The Tribals' peacetime symbolism accompanied a conspicuous combat record. HMS Eskimo went through three bows during the Second World War, inspiring the joke that she treated the bow as expendable. HMS Nubian accumulated enough battle honours to be compared with the fleet's most celebrated ships. Ashanti's relatively intact survival offered another form of endurance. Tribal names came to represent damage control, repeated return to service, and wartime prestige as well as imperial ceremony.
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Eskimo, Nubian, and the Tribal class's combat reputation
Repeated repairs and exceptional battle honours gave the Tribals a wartime reputation alongside their imperial visibility.