HMS Glamorgan (D19)

HMS Glamorgan
HMS Glamorgan in 1972
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Glamorgan
BuilderVickers-Armstrongs
Laid down13 September 1962
Launched9 July 1964
Commissioned14 October 1966
Decommissioned1986
Motto
  • I Fyny Bo'r Nod
  • (Welsh: "I Give Way To None")
FateSold to Chile in September 1986
Chile
NameAlmirante Latorre
AcquiredSeptember 1986
Commissioned1986
Decommissioned1998
FateSunk at sea on 11 April 2005 on way to breakers
General characteristics
Class and typeCounty-class destroyer
Displacement6,200 long tons (6,300 t) (6,800 tons full load)
Length520 ft (160 m)
Beam53 ft (16 m)
Draught20 ft 5 in (6.22 m)
PropulsionCOSAG (Combined steam and gas), two sets of geared steam turbines and 4 G6 Gas Turbines producing 30,000 shp (22,000 kW), 2 shafts
Speed30 knots (56 km/h) (maximum)
Range4,000 nautical miles (7,400 km) at 28 knots (52 km/h)
Capacity471
Armament
Aircraft carriedWessex HAS Mk 3 helicopter
Aviation facilitiesFlight 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 by then 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,[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 of her crew. She was refitted in late 1982 and her last active deployment for the Royal Navy was to the coast of Lebanon in 1984.

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

  1. ^ a b Fitzsimmons, Bernard (1978). The Illustrated encyclopedia of 20th century weapons and warfare. Vol. 7. Columbia House. p. 749.
  2. ^ a b "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