She and her sisters were equipped with the Sea Slug Mk-1 medium-range surface-to-air missile SAM system, along with the short-range Sea Cat SAM, two twin 4.5-inch gun turrets, two single 20mm cannon, ASW torpedo tubes, and a platform and hangar that allowed her to operate one Wessex helicopter.

[1] She was laid down at Harland & Wolff's Belfast shipyard on 1 March 1960[2] and launched by Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent on 27 September 1961.

[8][9] Close-in anti-aircraft protection was provided by a pair of Seacat missile launchers, while two twin QF 4.5 inch Mark V gun mounts were fitted forward.

[7] After her commissioning and work-up, Kent spent the balance of her career as an escort to the Royal Navy's aircraft carrier fleet.

[12][13] 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 HMS Rame Head 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 neglect left her in such a state that extensive repairs would be necessary to render her seaworthy, and no work was started.

[14] Notable commanding officers include Iwan Raikes in 1968, Richard P Clayton between 1968 and 1969 and Jock Slater in 1976–1977.