HMS Brazen (F91)

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HMS Brazen
History
United Kingdom
Name	Brazen
Builder	Yarrow Shipbuilders
Laid down	18 August 1978
Launched	4 March 1980
Commissioned	2 July 1982
Decommissioned	30 August 1996
Identification	Pennant number: F91
Honours and awards	"Kuwait 1991"
Fate	Sold to Brazil 18 November 1994
Brazil
Name	Bosisio
Namesake	Almirante Paulo Bosísio
Acquired	18 November 1994
Commissioned	30 August 1996
Decommissioned	29 September 2015
Homeport	Rio de Janeiro
Identification	Pennant number: F-48 MMSI number: 709360424 Callsign: PWBO
Fate	Sunk as target, July 2017
General characteristics
Class and type	Type 22 frigate
Displacement	4,400 tons
Length	131.2 m (430 ft 5 in)
Beam	14.8 m (48 ft 7 in)
Draught	6.1 m (20 ft 0 in)
Propulsion	2 shafts, COGOG 2 × Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B boost gas turbines, 54,600 shp (40,700 kW) 2 × Rolls-Royce Tyne RM1C cruise gas turbines, 9,700 shp (7,200 kW)
Speed	30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) max
Complement	222
Armament	2 × 2 × torpedo tubes for Mk 46 torpedoes 2 × 6 GWS25 Seawolf surface-to-air missile launchers 4 × 1 Exocet surface-to-surface missile launchers 2 × 40 mm Bofors AA guns 2 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
Aircraft carried	2 × Lynx MK 8 helicopters
Aviation facilities	Helipad and hangar

HMS Brazen was a Type 22 frigate of the Royal Navy. She was completed three months ahead of schedule due to the Falklands War.

Brazen served on the Armilla Patrol which became a task force during the Gulf War as part of Operation Granby. For this she received the battle honour "Kuwait 1991".^[1] On 24 January 1991, Brazen would screen the British Casualty Receiving ship RFA Argus when a pair of Iraqi Mirage F1 aircraft made a run for the vessel, armed with AM39 Exocet anti-ship missiles. The Iraqi aircraft were shot down by Saudi F-15C fighter aircraft before they could fire their anti-ship missiles.^[2] During the war, her Lynx helicopter attacked fast patrol boats.^[3]

Following a patrol in the South Atlantic Brazen ran aground in the Patagonian Canal on 11 September 1994. The ship was refloated four days later and taken to Talcahuano for repairs, which lasted a month. She then returned to the UK under her own power for reinstatement of combat system equipment damaged in the incident at Devonport royal dockyard.

By late 1995, Brazen was back in active service, operating in the Adriatic Sea as part of a Royal Navy task group led by the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal for Operation Sharp Guard.^[4] In early 1996, Brazen rescued 30 Albanians from a sinking vessel.^[5] In May 1996, she returned to Devonport for the final time before being officially handed over to the Brazilian Navy in August 1996.^[6][7]

She was purchased from the United Kingdom by the Brazilian Navy on 18 November 1994, and renamed Bosísio. The ship was commissioned into the Brazilian Navy on 30 August 1996.^[8]

In June 2009, Bosísio participated in the recovery mission for the wreckage of Air France Flight 447.

She was decommissioned from Brazilian Navy service on 23 September 2015.^[9] The ship was sunk as a target in July 2017 during the Brazilian Navy operation 'MISSILEX 2017'.^[10]

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.