Sea Slug at Rest (Probably for the best)
Some 60 years ago this week.
The County-class destroyer HMS Glamorgan (D 19) looking very Cold War-ready at her commissioning ceremony, 14 October 1966.
Note her giant Type 901 director and triple Seaslug GWS2 launcher.
Carrying up to 39 beam-riding SAMs theoretically capable of hitting targets at 50,000 feet, Seaslug proved ineffective, never successfully hitting an enemy aircraft in combat despite plenty of opportunities.
However, that did not stop Glamorgan from galloping to history in the Falklands, where she delivered 1,245 4.5-inch shells on the enemy and managed to survive a direct hit from an Argentine shore-mounted Exocet, which caused 44 casualties.
As such, she was the only British ship hit by an Exocet that wasn’t lost, with HMS Sheffield and Atlantic Conveyor not so lucky.
Glamorgan was the second-highest “gunner” off the Falklands in 1982.
Glamorgan was sold to Chile in 1986 after a 20-year career, and continued to serve as Almirante Latorre for another 12 years.