HMS Leopard (F14)- Leopard Class Type 41 Frigate Pencil Drawing by Naval Artist Len Hutton

Commissioned in 1958, Leopard was a Type 41 Anti-aircraft frigate and initially took up station in the South Atlantic. With the volcanic eruption on the island of Tristan da Cunha, Leopard aided in the relief effort.

In 1963 the ship was damaged in a collision with the South African minesweeper Pietermaritzburg and had to return to Britain for repair and refit. From 1966-68 she was stationed in the Far East before going to Bermuda in response to civil unrest, ending 1968 at the Portsmouth Navy Day.

Re-commissioned as HMNZS Wellington and retaining her former pennant number of F69 the ship would serve until 2000 when final retirement came. She would eventually be sunk as an artificial reef off the coast of the New Zealand capital after which she had been named.

During the Cod Wars with Iceland, Leopard was at the centre of a confrontation between the Icelandic and British Governments over allegations of threatening behaviour towards an Icelandic patrol ship. 

The ship would be scrapped in 1977.