21/06/2026
❓Did you know? On this day in 1983, HMS Hermione left the Dockyard and was escorted down the River Medway by the Flag Officer Medway, Rear Admiral W Higgins.
This Leander-class frigate was the last warship to be refitted at Chatham.
During the refit, the ship endured industrial disputes, a financial moratorium on expenditure, almost continuous low priority in the dockyard programme, the effects of the yard closure (announced in 1981) and the effects of the Falkland crisis.
The last edition of the Chatham Dockyard newspaper, The Periscope June 1983, carried the following headline on page 5: “The end of an era as Hermione goes – As the ship slips out into the river, it will be a very emotional moment for those on board and those left behind.”
