HMS Dundas (F48): First of Her Class, Once Filmed With Ava Gardner

Cowes-Built

HMS Dundas was built by J. Samuel White and Company at Cowes, her keel laid on 17 October 1952 and launched on 25 September 1953, a Blackwood-class Type 14 anti-submarine frigate acquired by the Royal Navy in March 1956 and commissioned on 16 March that year, the first ship of her class to enter service, ahead of her many sister ships built to the same specialised anti-submarine design.

A Brush With Hollywood

HMS Dundas made an unexpected appearance in popular culture in 1957, featuring in the Ava Gardner film The Little Hut, a properly unusual claim to fame for a purpose-built anti-submarine frigate, and further appeared briefly in a 1964 episode of the Look at Life documentary series, giving her a small but real footprint in mid-century British cinema and television alongside her actual naval duties.

Portland and the Silver Jubilee

HMS Dundas served with the 2nd Frigate Squadron based at Portland from 1966, taking part in Portsmouth Navy Days that year, and underwent a fourteen-month refit at Gibraltar completed with her recommissioning on 21 June 1968.

She returned to Portsmouth Navy Days in 1970, still serving with the Second Frigate Squadron, and took part in the Silver Jubilee Fleet Review at Spithead in 1977, celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's twenty-five years on the throne.

An Abrupt End to Active Service

HMS Dundas's active career ended in unusual fashion: an unrepairable defect was discovered in her propeller shaft shortly after departing Portsmouth, serious enough that she was transferred directly to Chatham Dockyard rather than repaired at sea or in ordinary refit, and her crew transferred to her sister ship HMS Hardy, salvaging spare parts and equipment from HMS Dundas in the process, an unceremonious practical end to her seagoing duties rather than any planned decommissioning ceremony.

The End of Service

HMS Dundas was eventually scrapped at Troon in April 1983, closing out a service life of twenty-seven years that had begun as the very first Blackwood-class frigate to commission and had, along the way, included a notably surprising credit in a mid-century Hollywood film.