LIVERPOOL HMS (D92) 1982

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The seventh vessel to bear the name.

Built as a destroyer under yard No 1374 by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, for the Royal Navy.

Laid down: 05 July 1978
Launched: 25 September 1980 by Lady Strathcona, wife of the then Minister of State for Defence; Commissioned: 1 July 1982

Displacement: 3,500 ton standard, 4,100 tons full load.
Length: 125 metres
Beam: 14.3 metres
Draught: 5.8 metres
Speed: In excess of 28 knots
Complement: 240
Main machinery: COGOG system. Two Rolls-Royce Olympus gas turbines; 50,000 shp., and two Rolls-Royce Tyne gas turbines 8,500 shp., two shafts;
controllable pitch propellers. Speed 29 knots.
Range by a speed of 18 knots, 4,000 mile.

Weapons: BAe Sea Dart surface to air missiles; Vickers Mk 8 4.5-in
gun; Vulcan Phalanx; 20mm close-range guns

Sensors: Marconi/Signaal Type 1022 air search; Plessey Type 886
air/surface search; Kelvin Hughes Type 1007 and Racal Decca Type 1008
navigation; two Marconi Type 909 fire control; hull-mounted sonar

Aircraft: Lynx helicopter

HMS Liverpool was the last of the type 42 class Batch 2 destroyers , she entered
service just before a tranche of modifications was made to the class as a result of lessons learned in the Falklands War.

She was, however, the first Navy warship to be built under a revolutionary, faster process, in which the hull was built in sections and heavy machinery and equipment fitted while still under
cover.

The separate elements were then assembled, and the ship launched conventionally in September 1980.

Her air-defence systems centre on the tried and tested Sea Dart missile system, designed to provide area defence for a group of ships.

In such cases, Liverpool would act as a forward picket, standing guard in case of air attack against the rest of the task group.

The twin-barrel missile launcher can also be used against surface targets.

Liverpool also has a 4.5-in gun, which can be used against air or surface targets, but is also effective in shore bombardment.

Close range defence is provided by a number of smaller-calibre guns and the Vulcan Phalanx system.

Destroyers can also perform anti-submarine duties.

Using her active sonar system, Liverpool can locate the submarine, then send up her Lynx helicopter to attack the target with homing torpedoes.

The Lynx can also deliver Harpoon anti-ship missiles.

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.

In October 2004 along with a number of other naval vessels from various countries (including 8 from the US Navy) HMS Liverpool took part in the JMC exercises in waters off north-west Scotland. On 23 October she was seen arriving at Faslane.

In 2006-2007 HMS Liverpool underwent a refit at Rosyth, Scotland. The upgrade package, which was completed in May of 2007, included modifications to the ship's 4.5 inch gun to enable a greater firing range, and enhanced satellite and high frequency communication systems which will allow better interoperability between military allies.

HMS Liverpool is expected to be de-commissioned in 2012.
May 2012 decommissioned.
2014 For sale for scrap, berthed in Portsmouth.
12 November 2014 arrived by Leyal GS, Alang, Turkey for demolition.

Grenada 2003 $1 sgMS 4876, scott?
Falkland Islands 2014 £1.00 sg?, scott?

Sources: Combat Fleets of the World 2005-2006; Royal Navy; Ministry of Defence News;

Written by Mr. Peter Crichton