The ships were built for war against Germany, Italy, and Japan, yet their names overwhelmingly recalled battles. The 1942 and 1943 programmes drew on actions ranging from Trafalgar and Saintes to Alamein, Jutland, and Matapan, while the Australian ships became Anzac and Tobruk. Giving a destroyer a name previously carried by a battleship shows how far the status of the large fleet destroyer had risen. The names connected the class to a longer institutional memory before most of the ships had a wartime record of their own.
Notable Point · 24:15-25:58
Battle names for a new fleet destroyer
Names such as Trafalgar, Jutland, Matapan, Anzac, and Tobruk connected the large fleet destroyers with famous battles and names previously borne by larger warships.