The Box is a major cultural and heritage attraction and archive, which opened in Plymouth’s city centre in September 2020. Its collection, formally the South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA), is the regional film archive for the South West of England, comprising the combined programme libraries of Westward Television and Television South West (TSW). It also includes a significant number of donated film collections dating back to the early 1890s.
This film is part of Free

Devonport Launch of HMS Cleopatra
Mrs Peter Walker proudly names this ship at its launch from Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth.
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Overview
HMS Cleopatra with pennant F28 was a Leander class anti submarine frigate built at HM Dockyard Devonport in Plymouth and launched on 25 March 1964 by Mrs Peter Walker (later to become Lady Walker) with the Lord Mayor of Plymouth H M Pattinson and Rear Admiral R S Hawkins. On the insignia is Invicta ut olim meaning unconquered as ever.
The new ship had been fitted with long-range air warning radar, the Seacat anti-aircraft guided missile system, improved anti submarine protection equipment and a lightweight helicopter armed with homing torpedoes. In 1975 the ship was fitted with Exocet missiles and in 1982 underwent a further refit before being decommissioned in 1992. HMS Cleopatra was affectionately known as Cleo and the ship that never dies.
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