Royal Navy’s eighth Type 26 frigate to be named HMS London

The name of the UK capital will return to the Royal Navy fleet with the eighth Type 26 frigate, Royal Navy’s First Sea Lord has announced.

The future HMS London joins the previously-named HMS Glasgow, Cardiff, Belfast, and Birmingham while the fifth, sixth, and seventh ship are yet to be named.

The name HMS London has featured in the Fleet since 1657, First Sea Lord Admiral Philip Jones said on Monday.

The first six ships of the name served with distinction through the age of sail, amassing 13 battle honors including the decisive victory at Barfleur in 1692, Chesapeake in 1781, and the Crimean War 1854-55.

Two different Londons served in the two world wars. The first, a 15,000-ton battleship commissioned in 1902, covered the ‘Anzac’ landings at Gallipoli; its successor, a county class heavy cruiser commissioned in 1928, won WW2 battle honours in the Atlantic, Arctic & East Indies.

The ninth HMS London, a guided missile destroyer, served from 1963-81 in Home Waters, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, as well as the North Atlantic. It was the last Royal Navy ship to leave Malta, embarking the Commander, British Forces Malta and his staff.

The last HMS London was a Batch 2 Type 22 Frigate, accepted into service in 1987. She conducted several Armilla patrols in the Gulf and was the @RoyalNavy flagship during the 1991 Gulf war, but most of her operational service was defined by her core anti-submarine warfare role.

In total, HMS LONDON has 18 Battle honours to her name, a distinguished lineage to follow. And the example of her immediate predecessor in particular as an ASW specialist means there is surely no more fitting a name for one of our world-class T26 ASW frigates. pic.twitter.com/5dMzOhfhPj

— First Sea Lord (@AdmPhilipJones) November 12, 2018