Coventry Blitz the 1950s, designed by the architect Basil Spence. Spence (later knighted for this work) insisted that instead of re-building the old cathedral it should be kept in ruins as a garden of remembrance and that the new cathedral should be built alongside, the two buildings together effectively forming one church. The use of Hollington sandstone for the new Coventry Cathedral provides an element of unity between the buildings. The foundation stone of the new cathedral was laid by the Queen on 23 March 1956. It was consecrated on 25 May 1962, and Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem", composed for the occasion,
Coventry Cathedral and presented to Coventry Cathedral by the ship's Captain and colleagues. The cross was subsequently presented first to the next in 1988 until she was decommissioned in 2002, and then to , which is affiliated to Coventry, during her commissioning ceremony on 6 May 2011 by Captain David Hart-Dyke, the commanding officer of "Coventry" when she was sunk. BBC broadcast a documentary in 1962 entitled "Act of Faith", narrated by Leo Genn, detailed the history of Coventry Cathedral, its destruction and rebuilding. The precentor of the new Coventry Cathedral at the opening service was Joseph Poole. The service was televised