A former Royal Navy warship which served in the Falklands War could be destroyed if campaigners fail to raise £2m to bring it back to Scotland.

HMS Ambuscade was built at the Yarrow shipyard in Glasgow in 1975 and was part of the Royal Navy's fleet until 1993 when it was sold to Pakistan.

It was used to rescue 377 tourists in the Maldives during the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, by which time it had been renamed PNS Tariq.

The charity Clyde Naval Heritage (CNH) wants to bring the Type 21 frigate back to the River Clyde and turn it into a floating museum - but the Pakistan Navy has now ordered the vessel to leave Karachi by the end of September amid soaring transfer costs.

The £2m required is nearly double the figure originally needed, largely because insurance costs have gone up due to the conflict between the US and Iran.

Shipping has been significantly impacted since Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz earlier this year, and there have been a number of attacks on vessels on the alternative waterway through the Red Sea.

CNH chief executive David O'Neill said the Pakistan Navy told him they would "dispose" of HMS Ambuscade if she is not removed by September and the immediate circumstances were not looking hopeful.

"We cited the continuing attacks on shipping, UK government advice and international shipping advice not to transit, but they don't accept this," he said.

O'Neill signed a deal with the Pakistan Navy in September 2023, transferring the ship to him on the basis that he took Ambuscade back to Scotland.

His vision was to have the ship permanently berthed near the Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock and turn it into a museum paying tribute to the Clyde shipbuilding industry.

He also wanted to give the Pakistani community a cultural landmark in Scotland.

But he warned it is unlikely he will be able to raise £2m in such a short period of time, as conflicts have put an end to a previous sponsorship branding plan.

If Ambuscade is destroyed, O'Neill said it would represent a "quiet fading" of Scottish heritage.

"For the Clyde, it would mean the loss of a new tourism site with all of the heritage, cultural, jobs, economic benefits and education prospects," he added.

In 2014, HMS Plymouth - another of the last surviving warships from the Falklands War campaign - was towed out to sea from the River Mersey to be destroyed despite a campaign to save it.

The ship, which played a key role in the recapture of South Georgia from Argentinian troops in April 1982, was decommissioned in 1988.

At the time Peel Ports, which owned the dock in Birkenhead where the ship was berthed for years, said it had "no practical choice but to dispose of her responsibly" but did not confirm the vessel's final destination.

Ambuscade is the second Clyde-built ship O'Neill has attempted to rescue in recent years before running into difficulties.

He campaigned to bring the Falls of Clyde back to Scotland from Hawaii, where the Victorian sailing ship had been moored as a museum in the 1960s before falling into disrepair.

However, O'Neill ran into legal complications before the pandemic put his plans on hold.

The ship was scuttled by the Honolulu Harbour Board last year.

The tall ship was built in 1878 in Port Glasgow and spent many years carrying various cargoes to and from east Asia and Australasia before it moved to Hawaii.