The list of ship decommissionings in 1988 includes a chronological list of all ships decommissioned in 1988.
| Operator | Ship | Flag | Class and type | Fate | Other notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 February | Museum ship | To Australian National Maritime Museum | |||||
| 30 March | Wrecked at Hamburg | ||||||
| 17 May | Stena Line | Ferry | Transferred to Lion Ferry | Rebuilt into Lion Queen | |||
| 25 June | Unique submarine | Decommissioned | Entered the Navy's Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program on 5 January 1995. On 1 April 1996, the hulk ceased to exist. | ||||
| 26 June | Decommissioned | Scuttled in Bass Strait | |||||
| 7 July | Decommissioned | Sold to Pakistan, renamed [1] | |||||
| 31 August | Decommissioned | Sold to Pakistan, renamed | |||||
| 13 October | SF Line (Viking Line traffic) | Cruiseferry | Sold to Stena Line | Renamed Stena Nordica | |||
| 1 December | Decommissioned | Sold to the Turkish Navy for cannibalization | |||||
| December | Swansea-Cork Ferries | Ferry | End of charter, returned to Polferries | Renamed Rogalin |