F78 HMS Kent Frigate and Westland Merlin HM1 Helicopter, Dover Harbour, UK

HMS Kent is a Type 23 Duke class frigate of the British Royal Navy, and the twelfth ship to bear the name.

Kent's lineage boasts sixteen Battle Honours from the three given to the first Kent of 46 guns built in 1653, to the five awarded to the ninth and tenth Kents of World War I and World War II.

Sponsored by Princess Alexandra, The Hon Lady Ogilvy, Kent was launched on 28 May 1998.

Built by BAE Systems Marine (formerly Marconi Marine) at Scotstoun in Scotland, she was commissioned on 8 June 2000 and was the first ship to enter Royal Navy service in the 21st Century.

Source: HMS Kent

Information on the helicopter will appear in the next comment.

Also see :

HMS Kent F78 Royal Navy Frigate at Sunrise, Dover Harbour, UK (check later comments for more HMS Kent photos as they are uploaded).

Frigate F78 HMS Kent 4.5 inch Mark 8 Naval Gun and Dover Castle at Sunrise

F235 HMS Monmouth, 70th Anniversary of Dunkirk, Admiralty Pier, Dover Harbour

More Dover Navy and Aviation photos.

Ministry of Defence HMS Kent webpage.

The three lighthouses in the photo are:

Dover Breakwater West End Light (beneath the helicopter's rear rotor)

Prince of Wales Pier Light (far right of photo)

Admiralty Pier Light (behind and left of the PoW light)

John Latter

Dover Blog: The Psychology of a Small Town

This is the Images of Dover website: click on any blue "John Latter" link to access the Entry Page.

Westland Merlin HM1

The AgustaWestland AW101 is a medium-lift helicopter used in both military and civil applications. It was developed by joint venture between Westland Helicopters in the UK and Agusta in Italy and was named the EH101 until 2007. It is manufactured at factories in Yeovil, England and Vergiate, Italy. It has replaced many older helicopters such as the Sikorsky S-61 for roles such as medium-sized transport and anti-submarine warfare.

The AW101 first flew in 1987, and entered into service in 1999. In 2000, Westland Helicopters and Agusta merged to form AgustaWestland.

The name Merlin is in common usage for those AW101s in service with the British, Danish and Portuguese military forces. The AW101 is also operated by Italy and Japan. The CH-149 Cormorant variant is used by Canada for conducting air-sea rescue operations. In the US, the VH-71 Kestrel variant was to serve as the Marine One aircraft in the US presidential transport fleet, but the program was cancelled. The AW101 is also being used in civilian service, often for the VIP transport mission.

The registration number for the helicopter of HMS Kent is ZH848.

Source: Agusta-Westland AW101

Also see:

Royal Navy Frigate F78 HMS Kent at Sunrise, Dover Harbour

Click to see all Navy photos (related tags: Boat, Cruise Ships, Ferry, Lifeboat, Sailing Ship, Ships, Tugs, and Workboats).

Also see:

Channel Dash War Memorial 1, Marine Parade, Dover Seafront

This photo also appears on the Pinterest Dover Navy board as:

F78 HMS Kent Frigate and Westland Merlin HM1 Helicopter, Dover Harbour, England