of man-of-war classed a frigate, she served for 69 years during the Napoleonic wars. She fought at Trafalgar ending her service in 1866, when she was sold and broken up in 1898. Naiad was the longest surviving ship from Trafalgar, apart from HMS Victory.