BIRTH OF THE DECOY      The Decoy was laid on the 22 nd  September 1946, at a small ceremony in the Scotstown shipyard of A.Yarrow & Co.Ltd on the river Clyde. However it was another 6 years before she was completed. Built on the wartime lines of heavy destroyer / light cruiser and designated to be one of 16. At the end of the second world war, however, with the country nearly bankrupt, most important was the re-build of the merchant fleet, which had been heavily depleted. So 16 became 8 and some of those were very slow builds due to lack of funding.(Sounds familiar with today's defence cuts!). Mrs J. Dugdale, the wife of the Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty, launched her on Tuesday 29 th  March 1949. Although the first of the class to be launched, she was the last but one to be commissioned. She ran her contractors sea trials in autumn of 1952 in the Clyde area, but these were unsuccessful as the ship suffered engine problems, returning to the shipyard for repairs and modification. On the 7 th  April 1953 her first captain was appointed, (Captain R.H. Maurice DSO DSC RN). 13 days later she was inspected and signed for whilst lying in the basin at Dalmuir and commissioned 3 days later. Further trials off Greenock followed and back to Dalmuir for storing ship. This took a couple of weeks, during which time the BBC broadcast the radio programme 'A Fighting Ship Is Born' from the Decoy. On the 10 th  of May whilst still in the basin at Dalmuir the ship was opened to the public for the first time. By all accounts this was a  very popular attraction for the local people. That was the Decoy's beginning, as we know it. As a footnote, I have since learned, that following long service with the Peruvian Navy, first as an active warship, and later as a naval museum, she has finally been sold to China. Currently her status and future are unknown.