HMS Glamorgan (D19)

HMS Glamorgan in 1972
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Glamorgan
Builder: Vickers-Armstrongs
Laid down: 13 September 1962
Launched: 9 July 1964
Commissioned: 14 October 1966
Decommissioned: 1986
Motto:
  • I Fyny Bo'r Nod
  • (Welsh: "I Give Way To None")
Fate: Sold to Chile in September 1986
Chile
Name: Almirante Latorre
Acquired: September 1986
Commissioned: 1986
Decommissioned: 1998
Fate: Sunk at sea on 11 April 2005 on way to breakers
General characteristics
Class and type: County-class destroyer
Displacement: 6,200 tonnes (6,100 long tons) (full load)
Length: 520 ft (160 m)
Beam: 53 ft (16 m)
Draught: 20 ft 5 in (6.22 m)
Propulsion: COSAG (Combined steam and gas), two sets of geared steam turbines and 4 G6 Gas Turbines producing 30,000 shp (22,000 kW), 2 shafts
Speed: 30 knots (56 km/h) (maximum)
Range: 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 km) at 28 knots (52 km/h)
Capacity: 471
Armament:
Aircraft carried: 1× Wessex HAS Mk 3 helicopter
Aviation facilities: Flight deck and enclosed hangar for embarking one helicopter

HMS Glamorgan was a County-class destroyer of the Royal Navy with a displacement of 5,440 tonnes. The ship was built by Vickers-Armstrongs in Newcastle Upon Tyne and named after the Welsh county of Glamorgan.[2]

She was launched on 9 July 1964, and was delivered to the Royal Navy two years later.[2] in 1974, she was the subject of a refit,[3] when 'B' turret was replaced by four Exocet launchers[1] in attempt to provide the Royal Navy reduced to one strike carrier, HMS Ark Royal with some surface fighting capability beyond the range of 4.5/6 inch guns. A much more expensive update costing 63 million pounds,[4] fitted Glamorgan in 1977-1980 with a computerised C3 ADWAS system well in advance of its original fitting, but limited by the essential manual nature of the 4.5 turret and the ageing Seacat and Seaslug missiles.

In the spring and early summer of 1982 Glamorgan was involved in the Falklands War during which she engaged Argentine land forces and protected shipping. In the last days of the war Argentine navy technicians fired a land-based MM-38 Exocet missile which struck the ship causing damage and killing 14 sailors. She was refitted in late 1982. Her last active deployment for the Royal Navy was to the coast of Lebanon in 1984.

In 1986 she was sold to the Chilean Navy, and renamed Almirante Latorre. She served for 12 years until late 1998. On 11 April 2005, she sank while under tow to be broken up.

Falklands campaign

At the start of the Falklands campaign, on 2 April 1982, Glamorgan was already at sea off Gibraltar about to take part in exercises;[5] she was immediately diverted to join the main Royal Navy task force, and served as flagship for Admiral Sandy Woodward during the voyage south until 15 April, when he transferred his flag to the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes.[6] Her most useful armament proved to be her remaining twin 4.5-inch (114 mm) guns, which were used primarily to shell enemy positions on shore.

Glamorgan was first in action on the evening and night of 1 May when she joined forces with the frigates HMS Arrow and HMS Alacrity to bombard Argentine positions around Stanley. The three British ships soon came under attack by three IAI Dagger jets; two 500 lb (230 kg) bombs fell close alongside Glamorgan, causing minor underwater damage.[7]

Two weeks later on 14 May she was again in action, this time supporting British special forces during the Raid on Pebble Island in the west of the Falklands.[8] For the next two weeks until the end of May she was almost continuously engaged bombarding various shore positions on the east of the islands mainly as part of a plan to distract attention from the landings at San Carlos Water, but also against the airfield at Stanley and in support of British forces ashore. She also fired a Sea slug missile at the airstrip.[9]

At the beginning of June, the task force having been reinforced with other ships, Glamorgan was detached to protect shipping in the Towing, Repair and Logistics Area (TRALA), some 200 miles (320 km) away from the islands,[10] but as the campaign reached a climax she was recalled in the evening of 11 June to support the Royal Marines fighting the Battle of Two Sisters.[11]

At 06:37 the following morning, Saturday 12 June 1982, Glamorgan was attacked with an MM38 Exocet missile which was fired from an improvised shore-based launcher. The two MM38 Exocet missiles had been removed from the destroyer ARA Seguí[12] and secured on the launcher, a technically difficult task requiring reprogamming.[13] The launcher was dubbed 'ITB' (Instalación de Tiro Berreta) by the Argentine personnel which approximately means in Argentine slang "trashy firing platform".[13] Two MM38 Exocet missiles, their launcher, transporter, and the associated electronics trailer were assembled by the Argentine navy at Puerto Belgrano and flown by a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft to the Falkland Islands. A RASIT radar supplied by the Argentinian Army tracked Glamorgan's movements.

Glamorgan was steaming at about 20 knots (37 km/h) some 18 nautical miles (33 km) off shore. The first attempt to fire a missile did not result in a launch. At the second attempt a missile was launched, but it did not find the target. The third attempt resulted in a missile tracking the target. The incoming Exocet missile was being tracked on both the bridge and operations room radar by the Principal Warfare Officer and Navigation Officer.[14]

Before the missile impact, the ship was moving at high speed. After the ship executed a rapid turn away from the missile in the limited time available, a few seconds, the Exocet struck the port side adjacent to the hangar near the stern. The turn had prevented the missile from striking the ship's side perpendicularly and penetrating; instead it hit the deck coaming at an angle, near the port Seacat launcher, skidded on the deck, and exploded. This made a 10 by 15 feet (3.0 m × 4.6 m) hole in the hangar deck and a 5 by 4 feet (1.5 m × 1.2 m) hole in the galley area below, where a fire started.[14]

The blast travelled forwards and down, and the missile body, still travelling forwards, penetrated the hangar door, causing the ship's fully fuelled and armed Wessex helicopter (HAS.3 XM837) to explode and start a severe fire in the hangar. Fourteen crew members were killed and more wounded. The ship was under way again with all fires extinguished by 10:00.[14]

On the following day, repairs were made at sea and, after the Argentinian surrender on 14 June, more extensive repairs were undertaken in the sheltered bay of San Carlos Water.[15] She sailed for home on 21 June, and re-entered Portsmouth on 10 July 1982 after 104 days at sea.[5]

Crew killed in the Falklands War

The following crew members were killed in action during the Falklands War.[16][17]

After the Falklands campaign

HMS Glamorgan spent many months in late 1982 being refitted, and was back at sea in 1983. Her last active deployment for the Royal Navy was in 1983/4 and she was sent on the Armilla Patrol with HMS Brazen. She was originally to sail to the Far East. En route she docked at Gibraltar where the ship's crew were granted shore leave but, within a few hours and with members of her crew still enjoying a 'run ashore' she was back at sea. The American Marines base in Beirut had been bombed by suicide bombers on the 23rd of October and there were fears that British interests were at risk. Absent crew members were finally rounded up and flown aboard by the ships Lynx. As the ship had a greater range than the Brazen she set off ahead and raced across the Mediterranean to the coast of Lebanon to evacuate the British 'peace-keeping' troops with her Lynx. With this completed she rejoined the rest of her group and proceeded to the Straits of Hormuz.

She was decommissioned by the Royal Navy in 1986, sold to the Chilean Navy, and renamed Almirante Latorre. In 1996, 40/70 mm was replaced with the Barak SAM. She served for 12 years until she was decommissioned again in late 1998. On 11 April 2005, she sank in the South Pacific while under tow to be broken up.[18][19]

A Memorial was erected in 2011 in memory of the ship and the lost crew at Hookers Point outside Stanley.[20]

Commanding officers

FromToCaptain
August 1966May 1968Captain Richard E Roe RN
May 1968December 1968Captain Ronald C.C. Greenlees RN
December 1968March 1970Captain Stanley L. McArdle RN
March 1970October 1971Captain Raymond P Dannreuther RN
October 1971September 1973Captain Thomas Baird RN
September 1973March 1974Commander Jeremy Larken RN
March 1974February 1975Captain Kenneth Vause RN
February 1974May 1974Commander Jeremy Larken RN
May 1974June 1976Captain R de M Leathes RN
June 1976August 1977Captain B K Shattock ADC RN
19771980Refit
19781979Commander M Cribb RN
1979 1982 Captain M E Barrow RN, DSO[21]

References

  1. 1 2 Fitzsimmons, Bernard (1978). The Illustrated encyclopedia of 20th century weapons and warfare. 7. Columbia House. p. 749.
  2. 1 2 "HMS Glamorgan, the first two years October 1966 - October 1968" (pdf). Axford's Abode. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  3. ↑ Cooke, Anthony (1992). Emigrant ships: the vessels which carried migrants across the world, 1946–1972. Carmania Press. p. 32. ISBN 0-9518656-0-9.
  4. ↑ Janes Fighting Ships 1981-2. Janes. London
  5. 1 2 "HMS Glamorgan: Diary of Events". hmsglamorgan.co.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  6. ↑ Brown, David (1987). The Royal Navy and the Falklands War. Naval Institute Press. p. 87. ISBN 0-87021-572-8.
  7. ↑ Tinker, p. 191
  8. ↑ Raid on Pebble Island Archived 6 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ Tinker, p. 206
  10. ↑ Tinker, p. 209
  11. ↑ Scales, Robert H. (1990). Firepower in Limited War. Diane Publishing. pp. 221–223. ISBN 0-7881-1228-7.
  12. ↑ Scheina, Robert L (2003). Latin America's Wars: The age of the professional soldier, 1900–2001. Brassey's. p. 316. ISBN 1-57488-452-2.
  13. 1 2 YouTube video discussing setting up the ITB and showing its firing, narrated in Spanish
  14. 1 2 3 Inskip, Ian (2002). Ordeal by Exocet: HMS Glamorgan and the Falklands War, 1982. Chatham. pp. 160–185. ISBN 1-86176-197-X.
  15. ↑ Villar, Roger (1984). Merchant ships at war: the Falklands experience. Naval Institute Press. p. 65. ISBN 0-87021-845-X.
  16. ↑ Tinker, p. 212
  17. ↑ Poppy Press, Summer 2012 Archived 23 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  18. ↑ MoD release detailing date and position of sinking, 25 July 2008
  19. ↑ Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
  20. ↑ Navy News (2 March 2011). "Falklands 'forgotten ship' finally honoured". Retrieved 27 March 2011.
  21. ↑ "Captain Mike Barrow". The Telegraph. 15 May 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2015.

Bibliography

Coordinates: 35°58′0″S 77°22′0″W / 35.96667°S 77.36667°W / -35.96667; -77.36667

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