A CAMPAIGN is being launched to name a new warship HMS Dorsetshire - nearly 60 years after the people of Dorset raised more than £3m to have her rebuilt.

In an incredible fundraising drive in 1942, people in the county raised £3,057,703 in subscriptions within six months to build a new ship after HMS Dorset-shire was bombed by a Japanese aircraft.

It would cost £250 million to build a modern destroyer today.

The old ship was instrumental in sinking the Bismarck and the name HMS Dorsetshire goes back nearly 400 years, but the new ship was never built.

Now the Royal Naval Association's Dorchester branch and the town council are hopeful that this time a ship will be named in honour of the county after plans were unveiled for a new class of warship.

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has approved orders for up to a dozen new destroyers to be built for the Royal Navy by 2015.

The 7,200-tonne warships, which are expected to cost £3 billion altogether, will be dubbed D-class, starting with HMS Daring and HMS Dauntless - and this is the main reason why Dorchester's Royal Naval Association believes there could soon be a new HMS Dorsetshire.

A campaign in 1987, involving MP Jim Spicer, failed to get a replacement ship built, but they hope that their chances are improved with current South Dorset MP Jim Knight sitting on the Defence Select Committee.

They are also taking specialist advice on how to approach the ships' naming committee to get the name accepted.

The original HMS Dorsetshire was built in the 17th century, and the most recent ship of that name used her last torpedoes to sink the crippled German destroyer the Bismarck in May 1941.

HMS Dorsetshire sank with the loss of more than 200 men after being bombed by Japanese aircraft while trying to defend British naval bases in the waters off Ceylon on April 5, 1942.

But 500 men survived, and there is still an HMS Dorsetshire survivors' association today, which will be holding a reunion on the 60th anniversary of the bombing in Plymouth next year.

Retired Lieutenant Commander Roy Dean, from Crossways, secretary of the Dorchester RNA, said: "The chances are fairly good, but we need to make sure we hit the right buttons with the naming committee."

Mr Dean is looking for any information on the history of the Dorsetshire that might help in the campaign. Anyone with information should contact the Echo's Dorchester office on (01305) 269801.