After a 63-year break, the Royal Navy is set to have another HMS Anson on the list as S-123, the fifth Astute-class submarine, currently under construction, was announced last week. She will be the eighth to carry the historic name which dates back to a 60-gun warship in 1747, in honor of the 1st Lord of the Admiralty, George Anson.
The seventh Anson was a King George V-class battleship, which commissioned on 14 April 1942. Cutting her teeth chasing KMS Lutzow and Hipper around the Arctic while escorting convoys to Russia, she later assisted with a diversionary effort to support the Husky landings in the Med and screened the carrier groups that attempted to sink Tirpitz.
Refitted for service with British Pacific Fleet in 1945, Anson was on hand for the liberation of Hong Kong and served as a guard ship in Tokyo for the occupation there.
Clik here to view.
KGV-class battleship HMS Anson (79) dressed in Sydney Harbor for the Australia Day sailing regatta, 1946.
The mighty battlewagon was sent for breaking in 1957.