Today I went to visit HMS Liverpool, which is berthed at Liverpool docks for the very last time with Dan and my nephew Stan.
HMS Liverpool's nickname is "The Crazy Red Chick" derived from the Liver Bird which appears on her funnel badge which, in common with other ships of this class, features some aspect of the crest of the namesake city.
She was part of the Naval Task Group 03 (NTG03), intended to take part in exercises in the Far East as part of the Five Power Defence Arrangement. The task force was, instead, sent to the Persian Gulf where they took part in the 2003 Iraq War and later in the Caribbean.
The number of people queueing to visit the ship showed the affection the people of Liverpool have for 'their' ship and talking with the crew and some of the old seafarers and ex crew who were present today justifiably proud to have served this ship or her predecessor, there will be a few tears shed when she slips her mooring and leaves the Mersey for the last time tomorrow.
3 comments:
That's a sad loss, Mike.
Pretty soon we'll have very little left that's neither sold nor scrapped, and no way of fending off anybody intent on stealing it.
Still, this is what happens when the MOD wastes shed-loads on light-bulbs...
Apparently they get broken up in Turkey.
We cant even recycle our own scrap in this country now.
Let's hope that this government is the sinking ship - and that it is sunk before it drowns all of those without life-rafts. A poignant piece...
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