A service of celebration will be held in Liverpool for the ship which carried the city’s name – two years after the destroyer paid off.
The ship’s bell has been restored for display at the city’s parish church to mark the bond, and all those christened using it are invited to attend the June 13 ceremony.
A tug shows its appreciation as HMS Liverpool sails past the Liver Building on the destroyer's final visit to the city
WERE you – or your children – christened aboard HMS Liverpool in the 30 years of the destroyer’s proud life?
If so, you are invited to a service of celebration of the ship’s career as her restored bell is unveiled in the Type 42’s namesake city.
In line with naval tradition some 30 names are inscribed on the inside of the bell to remember all those christened on board between the ship’s own ‘christening’ – her commissioning ceremony on July 1 1982 – and the last day of her active career, March 30 2012.
Since paying off useful kit has been removed from the Crazy Red Chicken for re-use elsewhere in the Fleet, some things have ended up in the skip, and some items of historic or sentimental value have been preserved.
Among those, the ship’s bell, which was donated to Liverpool Parish Church – Our Lady an St Nicholas Parish Church – which celebrates the port’s bond with the sea.
The ship's bell on display next to the decommissioning cake at the farewell ceremony to the destroyer in 2012
Thanks to engineers at Cammell Laird across the Mersey in Birkenhead – where HMS Liverpool was built between 1978 and 1981 – that bell has been restored and will be rededicated ahead of going on permanent display at 2.30pm on June 13.
That service will also see the rededication of the church’s Arctic Convoy memorial, which has also been restored, with the Navy’s second most senior officer, Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Philip Jones, and Capt Ian McNaught, Deputy Master of Trinity House, representing the Merchant Navy, as guests of honour.
Anybody christened board the destroyer – which saw extensive action in the final 12 months of her career off Libya – and wishes to attend the ceremony should contact Lt Josh Gorst at the RN Northern Regional HQ, East Brunswick Dock, Sefton Street, Liverpool.
As for HMS Liverpool herself, the stripped-out hull of the ship – and a handful of other decommissioned Type 42s – remains in Portsmouth Naval Base awaiting disposal.