Albatros 1/1250 Alk86B HMS Ardent Royal Navy Type 21 Frigate 1982 Model Ship
Ardent is a Type 21 Frigate, Modelled here in 1/1250 scale, waterline form in metal by Albatros SM in Germany. The model has been modified specially for Antics in the condition that she was in the seas around the Falkland Islands during the 1982 conflict. The pennant numbers were painted out on the hull, the horizontal decks were painted in dark sea grey and the helicopter deck identification letters were painted out. On the type 21's contrasting areas such as black masts, raydomes and boats were dulled down so that they were more difficult to see from aircraft.
All of these changes have been applied to the standard model.
The eight ships of the "Amazon" class (the lead ship was damaged by fire in 1977) were an attempt to allow shipbuilders to try a "design & build" project. The handsome result did not save taxpayers money and the aluminium superstructures were vulnerable to fire. They were, however, very fast and were popular with their crews.
Ardent was one of the ships that had been fitted with Exocet missiles before the Falklands Campaign. The others that were similar were: Active, Alacrity, Arrow and Avenger and this model can be used to represent all five ships. Ardent was sunk in St Carlos Water after being hit by several bombs. One of the aircraft was damaged during the attack. Ardent sank later.
The survivors were sold to Pakistan as Shah Jahan, Badr, Tippu Sultan & Kaibar respectively in 1993/4.