laststandonzombieisland

Probably the last time the RN was able to send a cruiser-based surface action group to sea in a meaningful way to include a half dozen frigates, a trio of unrep support ships, and a hunter-killer:

The above is the Royal Navy’s Fourth Group Deployment (Task Group 317.5), 14 February 1977, during the fleet review for the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II, showing HM Submarine Churchill (S46) leading the formation, followed by two Leander-class frigates including HMS Ariadne (F72), the 28,000-ton oiler RFA Tidepool (A76), the mighty 12,000-ton “helicopter and command cruiser” HMS Tiger (C20) in the center flanked by the storesship RFA Tarbatness (A345), the Type 21 frigate HMS Antelope (F170) on the outside, three further Leanders trailing and on the periphery including HMS Euryalus (F15) and HMS Danae (F47), and the supply oiler RFA Green Rover (A268).

As far as “throw,” the gun armament was limited to the 4.5-inch guns on the frigates and two 6-inchers on Tiger augmented by a sprinkling of 3-inch, 40mm, and 20mm AAAs. Besides the guns, air defense was limited to a few close-in short-range (5,000m) Sea Cat launchers. Air assets would be a half dozen Wasps on the frigates and as many as four Sea Kings on Tiger. You could think of the group as largely a counter-submarine force as they carried a wide array of ASW torpedo tubes, Limbo mortars, Ikara missile-boosted torpedos, the helicopters, and Churchill.

It’s important to note that the above capability would soon fade as Tiger was decommissioned in April 1978 and her only completed sister, HMS Blake (C99) mothballed the following year. Plus the group was formed at a time when the RN was carrier-poor, with the (barely wanted) Invincibles still under construction and wouldn’t begin to enter the fleet until 1980, the old Ark Royal on the retirement list, and the WWII-era light carrier HMS Hermes relegated to an ASW mission.

Of course, all of this would change in 1982. Speaking of which, many of the above vessels would go on to see service in the Falklands, with Antelope sunk there on 23 May 1982 by Argentine aircraft.