[1] She was laid down at Swan Hunter's Wallsend, Tyne and Wear shipyard on 26 February 1960[2] and launched by Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester on 7 December 1961.

[8][9] Close-in anti-aircraft protection was provided by a pair of Seacat missile launchers, while two twin QF 4.5 inch Mark V gun mounts were fitted forward.

[7] London commissioned at Swan Hunter's yard in Wallsend on 14 November 1963 under Captain J.C. Bartosik and was initially fully employed setting her armament to work, successfully firing her Sea Slug surface-to-air missile for the first time off Aberporth in April 1964.

Passing through Panama, she visited Peru, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil before proceeding via Tristan da Cunha to Simonstown, where she spent Christmas.

During this time she was part of a powerful fleet whose presence acted as a deterrent to President Sukarno of Indonesia's attempt to intimidate the infant Federation of Malaysia through 'Confrontation'.

She accordingly spent the period from June to late September in the South China Sea visiting Hong Kong, Manila and Subic Bay as well as spending two weeks in Japan as well as spells in her base port of Singapore.

A short visit to St Vincent and Puerto Rico allowed the ship's company a few days ashore before London headed back to Portsmouth, having completed an extremely busy 12 months.

There ensued docking and repairing defects in Portsmouth before carrying out workup in October and visits to Greenock before Christmas leave, prior to sailing in early February 1971 for a nine-month tour of duty in the Mediterranean.

Seawolf and on the 10 December 1981, the ship had the distinction of being the ship that carried out the Navy's final twin turret broadside when all four of her 4.5 inch guns were fired at once [15] London was decommissioned in late December 1981 after completing a three-month deployment to the West Indies as Belize Guardship, during which her crew were involved in the granting of independence to Antigua.

Babur was decommissioned from Pakistani service in 1993 and sold for scrap in 1995. Notable commanding officers include J C Bartosik between 1963-1966 and Ronald Forrest during 1970-1972.