HMS Liverpool (D92)

The seventh, and current HMS "Liverpool" (D92) is the 10th of 14 Type 42 destroyers. She was built by Cammell Laird in Birkenhead and launched on the 25 September in 1980 by Lady Strathcona, wife of the then Minister of State for Defence.

HMS Liverpool's nickname "The Crazy Red Chicken" is 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.

"Liverpool" fired what is believed to be the first salvo of Sea Dart missiles in well over a decade, along with possibly the second only salvo ever. The firing took place approximately convert|250|mi|km south-west of the Isles of Scilly on 8 September 2002, against a sea skimming target. "Liverpool" proved the potency and effectiveness of the Sea Dart missile, despite its age, as well as "Liverpool's" systems, after she had been in an eighteen month refit at Rosyth Dockyard.

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 2005, "Liverpool" was sent to the Caribbean, where its duties included patrols to crack down on drug smuggling. In 2008, 18 sailors onboard the "Liverpool" tested positive for cocaine in a routine drug test. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/aug/28/military.drugstrade "HMS Liverpool sailors caught using cocaine" (guardian.co.uk)] ]

Affiliations

*The City of Liverpool
*The Worshipful Company of Pewterers
* Liverpool University Royal Naval Unit (HMS Charger)
*British Army
**47(Air Defence) Regiment Royal Artillery
**The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border)
*Combined Cadet Force (Royal Navy) Units
**Calday Grange Grammar School, Wirral
**Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby
**Birkenhead School, Wirral
*Sea Cadet Corps (United Kingdom) Units
**TS Merseyside
**TS Liverpool
**TS Corunna

References