Name HMS Diamond Yard number 632 Commissioned 21 February 1952 Construction started 15 March 1949 Length 119 m Builder John Brown & Company | Ordered 24 January 1945 Laid down 15 March 1949 Launched 14 June 1950 Draft 6.89 m | |
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HMS Diamond was a Daring-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She was built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland, and launched on 14 June 1950. This ship was John Brown & Company's first all-welded ship (as opposed to the rivetted construction more commonly used up to that time).
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Service history
In 1953 Diamond took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. On 29 September 1953, she sustained severe bow damage in a collision with the cruiser Swiftsure during Exercise Mariner, held off the coast of Iceland.
In 1956 Diamond was sent into Port Said to show the flag prior to the Franco-British assault, but the Egyptian government was unmoved and she sailed out to join the main attack force for the Suez landings at Port Said. She underwent a refit in 1959 at Chatham Dockyard. In 1964 she was involved in another collision, this time with the frigate Salisbury, in the English Channel during a naval demonstration.
In 1970, she became a dockside training ship in Portsmouth and remained in this role until replaced by the destroyer Kent. She was scrapped in Rainham in Kent in 1981.