The Spendid Cats (Repost)

[Bernard Woolley]

The Splendid Cats.

The Tiger Class in the Third World War.

The three ships of the Tiger class were the last big gun cruisers to be built for the Royal Navy. Laid down as members of the Minotaur class in the early 1940s, construction of the ships was suspended until after the war. They were completed to a modified design, the first entering service in 1959.

As completed the ships were armed with two twin automatic 6inch QF Mark N5 and six twin 3inch Mark 6. Both of these weapons were capable of high rates of fire, although the main armament required an inordinate amount of highly skilled technical staff required to keep the guns operational. Their reputation for unreliability was undeserved. [NOTE 1]

By the mid-1960s all three vessels were in reserve pending conversion to helicopter cruisers. The conversion involved the removal of the aft 6inch turret and construction of a large helicopter hangar. The 3inch guns, other than the mount in the B position, were replaced by two quad mount GWS-22 Sea Cat missile mounts. Henceforth the main armament of the cruisers would be the four Wessex (later Sea King) helicopters they carried for ASW duties. They could also accommodate a marine rifle company and be used in a limited amphibious capability.

The expense of the conversion and significant manning requirement, along with the arrival of the more effective Invincible class CVS, meant that only two of the cruisers were converted. By the end of the 1970s, both surviving vessels had been decommissioned and were in reserve.

During the Falklands War, work to recommission both cruisers was carried out. However, this was abandoned as it neither ship would be ready to deploy in time to take part in the war.

Had NATO not collapsed, and the world not become a much more dangerous place, this might have been the end of the story of the Tiger class. However, once the National Government reintroduced National Service, one of the objections to returning the class to service was removed. Both vessels were in excellent condition and working on them would give conscripts something to do.

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HMS Tiger (C20) (ex-Bellerophon)
Recommissioned in mid-1984, Tiger spent the rest of the year working up. Outbreak of the war in September 1985 found her serving as a flagship of an escort group in the Western Approaches. Her introduction to war was seeing one of her escorts, the County class destroyer, HMS Kent, exploding after being torpedoed. The Victor III responsible did not escape, one of the cruiser’s Sea King HAS.2 sank her with Mk.46 torpedoes.

Tiger spent the rest of 1985 escorting convoys sailing between the UK and North America. Her helicopters being responsible for sinking several Soviet submarines.

Her first major action in 1986 was to take part in the liberation of Gibraltar. She landed X-Ray Company, 45 Commando via helicopter and joined other Allied warships in providing Naval Gunfire Support to troops ashore. She received minor damage from a Libyan manned 130mm gun battery, which she annihilated with a burst of twenty 6inch shells.

After a minor refit to repair damage suffered during the Gibraltar operations, Tiger returned to convoy duty in the North Atlantic. This tasking meant that she missed the Battle of the Baltic Exits on 21st March 1987, but she did not miss the operation to liberate Iceland. This time she carried J Company, 42 Commando and again provided much needed NGFS to marines ashore.

1988 and most of 1989 was spent on a mix of convoy duty and in refit. However, Tiger was part of the large NATO amphibious force sailing for the Kola at the time of the Armistice. The marines of 41 Commando aboard her no doubt being glad that they did not need to take part in what would have been a very bloody operation.

The cruiser was to spend most of 1990 and much of 1991 in refit to rectify issues that had never been fully dealt with during the war. She was next sent to the Gulf in 1993 to ‘show the flag’, before returning to the UK in 1994.

With the ending of conscription, Tiger again became a manpower sink that the Royal Navy could not afford. Moreover, many of her systems were obsolete and obtaining spare parts was getting harder. She was decommissioned and placed in reserve in 1995, being sent for scrapping in 1999. Her ship’s bell, two 6inch guns and some other items were saved for preservation by the Imperial War Museum.


HMS Lion (C34) (ex-Defence)
While Lion did not see any service in the Third World War, having been broken up at Inverkeithing in 1975, she did make an important contribution to the service of her sisters. On decommissioning in 1972, much of her equipment was stripped and used in the reconstructions of Tiger and Blake. On scrapping, additional valuable spares were recovered. It had been planned to sell some of this to Peru for use in their ex-RN Fiji class cruisers, but a great deal of it was retained as spares. Which was to prove fortuitous.


HMS Blake (C99) (ex-Tiger, ex-Blake)
Recommissioned in July 1985, Blake had barely finished work up before the outbreak of war. Like her sister, she became the flagship of an ASW escort group, covering convoys in the North Atlantic. Her helicopters would score their first kill, a November class SSN on Day 2 of the war.

Blake would also form part of the RN Amphibious Task Groups sent to liberate Gibraltar and Iceland. Landing Zulu Company, 45 Commando on the first occasion and Kilo Company, 42 Commando on the second. Blake would be praised for her timely and accurate NGFS during both operations.

Blake would also miss the Battle of the Baltic Exits, although not for want of trying. 20th March found the cruiser and her escort group in the Firth of Clyde, having successfully escorted a convoy. On receipt of news that the Soviet Baltic Fleet was heading out into the North Sea, Blake and her group departed, steaming hard around the northern coast of Scotland. However, by the time they arrived in the North Sea, the battle was over. Blake put into Invergordon to refuel, while the rest of her group sailed south to assist in escorting damaged RN ships home.

The remainder of her war mirrored the service of her sister. And like Tiger, when the Armistice was announced she was sailing north to the Kola Peninsula.

Being in better condition than Tiger, Blake only received a minor refit in 1990, after which she was dispatched to Hong Kong. Becoming the flagship of the RN Hong Kong Squadron. Engineering trouble kept her alongside for much of 1991, but this was rectified during a refit carried out in Singapore. During 1992-93, Blake led RN Task Groups on visits to friendly countries in the region, including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia. She was also the first RN warship to visit Vietnam in some years.

During one of her deployments, a Lynx HAS.3 from one of her escorts, HMS Argyll (F231), would sink a pirate gunboat, after it had been spotted by one of Blake’s Sea King HAS.5. However, in general the cruiser was considered too expensive to operate on anti-piracy duties. These being largely undertaken by destroyers and frigates.

The decision to reduce her to reserve was taken in 1995, Blake departing for home on 3rd September of that year. The opportunity was taken to send her home during the rotation of RN escorts. During the journey to the UK, Blake’s group would exercise with the navies of the Five Power Defence Agreement, the Indian Navy, the US Sixth Fleet and other NATO navies in the Mediterranean.

Blake would officially enter reserve on 1st January 1996, after a refit to preserve her for a possible future reactivation. This involved using parts from Tiger, which was judged to be in a worse material state. When her sister was scrapped in 1999, the opportunity was taken, as with Lion to recover spare parts and various components that would keep Blake operational.

In 2000, Blake was moved from reserve status to ‘Preservation by Operation’ status. A term that essentially meant she was kept at a low level of readiness with a reduced crew. Between 2000 and 2001 the cruiser undertook a few short training cruises in the English Channel and the North and Irish Seas. Visiting a number of ports in the UK, Ireland, and continental Europe.

Her last official duty came in 2002, when she took part in the Fleet Review for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in July of that year. Blake would be decommissioned in October 2002 and sent for scrapping six months later.

Her ship’s bell was also preserved and was presented to the National Museum of the Royal Navy.


Other cruisers

HMS Caroline (1914)
The last British survivor of Jutland and for many years the second oldest commissioned ship in the Royal Navy. Caroline was a C class light cruiser which had been a headquarters and training ship for the RNVR Ulster Division and later the RNR in Northern Ireland.

During the Third World War, as in the Second, she became the RN H.Q in Belfast Harbour. Parenting a number of different establishments throughout the city along with a number of patrol craft used by the RN and Royal Naval Auxiliary Service for port security.

Caroline was not damaged during the Soviet chemical attack on Belfast, but her personnel suffered casualties, while others assisted with relief efforts. A month later a Soviet pilot was briefly accommodated aboard the cruiser for his own safety before he was moved to a PoW camp on the Mainland.

Post-war, Caroline returned to her training duties with the RNR, becoming the last afloat training establishment. In 2009, the RNR H.Q would move ashore to the new ‘Stone Frigate’ HMS Hibernia. With Caroline decommissioning in 2011.
Today, she is a museum ship, under the care of the National Museum of the Royal Navy. Some work has been done to return her to her 1916 appearance, although she retains the large deckhouse aft.


HMS Belfast (1938)
A member of the Edinburgh sub-group of the ‘Town class’ cruisers, Belfast has been moored in the Pool of London next to the Tower since October 1971. Establishing herself as a London landmark.

Shortly after the outbreak of war, she was surveyed with the possibility of returning her to service. However, while her hull was found to still be seaworthy; something confirmed when she was towed to Portsmouth in 1999 for a refit; it was judged that it would take too much time and effort to return her to operational service. Especially since she would have marginal utility was a warship.

Instead, Belfast was recommissioned as a training and accommodation vessel, parented by HMS President, London’s RNR establishment. While neither her main, nor secondary armament was made operational, her twin 40mm Bofors AA gun were. These were used for training but did not fire any shots in anger.

Post-war, Belfast was returned to the ownership of the Imperial War Museum. Today she is still a very popular attraction for tourists.

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1) More information on the main and secondary armament can be found here and here.

[jemhouston]

I take it like the USS Wisconsin, the HMS Tiger has anger management issues when hit by enemy fire.