Liverpool’s latest Liver Birds

Two Liver Bird emblems that once sat proudly on the funnel of HMS Liverpool have gone on display at Liverpool Cruise Terminal.

The two badges were removed after the Royal Navy ship was decommissioned in 2012.
They have now been donated to Liverpool by the Navy and installed on the gates of Liverpool Cruise Terminal – in the shadow of the Royal Liver Building.

Commodore Gary Doyle, the Navy’s regional commander for northern England, said: “These badges were on the funnel of HMS Liverpool and we thought it was appropriate they were donated to the city and the cruise terminal.

“They will hopefully help to keep alive the connection between the Royal Navy and Liverpool.”
Type 42 destroyer HMS Liverpool, built by Birkenhead ship-makers Cammell Laird in the 1980s, was nicknamed the Crazy Red Chicken because of her Liver Bird funnel badges. She was decommissioned in 2012 and scrapped last year.

Commodore Doyle revealed there have been secret talks among Royal Navy top brass about affiliating a new ship with Liverpool.

He said: “We have a future affiliation in mind. We have plans which we believe the people of Liverpool will be delighted with.” He declined to elaborate further as the naming of all ships must first be approved by the Queen.

The Liver Bird emblems were salvaged from the ship after a Royal Navy pledge to return various artefacts to her home city. Her bell was installed in the Church of Our Lady and St Nicholas in Liverpool city centre.