The Laughing Cavalier. last of the classic British destroyers

摘要

HMS Cavalier, the last Royal Navy ; destroyer of World War 2, and at 1 one time the fastest ship in the Fleet, ; is now a museum ship in Chatham's Historic Dockyard. A 'C Class destroyer, she is a product of the War Emergency Destroyer programme. Laid down by J. Samuel White and Co. at East Cowes in March 1943, she was launched in the following April and commissioned in November. Cavalier served during the war in the North Sea.Arctic and North Atlantic, and post-War in the Far East and home waters until decommissioning in 1972. Subsequently she was preserved as a museum ship in a number of locations until finally berthed in Chatham. Unsurprisingly, she was known to her crew as the Laughing Cavalier after the painting by the Dutchman Frans Hals.