Tiger '59

History

Design

Initially, Tiger was laid down as a Swiftsure-class light cruiser, a wartime design meant to increase stability, operational range (via increased fuel capacity) and anti-aircraft defenses versus the preceding Crown Colony (Fiji)-class light cruisers. However, due to strained resources, and other projects receiving higher priority, construction was slow, and as such only the members of the class laid down in 1941 (Swiftsure, Minotaur, Superb) were completed as intended from 1944 to 1945.

The next trio in the class, all laid down in 1942 (Tiger, Lion, Blake) were all launched in 1944/45, but languished after the end of the war, while various ideas were debated in regards to how they should be completed, given the original design was now obsolete. In 1951, the decision was finally reached to complete them as anti-aircraft cruiser, centered around the 6”/50 QF Mark N5 dual-purpose guns. Though dimensionally not much different from the original Swiftsure-class, the Tiger-class cruisers displaced considerably more, by 665 tons at standard load. Overall, machinery and armor protection saw little in the way of change, and endurance and top speed remained largely the same. However, armament changed radically. While the Swiftsure-class embarked a variety of weapon systems – nine 6”/50 Mk.XIII, ten 4” AA guns, 40mm and 20mm AA guns, and a pair of 21” triple torpedo banks - the Tiger-class only carried two gun systems.

The first of these was the 6”/50 QF Mark N5, four guns in two Mk.26 twin mounts. These were high-rate of fire weapons (15-20 rpm) in power-operated turrets with rapid elevation and traverse rates (40°/sec train rate), and capable of high-angle elevation (+78.5°) for anti-aircraft work. Backing them up was the medium anti-aircraft armament – six 3”/70 QF Mark N1 in three Mk.6 twin mounts. Each gun was capable of 70-90 rpm, an impressively high rate of fire for the era. Each gun mount was controlled by a MRS 3 director (five total), each of which was fitted with a Type 903 fire control radar. For surface search a Type 992Q radar was installed on the foremast, while for air surveillance a Type 960 search radar and Type 277Q height-finding radar were installed on the mainmast.

Unfortunately, both gun systems had major reliability issues in service, similar to their American counterparts on the Worchester-class. With sufficient maintenance, the 6”/50 QF Mk.N5 was mostly reliable, but this was very intensive and constant maintenance. The 3” guns were of greater concern, as their maximum service rate of fire fell well below the planned 120 rpm, and jams were constant.

The design of Tiger was radically revised when she was rebuilt as a helicopter cruiser in the late 1960s. Her aft 6” mount and the aft 3” mounts were both removed, along with one of the MRS 3 directors, and the rear of the ship rebuilt to accommodate a flight deck and hangar for four helicopters (the Westland Wessex, a license-built version of the Sikorsky H-34). Two Seacat GWS.22 quadruple mounts were fitted aft, providing the ship with anti-aircraft defense in the former of surface-to-air missiles. Guidance was provided, conveniently, by the MRS 3 directors. Alongside the change in armament came an update to the air search and height-finding radars, being replaced with the Type 965M and Type 278 respectively. Thanks to enhanced C3 capabilities (Command, Control & Communication), she was also particularly well suited to acting as a flagship.

Service

HMS Tiger was laid down on 1 October 1941 at the John Brown Shipyard, but due to reduced priority and wartime constraints, was ultimately not launched until after the end of the war, on 25 October 1945. She languished for a decade before serious work on completing her began, so ultimately she did not commission until 18 March 1959 – almost twenty years after being laid down.

Due to the reliability issues present in her armament, much of the initial service life of Tiger was spent on trials, and even after this her operational ability was hampered due to personnel shortages. After a service life of barely seven years, she went into reserve (December 1966), and two years later began her conversion into a helicopter cruiser. This was completed only in 1972, and she recommissioned on 6 May 1972 after running over time and budget by a factor of almost three.

Due to financial constraints on the Royal Navy, especially in the face of the economic downturn of the late 1970s, and the high operating cost of the manpower-intensive vessel, Tiger was not long for the world even after this refit. Though she did take part in the Fleet Review for Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee in 1977, the year after she was put into reserve and then finally decommissioned on 4 May 1979.

Ordinarily, this would have been the definitive end of the ship, but when the Falklands War erupted in April 1982, the key-to-be-scrapped Tiger got one last chance at life – she was considered suitable to recommission after a brief refit, being still in good material state, and having a desperately needed flight deck. However, with the painful losses to the Argentine and British fleets in May 1982, to submarine and air attack, the Royal Navy halted recommissioning efforts, due to the woeful state of the ship’s armament against modern air threats (the gun systems were already considered obsolete when the ship was commissioned in 1959, and Sea Cat was now twenty years old). When the conflict ended, so did any chance of her recommissioning, and Tiger languished for another four years until sold to a scrapping company in Spain. Work began in October 1986 - forty-five years after she had been first laid down. This was an impressive figure on paper, but ultimately she only spent about fourteen years in commission.