Pride of the fleet: The Falklands War frigate is heading home to Scotland to serve as a museum (Image: File)
The Royal Navy could sail to the rescue of more than 200 bravery medals at risk of being shipped out of the UK.
Frigate HMS Ambuscade, which saw action in the Falklands War, is set to make a triumphant homecoming weeks after 230 Victoria Crosses and a smaller number of George Crosses are permanently removed from public display.
The warship was sold to Pakistan in 1993 and loyaly served their navy for 20 years. The vessel was set to be sunk but has been gifted to the UK and is now poised to return as a floating museum showcasing our rich military heritage.
Its arrival with coincide with the closure on June 1 of The Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum (IWM) which houses his personal collection of priceless gallantry gongs.
The announcement sparked anger across the Armed Forces community but it has now emerged the decommissioned Glasgow-built Type 21 frigate could be a potential saviour once more, some 43 years after its finest hour.
David O’Neill, 67, Chief Executive of Clyde Naval Heritage, struck a deal with Pakistan to bring the ship back. He is now leading a team who plan to turn it into a tribute to the British Armed Forces and wants it to become the permanent home of Lord Ashcroft’s medals.
He said: “HMS Ambuscade will become a just and appropriate space to tell stories of bravery and servicemen who gave their lives for our country.
“We have been offered many aircraft and vehicles as exhibits, but would most welcome an opportunity to house Lord Ashcroft’s collection of medals. I cannot think of a more fitting location than one associated with the Falklands conflict, the Task Force of 1982, where bravery played its part in this important period in our country’s history.”
Commodore Zeeshan Nabi and David O’Neill sign the deal to bring the frigate home (Image: File)
With no alternative venue Lord Ashcroft, 79, could be forced to move the world’s largest collection of valour medals overseas.
The Daily Express was told the businessman, philanthropist and former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, is aware of the warship proposal and “considering all options”.
HMS Ambuscade, the last surviving Falklands War vessel, is set to cast off from Karachi in June and make the 7,000 mile journey to the banks of the River Clyde 50 years after it was commissioned at the home of British shipbuilding.
En route the 3,250 ton pride of the fleet, once propelled by Rolls-Royce turbines, will stop in Port Said, Egypt, and Gibraltar, before making her emotional homecoming in August.
Moves to bring HMS Ambuscade home were first made when film director Guy Ritchie tried to source a battleship for his epic action flick The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, which tells the story of group of highly skilled British soldiers preparing to strike against German forces behind enemy lines during the Second World War.
Released last year it sees Henry Cavill and Eiza González as part of a motley crew of rogues and mavericks who embark on a daring plan to neutralise Hitler’s fleet of German U-boats, changing the course of the war.
It was based on British author Damien Lewis’ book Churchill’s Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII.
Ultimately the challenge proved a logistical bridge too far, but now the ship could itself play a starring role in preserving our Armed Forces heritage.
How HMS Ambuscade will be used as a floating museum of British military excellence (Image: File)
HMS Ambuscade was built by Yarrow Shipbuilders on the River Clyde in Glasgow and launched on January 18, 1973 by Lady Griffin, the wife of the Controller of the Navy, and was commissioned at Devonport on September 5, 1975.
She took part in the Falklands War of 1982, serving as an electronic warfare picket ship to the Task Force, and taking part in several bombardments of Argentine positions.
On May 25 HMS Ambuscade was targeted by two Exocet missiles fired by Argentine strike aircraft. She detected them and fired chaff decoys in an attempt to confuse the weapons but both missiles then locked on to SS Atlantic Conveyor, striking and setting her on fire. She sank while under tow on May 28.
On the night of June 13 HMS Ambuscade fired 228 4.5-inch shells in support of 2 Para’s assault on Wireless Ridge, one of the last battles of the conflict and which paved the way for the Union flag to be raised over Stanley.
A ceasefire was declared on June 14 and the commander of the Argentine garrison in Stanley, Brigade General Mario Menéndez, surrendered to Major General Jeremy Moore the same day.
HMS Ambuscade had her final white ensign removed in July 1993 in an official handover service to the Pakistan Naval Service. She served as PNS Tariq until 2023 largely in humanitarian relief and anti-piracy roles. In 2005 it was used to rescue 377 tourists in the Maldives during the Indian Ocean tsunami.
The frigate, which currently sits in Karachi Naval Dockyard, is the last surviving vessel that saw action in the Falklands, the first military action since the Second World War that used all elements of the Armed Forces.
The Pakistani Navy has donated the ship to the UK for preservation rather than sinking it, as initially planned, through target practice.
The Type 21 Frigate played a critical role in the Falklands conflict (Image: Seán Pòl Ó Creachmhaoil/Wikimedia Commons)
Since the Express revealed his collection could be moved to Australia, New Zealand or Canada – the only countries whose highest award for most conspicuous bravery was named in honour of the British (Imperial) Victoria Cross – Lord Ashcroft has been approached with offers to take on the collection.
Only 1,364 VCs have been handed out since 1856 and just 418 GCs since 1940.
Relatives of heroes who have been awarded battlefield bravery medals have called for help in keeping them in the UK.
The Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the IWM, named in his honour, was opened in 2010 after he made a £5 million donation. For 15 years it has proudly housed his personal collation.He owns 240 VC’s and 41 GC’s but not all are on display as there is not enough space.
His intention was to gift the medals to the nation but after the IWM announced it was closing the wing, Lord Ashcroft ripped up a clause in his will leaving the collection to the public.
A source close to the former Conservative Party deputy chairman, said: “Understandably, Lord Ashcroft has been approached by interested parties all saying, ‘please, bring the collection here’. Publicly displaying them, despite not being in the UK, is far more preferable than [the collection] being kept under lock and and out of sight. That was never the intention.”
The Ministry of Defence was contacted.
David O’Neill: ‘Bringing HMS Ambuscade back home is a deeply personal mission’
The Chief Executive of Clyde Naval Heritage wants the frigate brought home to her birthplace (Image: David O'Neill)
For me this is personal. One of the greatest stories our country has even achieved has no proper recognition or commemoration.
Our victory in the Falklands was against all odds, achieved with determination, skill and courage some 8,000 miles away from home and often in deeply adverse and life-threatening conditions.
Not one ship of that extraordinary Task Force has been saved for the nation. Until now.
The Clyde Naval Trust has been offered one of those Falklands War ships – the former HMS Ambuscade frigate – which fought in the landing that retook the islands.
It is a beautiful Type 21 British built frigate, a symbol of fine British engineering and one the fastest ever warships.
She was sister to two ships lost in that war: HMS Ardent and HMS Antelope – whose sinking bow became a symbol of the sacrifice made there.
For me that felt like a personal loss.
Having now met many of the veterans that served then and since, my admiration and respect has only grown.
Our plan is to bring the ship back from Pakistan, the Government of whom has graciously gifted us the ship now known as PNS Tariq, to establish a Falklands War Memorial on the River Clyde near Glasgow.
The Falklands War was primarily a naval war and it is suitable to commemorate it where many of the ships participating were built.
The Clyde has hundreds of years of building Royal Naval ships and is expanding this work today in light of modern threats.
We would aim to supplement HMS Ambuscade/PNS Tariq with other vital assets of the Falklands War offered to us such as a Vulcan bomber, Harrier jump jet and Sea King helicopter, and maybe a Cold War submarine that served there too.
We are building support fast with applications to the Heritage Memorial Fund of the National Lottery, and from the Royal Navy, The National Museum of the Royal Navy, defence companies, the Pakistani community, politicians across the spectrum and the Falklands Islands Government.
David O’Neill is Chief Executive of Clyde Naval Heritage