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This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (June 2008) |
 HMS Glamorgan |
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| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Glamorgan |
| Builder: | Vickers-Armstrongs |
| Laid down: | 13 September 1962 |
| Launched: | 9 July 1964 |
| Commissioned: | 11 October 1966 |
| Decommissioned: | 1986 |
| Motto: | I Fyny Bo'r Nod (Welsh: "I Give Way To None") |
| Fate: | Sold to Chile on September 1986 |
| Career (Chile) |  |
| Name: | Almirante Latorre |
| Acquired: | September 1986 |
| Commissioned: | 1986 |
| Decommissioned: | 1998 |
| Fate: | Scrapped and sunk at sea in 2006 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | County class destroyer |
| Displacement: | 6,200 tonnes (full load) |
| Length: | 520 feet (160 m) |
| Beam: | 53 feet (16 m) |
| Draught: | 20 feet 5 inches (6.22 m) |
| Propulsion: | COSAG (Combined steam and gas), two sets of geared steam turbines producing 30,000 s.h.p, 2 shafts |
| Speed: | 30 knots (56 km/h) |
| Range: | 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 km) at 28 knots (52 km/h) |
| Capacity: | 471 |
| Armament: | Turret A, twin 4.5 inch (114 mm) guns Turret B, twin 4.5" guns, later replaced by 4 × Exocet missile launchers 2 × mountings for Seacat surface-to-air missiles 2 × Seaslug surface-to-air missile launchers aft 2 × launchers for shipborne torpedoes 2 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon In Chilean service, Seacat replaced by Barak surface-to-air missile system |
| Aircraft carried: | 1 × Westland Wessex III helicopter |
HMS Glamorgan (D19) 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. She was launched on 9 June 1964, and was delivered to the Navy two years later. In the mid-1970s her 'B' turret was replaced by four Exocet launchers. In the spring and early summer of 1982 Glamorgan was involved in the Falklands War. In the last days of the war, Argentine navy technicians fired an Exocet missile after the ship strayed too close to shore. The ship was badly damaged, and 13 sailors on board were killed. She spent many months in late 1982 being refitted, and was back at sea in 1983. Her last active deployment for the Royal Navy was to the coast of Lebanon, assisting British peace-keeping troops there in 1984.
She was decommissioned in 1986, sold to the Chilean Navy, and renamed Almirante Latorre. In 1996, Sea Cat was replaced with the Barak SAM. She served for 12 years until she was decommissioned again in late 1998. In December 2005, the ship was finally sunk, while under tow to be scrapped.[citation needed]
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Falklands War campaign
At the start of the Falklands campaign (2 April 1982) Glamorgan was already at sea off Gibraltar about to take part in exercises; she was immediately diverted to join the main Royal Navy task force, and served as flagship for Admiral Sandy Woodward during the voyage south. Her most useful armament proved to be her remaining twin 4.5-inch (114 mm) guns, which were used primarily to bombard enemy positions on shore.
Glamorgan was first in action on the evening and night of 1 May when she joined forces with HMS Arrow and HMS Alacrity to bombard Argentine positions around Stanley. The three British ships soon came under attack by IAI Dagger jets; two 500 lb bombs fell close alongside Glamorgan, causing minor underwater damage.
Two weeks later on 14 May she was again in action, this time supporting British special forces on Pebble Island in the west of the Falklands, and 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.
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, 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.
At 06:37 the following morning, following an intense but ineffective air raid, she was attacked with a sea-to-sea Exocet missile fired from an improvised shore-based launcher on the back of a lorry trailer. Glamorgan was steaming at about 20 knots (37 km/h) some 18 nautical miles (33 km) off shore. Her outdated radar systems could not detect the incoming missile (which was smaller and faster than they had been designed for), and it was spotted by the Officer of the Watch seconds before impact. The ship was moving fast enough to be able to turn rapidly away from the missile in the few seconds available, and the missile struck her port side towards the stern. The turn prevented the missile from striking the ship's side at right angles and penetrating; instead it hit the angle of the deck coaming and ricocheted into the hangar, causing the Wessex helicopter to explode and starting severe fires in the hangar and in the main galley immediately below, although the missile's warhead did not detonate. Thirteen crew members were killed and more wounded. The ship was under way again with all fires extinguished by 10:00.
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. She sailed for home on 21 June, and re-entered Portsmouth on 10 July 1982 after 104 days at sea.
Crew Killed in the Falklands War
The following crew members were killed in action during the Falklands War:
- Petty Officer Michael J. Adcock
- Cook Brian Easton
- Air Engineering Mechanic Mark Henderson
- Air Engineering Mechanic Brian P. Hinge
- Acting Chief Air Engineering Mechanic David Lee
- Cook Brian J. Malcolm
- Air Engineering Artificer Kelvin I. McCallum
- Marine Engineering Mechanic Terence W. Perkins
- Leading Cook Mark A. Sambles
- Leading Cook Anthony E. Sillence
- Steward John D. Stroud
- Lieutenant David H. R. Tinker
- Petty Officer Colin P. Vickers
See also
- List of ship launches in 1964
- List of ship commissionings in 1966
- List of ship decommissionings in 1986
- List of ship commissionings in 1986
- List of ship decommissionings in 1998
References
- Falklands timeline for Glamorgan
- Navy news account of Glamorgan in the Falklands (part 1) (part 2)
- Extract about the Exocet attack on Glamorgan from Sandy Woodward's book (see below).
Further reading
- Tinker, Lieut. David, R.N. (1982). A Message from the Falklands, The Life and Gallant Death of David Tinker, Lieut. R.N. from his Letters and Poems. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-006778-7.
- Woodward, Sandy (1992). One Hundred Days: Memoirs of the Falklands Battle Group Commander. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-215723-3.
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