HMS Gibraltar (C01) Crown Colony-class Guided Missile Cruiser
Posted: November 30th, 2024, 2:42 am
HMS Gibraltar during her service in the Falklands War
HMS Gibraltar was the first of four ships in the Crown Colony-class of Guided Missile Cruisers, built in the late 1970s. The Crown Colony-class was the Royal Navy's first Guided Missile Cruiser and a significant improvement over the Type 42s and even the Type 82 in Royal Navy service. By the spring of 1982, two ships, Gibraltar and Bermuda, were in service, with a third, Saint Helena, working up.
Gibraltar was taking part in the Spring Train exercise when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. She made a stopover at Ascension Island before joining Operation Paraquet as the flagship of the task force. During the operation, Gibraltar’s Lynx helicopter sank the Argentine submarine ARA Santa Fe with a Stingray anti-submarine torpedo, after the sub dived to evade attacks from AS-12-equipped Wasps.
Gibraltar rejoined the task force on May 1st. Her Type 1022 radar played a crucial role in saving HMS Sheffield from an Exocet missile strike when one of three Sea Darts fired from Gibraltar intercepted the missile just before it could strike Sheffield, which would have been fatal.
Later, Gibraltar and Broadsword took over outer picket duties when HMS Glasgow and HMS Brilliant were forced to withdraw after being damaged by dud bombs. On May 25th, Gibraltar came under attack by two pairs of Argentine Skyhawks. She successfully shot down two of the aircraft with Sea Darts and forced a third to veer off. However, a fourth Skyhawk struck the cruiser with a 250lb bomb, which fortunately turned out to be a dud. Gibraltar had to withdraw briefly to disarm the weapon.
During this period, it was revealed that the carrier group had narrowly escaped disaster through dumb luck. Two Argentine Super Étendards, attempting to launch Exocet missiles at the fleet ran right into HMS Sheffield which disrupted their attack. Sheffield claimed one of the Super Étendards, while the other bugged out after jettisoning its Exocet.
Gibraltar was present during the final Super Étendard attack on the carrier group. She shot down a Skyhawk with a Sea Dart and fired at an Exocet missile, which disappeared. It remains unclear whether the Exocet was brought down by Gibraltar’s Sea Dart, Avenger’s 4.5-inch gun, or neither of them.
By the end of the Falklands War, Gibraltar had shot down an Exocet missile, six Skyhawks, and claimed an additional Exocet and two aircraft. She continued to serve the Royal Navy faithfully, finally being decommissioned in 2012.