"Kent" was decommissioned in the summer of 1980, after only 17 years of active service and became the replacement for HMS "Fife" and Fleet Training Ship (FTS), moored to the lower end of Whale Island outboard of the defunct support ship opposite Fountain Lake, Portsmouth Naval Base. At the beginning of the Falklands War, she was surveyed for possible recommissioning (her large size, helicopter deck and four 4.5-inch guns would have made her a good command and shore bombardment ship), but her two years of unmaintained status meant a substantial amount of refit would be required to make her seaworthy, and no work was begun.