Classy Campbeltown is new warship name’s inspiration

Campbeltown is to have a namesake warship again.

A decade after the last Royal Navy vessel bearing the town’s moniker was decommissioned in April 2011, a new HMS Campbeltown is to be built.

The First Sea Lord, Admiral Tony Radakin, has announced the names of five next-generation type-31 frigates for the Royal Navy as HMS Campbeltown, HMS Active, HMS Bulldog, HMS Formidable and HMS Venturer.

The ‘inspiration class’ vessels’ names are drawn from former warships and submarines whose missions and history will ‘inspire Royal Navy operations’.

HMS Campbeltown is named after the wartime destroyer which led the ‘greatest commando raid of all’ at St Nazaire, France, during World War II. In March 1942, the ship rammed the dock gates and hidden explosives aboard blew up, wreaking havoc in the port and denying its use to major German warships for the rest of the war.

The names also represent the Royal Navy’s future vision with HMS Campbeltown symbolising the ‘raiding from the sea’ focus of the Royal Marines’ Future Commando Force.

Admiral Radakin said: ‘They represent the best of Britain’s world-class shipbuilding heritage and will fly the flag for decades to come.’

Being built at Babcock in Rosyth, the type-31 frigates will replace the five general-purpose type-23 frigates currently in service.

Expected to enter service by 2028, they will carry a crew of up to 105 and will be deployed on duties around the world, working alongside new type26 frigates dedicated to submarine detection operations.