A ROYAL Navy ship named after Southampton is destined for the scrapyard.

The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that Type 42 Destroyer HMS Southampton, currently based at Whale Island, Portsmouth, has been sold.

The warship was decommissioned in 2009 and will head to a scrapyard in Turkey next week to be broken up by Leyal Ship Recycling.

HMS Southampton was sold to the company with two other destroyers – HMS Exeter and HMS Nottingham – for an undisclosed sum.

It’s understood the ships have a combined weight of around 24,000 tonnes of steel – worth more than £2m in scrap.

An MoD spokesman said: “The decision to select Leyal was made because the company’s bid gave us the best financial return.”

HMS Southampton was made by Vosper Thornycroft in Woolston in 1984.

She was deployed to the Falklands, and was also involved in the seizing of 3.5 tonnes of cocaine in the Caribbean in February 2006.

It’s understood she will take around a month to reach Leyal’s scrapyard in Izmir, Turkey, where she will be broken up for her steel to be recycled.

The MoD is yet to confirm which day HMS Southampton will leave the south coast next week, as it will depend on the weather and tides.