Warship given freedom of Wrexham

Alec Doyle, Local Democracy Reporter

HMS Dragon has been granted the Freedom of the County Borough of Wrexham – the first Royal Navy vessel to be given the honour since the World War II.

The warship – a type 45 Daring Class air defence destroyer – was originally affiliated to Wrexham in April this year, and has now been granted Freedom of the County Borough by Wrexham Council, the highest honour the authority can bestow.

HMS Dragon joins Wrexham Football Club, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, the Royal Welsh (formerly the Royal Welch Fusiliers), North Wales Police double Olympic gold medal-winning rower Tom James and former Prime Minister David Lloyd George among those honoured with the Freedom of the County Borough.

Refit

The vessel has recently undergone a refit and is out at sea, but next year there will be a parade and events through Wrexham to celebrate the honour.

Wrexham County Borough Council’s Armed Forces champion, Cllr Beverley Parry-Jones, said: “Wrexham is honoured that the Royal Navy has affiliated it’s ship HMS Dragon to the Borough. Affiliations between warships and local communities are a time-honoured tradition with connections serving as a symbol of unity and mutual support.

“All major Royal Navy ships have affiliations as part of a longstanding custom that binds their crews to the land. This is the first time since the Second World War that a Royal Navy warship will be affiliated to Wrexham.

“We are proud of our history supporting and commemorating our armed forces and have a special appreciation and remembrance of all men and women of the County Borough of Wrexham who serve, or have served, in the forces of the Crown – and of those whose gallant deeds have brought honour to the principality of Wales.”

Honour

HMS Dragon’s commanding officer, Commander Iain Giffin joined the council meeting by video link to accept the honour.

“I just want to say a massive thank you to Wrexham County Borough for graciously agreeing to award the freedom of the borough to HMS Dragon,” he said. “The welcome we have received has exceeded expectations.

“I am so grateful to all of you for welcoming us with such open arms. Recently, at the start of December, one of our fellow ships HMS Prince of Wales received the Freedom of the City of Liverpool and conducted a large parade and events through the city.

“We very much look forward to conducting similar events in late spring or early summer. Thank you again for this great honour and I wish you all a very merry Christmas from Dragon.”

Tradition

Prior to HMS Dragon, Wrexham adopted three ships during World War II.

In 1942 the W Class destroyer HMS Veteran affiliated to the then town of Wrexham was sunk in 1942 by a German torpedo in the North Atlantic.

The Flower Class corvette HMS Begonia was associated with West Wrexham during the conflict and HMS Anemone – which was sold to Norway in 1949 – was affiliated to Rhosllanerchgrugog.