Tiger class (1941)
 HMS Tiger before the renovation, 1963
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The three ships of the Tiger class were the last conventional light cruiser of the British Royal Navy . The ships were originally built as part of the Minotaur class ordered and water left, but because of the war history and changing demands on warships not completed. It was not until the end of the 1950s that the ships were put into service with a heavily modified design as a class of their own . After another conversion of two of the three ships into guided missile and helicopter cruisers , they served in the Royal Navy until the end of the 1970s and were then scrapped.
history
The Minotaur-class , also known as the Swiftsure- class (after the first ship in the class, the HMS Swiftsure ), was a class of light cruisers ordered in 1941 and 1942. The 9 planned units were to replace the ships of the Crown Colony class with a displacement of approx. 8800 standard tons and armament of 3 × 3 BL 6-inch guns . However, its construction was given a low priority from the very beginning due to the war situation and the lack of capabilities of the draft for anti-submarine combat . Likewise, no torpedo tubes were provided and the anti-aircraft armament no longer corresponded to the growing threat from enemy aircraft.
Three of the original units were still in service during the war. Three more orders were canceled and the remaining three units were mothballed unfinished.
In 1951, the British government made the decision to complete the unfinished ships with a modified design. Mainly the main artillery was converted to 2 × 2 more modern, semi-automatic QF 6-inch (152 mm) guns with a caliber length of 50 and 3 × 2 fast-firing 76 mm automatic cannons of caliber 70 with 90-120 rounds per minute were installed for air defense. In addition, each individual tower received an MRS3 fire control radar. Theoretically, it was possible for the cruiser with its two towers and anti-aircraft guns to generate a barrage of 800 rounds per minute and the ships had a range of 12,000 km at 13 knots.
In this configuration, the ships were classified as an independent Tiger class and the units were finally put into operation between 1959 and 1961.
modification
Despite the modernized design of the Tiger class, it was already clear at the end of the Second World War that conventional warships with exclusive barrel armament could no longer meet the increasingly complex requirements of naval warfare. The technical advancement in air force and rocket technology made the ships vulnerable and the comparatively large crew caused costs that were not in reasonable proportion to the limited range of operations.
Therefore, after controversial political discussions at the end of the 1960s , it was decided to convert the ships into "helicopter and command cruisers". For the Tiger and the Blake , the aft turret was omitted in favor of a landing deck with hangars for four helicopters (initially Westland Wessex , later Westland Sea King ). The chimneys have been redesigned and made significantly narrower, supplemented by new covers and the radar equipment has been modernized. Extensive command and control facilities have also been installed so that the ships can be used as flagships for "task groups" in the future. In order to keep up with the times in terms of air defense, 2 starters of 4 GWS 22 Seacat rockets were installed per ship .
The Lion was not modernized, especially after the planned conversion costs of the first two units were significantly exceeded. From then on, it served as a spare parts donor for its two sister ships until it was finally scrapped in 1975.
units
| Identifier | Surname | Shipyard | Laid on the keel | Launch | Put into service | Decommissioned | building-costs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C20 | HMS Tiger (formerly Bellerophon ) | John Brown & Company , Clydebank | October 1, 1941 | October 25, 1945 | March 18, 1959 | April 20, 1978 | £ 12,820,000 |
| C34 | HMS Lion (formerly Defense ) | Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company , Greenock | June 24, 1942 | September 2, 1944 | July 20, 1960 | December 31, 1972 | £ 14,375,000 |
| C99 | HMS Blake (formerly Tiger , formerly Blake ) | Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company , Govan | August 17, 1942 | December 20, 1945 | March 8, 1961 | December 31, 1979 | £ 14,940,000 |
Web links
- Tiger class on helis.com (English)
- Tiger class on hazegray.org (English)
- Tiger class on Uboat.net (English)
- A history of the Tiger class
- Tiger class images on Militaryimages.net
literature
- Brown, DK; Moore, George (2012). Rebuilding the Royal Navy: Warship Design since 1945. Seaforth. ISBN 1848321503 .
- Freidman, Norman (2010). British Cruisers in Two World Wars & After. Seaforth. ISBN 1848320787 .
- Colledge, JJ; 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.
- Robert Gardiner, ed., Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946 (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1980)
- Robert Gardiner, ed., Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1982 (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1983)
- Jane's Fighting Ships 1950–51 (Janes Publishing, London, 1950)
- Alan Raven and John Roberts, British Cruisers of World War II , (Arms and Armor Press, London, 1980)
- MJ Whitley, Cruisers of World War Two: An Illustrated Encyclopedia (Arms and Armor Press, London, 1995)
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d e f Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995 , page 505, Robert Gardiner, Conway Maritime Press, 1995, ISBN 0-85177-605-1
- ↑ Freidman, Norman: British Cruisers in Two World Wars & After, Seaforth . 2010, ISBN 1-84832-078-7 .
- ^ Neville Brown: Arms without Empire: British defense role in the modern world, p. 122 . Penguin Books, 1967 ( google.com ).
- ^ A b John E. Moore: Jane's Fighting Ships 1975-76, p . 349 . Macdonald and Jane's & Co, 1975, ISBN 0-354-00519-7 .
- ^ A b House of Commons debates, Public Accounts Committee (Reports), volume 847 para. 1735-1737. Hansard, accessed March 10, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Navy Estimates, 1959-60 , pp. 230-1, List and particulars of new ships which have been accepted or are expected to be accepted into HM service during the Financial Year ended 31st March 1959
- ↑ a b c d Navy Estimates, 1961–62 , pages 220–1, List and particulars of new ships which have been accepted or are expected to be accepted into HM service during the Financial Year ended March 31, 1961