HMS London (D16)

HMS "London" (D16) was a County-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She commissioned in Swan Hunter's yard in Wallsend in 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, in September 1964 she crossed the Atlantic to visit 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 and New Year. She then deployed to the Far East, visiting Hong Kong, Bangkok and Subic, and 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'.

HMS "London" was the last ship to leave Malta when the Maltese government closed the base. 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 West Indies Guardship deployment 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.

HMS "London" was sold to Pakistan on 23 March 1982 and renamed "Babur". "Babur" was decommissioned from Pakistani service in sdy|1993 and was sold for scrap in 1995.

See also

* List of ship launches in 1961
* List of ship commissionings in 1963
* List of ship commissionings in 1982
* List of ship decommissionings in 1980
* List of ship decommissionings in 1993