HMS Liverpool is set to be the biggest mobile European Capital of Culture ambassador, joining a list of just under 3,000 ambassadors from more than 30 countries including people such as Cherie Blair, Yoko Ono, Ken Dodd and Steven Gerrard.

The Type 42 destroyer's arrival in the city this weekend will be marked by its Halewood-raised Commander Henry Duffy officially signing up the vessel to be an 08 Ambassador.

HMS Liverpool, which has a complement of 280 personnel, returned from a six month deployment to the South Atlantic in July 2006, having protected and supported the UK's interests in West Africa, the Falkland Islands and South America. She has just completed a short deployment to the Baltic in support of Her Majesty the Queen's State Visit to Estonia.

After her home visit, HMS Liverpool - which was granted Freedom of the City on 16 May 1983, a year after the ship commissioned - will be given a refit next month before a short tour of Europe.