HMS Tiger before conversion |
|
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Tiger |
| Operators: | Royal Navy |
| Preceded by: | Minotaur class |
| Succeeded by: | No conventional cruiser class after, followed by the Invincible class anti-submarine cruiser[1] |
| Completed: | Three |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | light cruiser |
| Displacement: | 11,700 tons (12,080 tons after conversion of Blake and Tiger) |
| Length: | 555.5 ft (169 m) |
| Beam: | 64 ft (19.5 m) |
| Draught: | 23 ft (7.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | Four Admiralty-type three drum boilers Four shaft Parsons steam turbines 80,000 shp |
| Speed: | 31.5 knots (58.3 km/h) |
| Range: | 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km) at 16 knots (30 km/h) |
| Complement: | 716 (885 after conversion of Blake and Tiger) |
| Armament: |
|
| Armour: |
|
| Aircraft carried: | Four helicopters (originally Wessex then Sea King) |
The Tiger-class helicopter cruisers were the first of such a type in the Royal Navy, and the last cruisers built for the Royal Navy. They were originally designed to be Minotaur-class light cruisers. The Minotaurs were laid down as World War II was ending, and accordingly only three Minotaurs were completed (Swiftsure, Superb and Minotaur, which was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy and renamed Ontario). Three other ships of the Minotaur-class had their construction either suspended or cancelled in 1946; two more were broken up.
Contents |
Construction of the three suspended ships resumed in 1954 to a revised design known as the Tiger class, as the many World War II-era cruisers were coming to the end of their service life. All such cruisers would be out of service by the 1960s due to the many defence cuts that the Royal Navy suffered.
The design of the Tigers differed from the original Minotaurs in that they were armed with two state-of-the-art automatic twin mount 6-inch (152 mm) guns designed just for the Tigers rather than the more obsolete three triple mount 6-inch (152 mm) guns used for the Minotaurs which had been designed in 1929. They were the last 6-inch (152 mm) guns used by the RN. Instead of the five twin mount 4-inch (102 mm) guns designed in 1934, the Tigers used 3 twin mount 3-inch (76 mm) guns, also designed for the Tigers, and which saw service in only the Tigers and the Canadian Restigouche-class destroyer.
The first ship to be commissioned was Tiger in 1959, with Lion in 1960 and Blake the following year, nearly two-decades after the ships had been laid down. They were, however, obsolete, in that they were not armed with missile systems. Other ship classes that were close to entering service, such as the Leander-class and Tribal-class frigates were being equipped with the SeaCat missile system, though only three of the Tribals would be armed with that missile system. As all three ships required large crews, they were decommissioned into maintained reserve, starting in 1963 with Blake, followed by Lion in the fall of 1965, and in 1968, Tiger too was placed in reserve.
| Pennant | Name | (a) Hull builder (b) Main machinery manufacturers |
Ordered | Laid down | Launched | Accepted into service | Commissioned | Estimated building cost[2] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C20 | Tiger (ex-Bellorophon [3] | (a) & (b) John Brown and Co Ltd, Clydebank.[4] | 1 October 1941 [3] | 25 October 1945 [3] | March 1959 [4] | 18 March 1959 [3] | £12,820,000 [4] | |
| C34 | Lion (ex-Defence) [3] | (a) Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd, Greenock (to launching stage) (a) Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd, Wallsend-on-Tyne (for completion) (b) Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd, Greenock (b) The Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Co Ltd, Wallsend-on-Tyne (for completion).[5] |
24 June 1942 [3] | 2 September 1944 [3] | July 1960 [5] | 20 July 1960 [3] | £14,375,000 [5] | |
| C99 | Blake (ex-Tiger, ex-Blake) [3] | (a) & (b) The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Co Ltd, Govan, Glasgow.[5] | 17 August 1942 [3] | 20 December 1945 [3] | March 1961 [5] | 8 March 1961 [3] | £14,940,000 [5] |
With the running down of the UK's carrier fleet, ships that could operate helicopters for ASW operations were sorely needed, and therefore in 1965, work began on Blake for her to be converted into a helicopter cruiser while Tiger began her conversion in 1968. And while some funding had been assembled, not enough could be pulled together for Lion's conversion, and her's was cancelled, though she remained operational until the end of 1965. One aft twin mount 6 inch gun was removed to allow the addition of a large helicopter hangar and helicopter pad that would be capable of handling four helicopters. The mid-ship mounted two twin mount 3 in guns were also removed to make way for two quad Seacat missile launchers. More modern sensor equipment and command and control facilities were also added, that would enable them to perform in a very capable role as a flagship for task groups.
The conversions left Tiger and Blake some 380 tons heavier with a full displacement of 12,080 tons and their crew complements increased by 169 to 885. During conversion they had lost their much loved sleek cruiser lines and their new appearance was criticised for being an ungainly and inelegant ‘push me-pull me’ design, and both vessels were soon nicknamed ‘Ugly Ducklings’. Originally Lion was also to have been converted, although this never materialised: Blake’s conversion had been more expensive than envisaged (£5.5 million) and so funds were no longer available. Ironically Tiger’s conversion cost even more (£13.25 million), such was the level of inflation at the time. After much material was stripped off her for use as spares for her sisters; Lion was subsequently sold for breaking up in 1975.
Conversion of Swiftsure and Superb to the Tiger class standard was implemented but not completed; Swiftsure's refit was cancelled after much of the conversion work was completed (new superstructures and masts were fitted, but not her new weaponry), while Superbs never started.
In 1969, Blake returned to service followed by Tiger in 1972. However, the crew-intensive Tigers' days were numbered. In 1973, Lion was used as a parts hulk to maintain Blake and Tiger. With HMS Ark Royal’s entry into reserve, Tiger and Blake were the only major Royal Navy vessels capable of performing the fundamental anti-submarine warfare (ASW) role. The conversion had given Tiger and Blake between fifteen and twenty years' further service, but the manpower shortages that the Royal Navy faced in the 1970s quickened their demise. The recommissioning of two carriers, Bulwark and Hermes now configured to perform anti-submarine warfare, vital against the Soviet Union submarine threat in the Atlantic, a role that the Tigers had been used for, decreased the importance of the Tigers even further.
In April 1978 Tiger was withdrawn from service, followed by Blake in 1979 and both ships were laid up in reserve at HMRNB Chatham. When Blake decommissioned in 1979, she had the distinction of being the last cruiser to serve the Royal Navy and her passing was marked on 6 December 1979, when she ceremonially fired her 6-inch guns for the last time in the English Channel. Just a few days after the Falklands War started, both Blake and Tiger were rapidly surveyed to determine their condition for reactivation. Both ships were found to be in very good condition and were dry-docked (Blake at Chatham, and Tiger at Portsmouth) and round the clock reactivation work immediately begun. By mid-May it was determined the ships would not be completed in time to take part in the war and the work was stopped. Though Chile showed some interest in acquiring both ships, the sale did not proceed and the ships sat at anchor in an unmaintained condition until sold. Blake was then sold for breaking up in late 1982, followed by Tiger in 1986.
|
||||||||