H.M.S.Liverpool was commissioned (sic) at the Govan Gshipyard of the Fairfield Company yesterday for her acceptance trials with a crew from Chatham Depot, and is expected at the port on Friday. Captain A.D. Read, late Captain of Chatham Gunnery School, is in command, with Commander J.J. Weld, who was also at this school before taking the 1937 staff course as executive officer. TheLiverpoolwill join the East Indies Station in place of Emerald. She is the seventh of the new ‘city’ class of cruisers to be completed.

(NB: The commissioning ceremony for Liverpool actually took place at Chatham in the following month when Lady Norman (wife of the Governor of the Bank of England), who had launched her in 1936, presented a ceremonial mace to the ship. One of the most notable aspects of the ship’s company was that 80 per cent were in their teens. A feature which showed in Liverpool’s markedly small rum issue.)

The Times - 9th January 1939

‘A City’s Gift to Warship. H.M.S.Liverpool in the Mersey’

Before taking up her commission on the East Indies Station H.M.S. Liverpool , which is on a visit to the city, was yesterday presented by the corporation with three pairs of candlesticks, a silver cup, and two bugles, all suitably inscribed.

The ship, which is in Gladstone Dock, is the sixth British warship to be named the Liverpool since 1741. She already had the silver bell and silver plate presented to the fourth H.M.S. Liverpool in 1912, which passed into the custody of H.M.S. Rodney, the Mersey-built battleship, after the breaking up of the cruiser in 1921, and which had been transferred from the Rodney to the ship now in the Mersey. A silk White Ensign and a Union Jack, the gift of the Liverpool Woman’s Service Bureau, were also presented to the new ship yesterday.

Captain A.D. Read, commanding the Liverpool, paid a visit to the Town Hall, where he was received by the Lord Mayor (Sir Sidney Jones), who afterwards went aboard the ship for the presentation of the gift, which took place on the quarterdeck. Among those present were:- The Town Clerk (Mr. W.H. Baines), the Vice-Chancellor of Liverpool University (Dr. McNair), and Lady Sefton. It was a great privilege, the Lord Mayor said, for a city like Liverpool, with its long and historic connection with the sea, to be associated with so distinguished a cruiser. Liverpool was proud the ship bore the city’s name. He added:-

‘As you go on your great mission of peace throughout the world, of keeping order on the ocean, and enabling all to travel on it without fear or favour, we hope you will not be unmindful of the association between your great Service and that of the merchant seamen of England and of Liverpool in particular.’

Lady Sefton presented the Ensign and Union Jack.

Captain Read, in returning thanks for the gifts, said that for some reason the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty decided that H.M.S. Liverpool should not be built on the Mersey but in Scotland. They then decided that the Liverpool should be stationed about 7,000 miles from the city after which she was named. After a little pressure, they had allowed the ship to come there for three days in Liverpool. They had a ship which was absolutely up to date, and a long way ahead of any ship that was employed on the same duty in the War. Anything in the next war that corresponded with the Emden would not last long.

After luncheon, officers and men of the ship visited Port Sunlight to make a tour of inspection of the works of Lever Brothers as the guests of Lord Leverhulme. The ship was open for public inspection to-day, when her officers and men attended services at the Cathedrals. The Anglican service was attended by the Lord Mayor in state.