Shipbucket

Tiger-class Light Cruiser

HMS Blake (C99) As seen during the Falklands War [Note: Drawing is mostly by Bombhead]

Ships of the Class:
HMS Tiger (C20) [Decomissioned 1976]
HMS Lion (C34) [Decomissioned 1972]
HMS Blake (C99) [Pulled out of Reserve 1982]

When the Falklands War broke out, the Royal Navy had HMS Blake as part of the Standby Squadron in HMNB Chatham. HMS Blake had been decomissioned the year before and after an assesment was in good condition. After a hasty reactivation and many spare parts taken from the hulk of Tiger, HMS Blake sailed south arriving with the Task Force on May 21st. HMS Blake entered the gunline providing British troops NGFS. She was in San Carlos Water on the 26th when she was attacked by Argentine Skyhawks. The Skyhawks scored a hit on Tiger amidships but thankfully the bomb was a dud. The attack cost the Argentines two Skyhawks with one shot down by her Sea Cat 2 and the other shot down by her 3in guns. After the war she returned to the UK and, after a assesment of the hull, was sent to the breakers in 1983.

Javelin-class Guided Missile Destroyer

HMS Javelin (D99) as seen during the battle of San Carlos

Ships of the Class:
HMS Javelin (D99)
HMS Grenade (D100) [Lost on May 25th due to Air Attack]
HMS Battleaxe (D101)
HMS Crossbow (D102)
HMS Broadsword (D103)
HMS Howitzer (D104)
HMS UNNAMED [Cancelled 1973]
HMS UNNAMED [Cancelled 1973]
HMS UNNAMED [Cancelled 1973]
HMS UNNAMED [Cancelled 1973]

The Weapon-class Guided Missile Destroyer was the DDG variant of the Battle-class Guided Missile Frigate. Armed with Sea Dart Missiles, the Weapon-class was invisioned as the minimum possible AAW Destroyer that could be afforded. The approval of the Crown Colony-class Guided Missile Cruisers stopped construction at 6 ships with a two of the class serving the Argentine Navy. Upon the start of the war, Javelin, Grenade and Battleaxe were sent south to escort HMS Queen Elizabeth. Due to two ships of the class being in service with the Argentine Navy, the British ships had large black stripes painted down the side for easy identification. HMS Javelin was saved from destruction by HMS Gibraltar when Gibraltar's 1022 radar tracked and destroyed an Exocet Missile fired at her. A new tactic developed during the war which involed placing a Battle-class Frigate and Weapon-class Destroyer in close tandem allowing the Weapon's Sea Dart to destroy targets at range and the Battle's Sea Wolf to shoot down leakers. The tactic proved relatively effective at drawing away Argentine attention from the San Carlos landings but came at the cost of Battleaxe being damaged and Grenade being lost to low level air attacks when the accompanying Frigate's Sea Wolf jammed or failed to engage. HMS Broadsword arrived later in the conflict as part of the Bermuda Group to replace the loss of Grenade.

Bristol-class Guided Missile Destroyer

HMS Bristol (D23) as seen during the Falklands War [Note: Drawing is mostly by Hood]

Ships of the Class:
HMS Bristol (D23)

HMS Bristol was in the Far East at the start of the war. She rapidly was rushed to Gibraltar where she escorted HMS Blake to the combat zone. Bristol mostly remained on Carrier escort throughout the war. Her combat action was during the Exocet attack on the 30th of May when she shot at and missed the Exocet with two Sea Darts. After the war, she remained on station until September 1982 when she returned home for a major refit.

County-class Guided Missile Destroyer

HMS Glamorgan as seen during the Falklands War [Note: Drawing is mostly by Hood]

Ships of the Class:
HMS Devonshire (D02) [Decomissioned 1978 (Used as Target Ship)]
HMS Hampshire (D06) [Decomissioned 1979]
HMS Kent (D12) [Fleet Training Ship as of 1982]
HMS London (D16) [Sold to Pakistan 1982 as PNS Babur]
HMS Fife (D20)
HMS Glamorgan (D19)
HMS Antrim (D21)
HMS Norfolk (D18) [Sold to Chile 1982 as Capitán Prat]

Of the County-class DDGs, Glamorgan and Antrim participated in the Falklands War. Glamorgan participated in the retaking of South Georgia before joining up with the task force. Both ships offered NGFS before finishing the war uneventfully.

odysseus1980 wrote: ↑January 12th, 2025, 2:54 pm I opened the image and worked. Very nice carrier indeed.

Thanks! It means a lot as someone who's new to Shipbucket

Great work, I only have one question for Queen Elizabeth-class, should we get something like HS.125 being the AEW, or HP.139 with Marconi radars. That could do better than E-2C in RN. Just an idea.