Battle Honours

Naval battle honours

Battle honours for Commonwealth warships were initially awarded and controlled by the British Admiralty, under the "Commonwealth Battle Honours List". Warships of Commonwealth navies would also inherit the honours of any preceding British warship of the name. Commonwealth navies later moved to independent but parallel systems. Australia began moving away by instituting a battle honour for the ships that served in the Vietnam War, then moved to a completely independent system before 1993, to avoid HMAS Newcastle (named for the city of Newcastle, New South Wales) inheriting the battle honours of Royal Navy ships named Newcastle. The Royal Canadian Navy began displaying battle honours in the 1950s, but after the Unification of the Canadian Forces in 1968, new units entering service would only carry those honours earned by Canadian ships.