HMS London (D16)

HMS London was a County-class destroyer of the Royal Navy.

Royal Navy Service
She commissioned at Swan Hunter's yard in Wallsend on 14th November 1963 under Captain J.C. Bartosik and initially was fully employed setting her armament to work, successfully firing her Seaslug for the first time off Aberporth in April 1964. After working up, during which she entertained HRH The Duke of Edinburgh on board, she crossed the Atlantic in September 1964. She visited Bermuda and Houston before joining a special squadron led by Vice Admiral Sir Fitzroy Talbot on a round of visits to the South American part of his command. Passing through Panama she visited Peru, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil before proceeding via Tristan da Cunha to Simonstown where she spent Christmas. New Year was spent at sea en route to Mauritius, where the ship's helicopter was used to build a TV mast. She then deployed to the Far East, visiting Hong Kong, Bangkok, Subic, Singapore and ports in Malaya. During this time she was part of a powerful fleet whose presence acted as a deterrent to Sukarno's attempt to intimidate the infant Federation of Malaysia through 'Confrontation'. Shen then returned to the UK via Aden and assisted the Adrian Augusta adrif in the Red Sea before entering Suez proceeding to Gib then Portsmouth and took part in Navy Days at Portsmouth in 1965. On Easter Monday 1969 HMS London sailed for the Far East, she had onboard Admiral of the Fleet Sir Varyl Begg GCB., DSO., DSC. taking passage to take up his appointment as Governor and CinC Gibraltar. London sailed into Gibraltar on 17th April wearing the flag of an Admiral of the Fleet. She then continued her passage calling in at Simonstown and then onto Beira Patrol before heading for Gan and then Singapore. London then spent the period from June to late September in the South China Sea visiting Hong Kong, Manila and Subic Bay as well as spending 2 weeks in Japan as well as spells in her base port of Singapore. In September she sailed in company with HMNZS Otago to New Zealand visiting Auckland, Gisborne where she led a group of ships celebrating Captain Cooks first landing at New Zealand in October 1769. After 3 days of exceptional hospitality London sailed for Wellington and Lyttleton. She then crossed the Tasman sea to Hobart and then up to Melbourne where the ships company were pleased to experience the Melbourne Gold Cup. Finally London spent two weeks in Sydney before repairing back to Singapore for Christmas and the New Year. She then sailed across the Indian Ocean to carry out a short stint of Beira patrol then round the cape on across the Atlantic to carry out Seaslug Missile firings in a tactical setting with the US Navy. A short visit to Norfold Virginia then allowed the ships company a few days ashore before London headed back to Portsmouth having completed an extremely busy 12 months. There ensued docking and essential defects in Portsmouth before carrying out workup in October, visits to Greenock before Christmas leave prior to sailing in early February 1971 for an 9 month tour of duty in the Mediterranean. This allowed for a wonderful opportunity for cultural visits in Leghorn for Pisa and Florence, Civitia Vecchia for Rome and Pompei and Naples as well as Trieste from where a visit to Venice was possible. The ship also called in at Crete for the 30th anniversary of the battle for Crete in May 1941. The ship also called in at Cyprus and Istanbul from where a trip round the Black Sea included a visit to Samsun. The ship gave station leave in Gibraltar and Naples. Returning to Portsmouth in early November 1971. In 31 months she had carried out two deployments lasting 21 months, had spent 6 weeks working up between deployments as well as visits to Scotland and missile firing practice at Aberforth.

London was the last ship to leave Malta when the Maltese government closed the base. London attended the 1977 Silver Jubilee Fleet Review off Spithead when she was part of the First Flotilla.

She was the last RN ship capable of firing Mark 1 Sea Slug missiles, and the last ship in Royal Navy to fire a four-gun broadside on 10 December 1981.

London was decommissioned in late December 1981 after completing a six-month deployment to the West Indies during which her crew were involved in the granting of independence to Antigua. Her Majesty the Queen was represented by Princess Margaret at the independence ceremonies.

Pakistan Naval Service
London was sold to Pakistan on 23 March 1982 and recommissioned Babur under Captain Mukhtar Azam. Babur was decommissioned from Pakistani service in 1993 and was sold for scrap in 1995.

Publications

 * Marriot, Leo, 1989. Royal Navy Destroyers since 1945, Ian Allen Ltd.  ISBN 0 7110 1817 0
 * Marriot, Leo, 1989. Royal Navy Destroyers since 1945, Ian Allen Ltd.  ISBN 0 7110 1817 0