HMS Duke of Edinburgh: Petition to name Royal Navy ship after Prince Philip gets over 15,000 signatures
Calls have grown stronger to name a Royal Navy warship in honor of Prince Philip, who passed away at the Windsor Castle last week, just a few months short of turning 100. A petition to name a new vessel after the late Duke of Edinburgh was also started and at the time of writing this report, it had fetched more than 15,000 signatures. The funeral of Prince Philip was set to take place on Saturday, April 17.
Tory MP James Gray indicated that the sentiments of millions of admirers of the royals could be honored by renaming one of the escort ships for the new Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier. “It would be nice to have the escort ship named after the Duke of Edinburgh – quite fitting,” Daily Mail quoted him as saying.
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PM Johnson urged for a new Royal Yacht Britannia
The parliamentarian’s remark came amid growing calls for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to consider giving approval to a new Royal Yacht Britannia as a memorial to the late royal. The former Royal Yacht Britannia, which carried Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II on 968 state visits around the planet for over 40 years, was decommissioned in 1997 after being in service since 1954. It is currently a top visitor attraction in Edinburgh. The Telegraph reported that Prince Philip privately liked the idea, partly because of his long naval career and also because of the long time he had spent at sea on that vessel. The new royal yacht, if it sees the light of the day, would be named ‘HMY The Duke of Edinburgh’.
The Royal Navy is also set to witness some changes in its hardware. Its new Type 26 frigates are due to come into service soon and will replace eight Type 23 frigates. They will be pressed into warfighting, maritime security and international engagement.
A warship was named after Duke of Edinburgh earlier as well
However, even if a ship is named after Prince Philip, it wouldn’t be the first time that a vessel will bear the name Duke of Edinburgh. The ‘HMS Duke of Edinburgh’ was the main ship of the Duke of Edinburgh-classed armored cruisers that were built in the early 1900s. The ship was named after Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (1844-1900), the fourth child of Albert, Prince Consort, and Queen Victoria. He was known as the Duke of Edinburgh from 1866 till he succeeded his uncle as the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. During the First World War (1914-18), the vessel was deployed to chase German battlecruiser Goeben and light cruiser Breslau. She was also sent to the Red Sea to protect troops from India. In 1914, ‘HMS Duke of Edinburgh’ rejoined the First Cruiser Squadron which was in front of the Grand Fleet in the Battle of Jutland in 1916. She was the only ship of the squadron to survive the war. She was later sent to North America and the West Indies for convoy escort duties and eventually sold for scrap in 1920, 14 years after her launch.
About Prince Philip's Royal Navy career
After completing graduation from the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Prince Philip went to the Second World War and was appointed as a midshipman in January 1940. He spent four months aboard battleships HMS Ramillies, HMS Kent and HMS Shropshire. He also took part in the Battle of Crete the next year and his name featured for his services during the Battle of Cape Matapan the same year aboard HMS Valiant. Prince Philip got promoted as the first lieutenant of HMS Wallace in 1942, one of the youngest in the Royal Navy. He even saved his ship from a bomber attack. After his marriage with Queen Elizabeth II in 1947, he was stationed in Malta and got the command of frigate HMS Magpie. He was promoted as the commander of the ship in 1952 though he had given up his naval career by then.