Definitions for "HMS Norfolk"
Six ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Norfolk, from an 80-gun third-rate to today's powerful and sleek Type 23 frigate. The Norfolk motto is Serviens servo ("serving, I preserve"). The ships are named after the Duke of Norfolk or the county of Norfolk.
A long absence of a Norfolk in the Royal Navy was finally ended in the commissioning of County-class heavy cruiser HMS Norfolk (78), which displaced 10,035 tons. She was laid down in July 1927 at Govan by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd and launched on 12 December 1928.
The fifth HMS Norfolk (D21) was laid down on 15 March 1966 by Swan Hunter and launched by Lavinia, Duchess of Norfolk in November 1967. She was commissioned in March 1970. Like her predecessor she was a County-class warship, though this time she was a destroyer, rather than a cruiser, and her most potent armament was not her guns, but her missiles.