HMS Glamorgan (D19)

Two County-class guided-missile destroyers, Glamorgan and {{HMS|Fife|D20|2}} were ordered as part of the Royal Navy's 1961–62 shipbuilding programme, as a follow-on to the existing four County-class destroyers ordered under the 1955–56 and 1956–57 programmes.{{harvnb|Friedman|2008|p=192}} They differed from the previous ships in being fitted with the revised Seaslug GWS2 missile system, which was expected to be much more effective than the earlier GWS1 system, and the use of the ADAWS combat data system to aid control of the ship's weapons.{{harvnb|Friedman|2008|pp=191–192}}.

Glamorgan was {{convert|521|ft|6|in|m}} long overall and {{convert|505|ft|m|2}} between perpendiculars, with a beam of {{convert|54|ft|m|2}} and a draught of {{convert|20|ft|6|in|m}}. Displacement was {{convert|6200|LT|t}} normal and {{convert|6800|LT|t}} deep load.{{harvnb|Gardiner|Chumbley|1995|p=508}} The ship was propelled by a combination of steam turbines and gas turbines in a Combined steam and gas (COSAG) arrangement, driving two propeller shafts. Each shaft could by driven by a single {{convert|15000|shp|kW}} steam turbine (fed with steam at {{convert|700|psi|kPa}} and {{convert|700|F|C K}}) from Babcock & Wilcox boilers{{harvnb|Moore|1979|p=598}}.) and two Metrovick G6 gas turbines (each rated at {{convert|7500|shp|kW}}), with the gas turbines being used for high speeds and to allow a quick departure from ports without waiting for steam to be raised.{{harvnb|Marriott|1989|pp=102, 110}} Maximum speed was {{convert|30|kn|mph km/h}} and the ship had a range of {{convert|3500|nmi|mi km}} at {{convert|28|kn|mph km/h}}.{{harvnb|Marriott|1989|p= 110}}.

A twin launcher for the Seaslug anti-aircraft missile was fitted aft. The Seaslug GWS2 was a beam riding missile which had an effective range of about {{convert|40000|yd|mi km|disp=out}} with a maximum altitude of {{convert|50000|ft|m}}. Up to 39 Seaslugs could be carried horizontally in a magazine that ran much of the length of the ship.{{harvnb|Friedman|2008|p=188}}{{harvnb|Marriott|1989|p=102}} Close-in anti-aircraft protection was provided by a pair of Seacat (missile) launchers and two single Oerlikon 20mm cannons, with two twin QF 4.5 inch Mark V gun mounts were fitted forward. A helicopter deck and hangar allowed a single Westland Wessex helicopter to be operated.

A Type 965 long-range air-search radar and a Type 278 height-finding radar was fitted on the ship's mainmast, also fitted on the mainmast was an array of ECM aerials. A Type 992Q Medium range gunnery radar and navigation radar type 978 were fitted to the foremast, also fitted on the foremast was an array of ESM aerials. Type 901 fire control radar for the Seaslug missile was mounted aft.{{harvnb|Marriott|1989|p=105}} Type 184 sonar was fitted.

Glamorgan was laid down at Vickers-Armstrong's Newcastle upon Tyne shipyard on 13 September 1962. She was launched on 9 July 1964 and was completed on 13 October 1966.

In October 1968, Glamorgan took part in Exercise Coral Sands, a joint amphibious operations off Queensland, Australia, involving forces from Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom, visiting Australian ports after completion of the exercise.{{cite news|title=Big Fleet Entry Into Sydney: Craft from three countries to visit Australian ports|newspaper = Royal Australian Navy News|date=11 October 1968|volume=11|issue=21|page=1|url=http://www.navy.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/Navy_News-October-11-1968.pdf|access-date=9 August 2018}}{{cite news|title=Exercise 'Coral Sands'|newspaper = Royal Australian Navy News|date=11 October 1968|volume=11|issue=21|pages=10–12|url=http://www.navy.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/Navy_News-October-11-1968.pdf}}{{cite news|title=Thousand watch fleet arrive|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=15 October 1968|page=11|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/131676751|access-date=9 August 2018}}

In March 1976, Glamorgan took part in the multi-national exercise Valiant Heritage, a simulated amphibious assault against San Diego. The exercise opened with a live-fire Seaslug exercise in which Glamorgan destroyed a target drone aircraft.{{Cite magazine|title=Valiant Heritage and Solid Shield |magazine=All Hands |date=July 1976 |url=http://www.hullnumber.com/ALL-HANDS/exercise-valiant-heritage-and-solid-shield }}

At the start of the Falklands campaign, on 2 April 1982, Glamorgan was already at sea off Gibraltar about to take part in exercises; she was immediately diverted to join the main Royal Navy task force, and served as flagship for Rear Admiral Sandy Woodward, Flag Officer First Flotilla and Commander Carrier Battle Group, during the voyage south until 15 April, when he transferred his flag to the aircraft carrier {{HMS|Hermes|R12|6}}.{{harvnb|Brown|1987|p=87}} Her most useful armament proved to be her twin {{convert|4.5|in|mm|0|adj=on}} guns, which were intensively used to shell enemy positions onshore.{{Cite web |title=HMS Glamorgan (D19) {{!}} Naval Theater |url=https://navaltheater.com/ships/hms-glamorgan-d19 |access-date=2022-06-12 |website=navaltheater.com |archive-date=16 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516094133/https://navaltheater.com/ships/hms-glamorgan-d19 |url-status=usurped }}

Glamorgan was first in action on the evening and night of 1 May when she joined forces with the frigates {{HMS|Arrow|F173|6}} and {{HMS|Alacrity|F174|6}} to bombard Argentine positions around Stanley. The three British ships soon came under attack by three IAI Dagger jets; two {{convert|500|lb|abbr=on}} bombs fell close alongside Glamorgan, causing minor underwater damage.{{harvnb|Tinker|1982|p= 191}}

Two weeks later on 14 May, she supported British special forces during the Raid on Pebble Island in the west of the Falklands.[http://www.raf.mod.uk/falklands/pebble1.html Raid on Pebble Island] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090206014020/http://www.raf.mod.uk/falklands/pebble1.html |date=6 February 2009 }} For the next two weeks until the end of May she was almost continuously engaged bombarding various shore positions on the east of the islands mainly as part of a plan to distract attention from the landings at San Carlos Water, but also against the airfield at Stanley and in support of British forces ashore. On 29 May she fired a Seaslug missile at the airstrip,{{harvnb|Tinker|1982|p=206}} which landed close to an Argentine Air Force radar site, killing one Argentine Air Force lieutenant and wounding several airmen.{{Cite web|url=http://institutocirculomss.com.ar/2017/11/26/a-35-anos-de-la-gesta-de-malvinas-prohibido-olvidar/|title=A 35 AÑOS DE LA GESTA DE MALVINAS. PROHIBIDO OLVIDAR|website=institutocirculomss.com.ar|language=es-ES|access-date=2018-07-28}}

At the beginning of June, the task force having been reinforced with other ships, Glamorgan was detached to protect shipping in the Towing, Repair and Logistics Area (TRALA), some {{convert|200|mi|km|-1}} away from the islands,{{harvnb|Tinker|1982|p= 209}} but as the campaign reached a climax she was recalled in the evening of 11 June to support the Royal Marines fighting the Battle of Two Sisters.{{harvnb|Scales|1990|pp=221–223}} At 06:37 the following morning, Saturday 12 June 1982, Glamorgan was attacked with an MM38 Exocet missile, fired from an improvised shore-based launcher.{{Cite journal |last=Rivadeneira |first=Erwin Frederick |date=February 2013 |title=Ataque al HMS "Glamorgan", 12 de Junio de 1982 |url=https://revistamarina.cl/revistas/2013/2/frederick.pdf |journal=Revista de Marina |language=es |publisher=Academia de Guerra Naval |publication-place=Santiago de Chile |pages=177–84}}

The missiles had been removed from the destroyer ARA Seguí{{harvnb|Scheina|2003|p=316}} and secured on the launcher, dubbed 'ITB' (Instalación de Tiro Berreta) by the Argentine Navy personnel which in Argentine slang would translate roughly as "trashy firing platform".[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4zjYEfwZi4&ab_channel=NicolasKasanzew YouTube video discussing setting up the ITB and showing its firing and the damage on the ship, narrated in Spanish] Two MM38 Exocet missiles, their launcher, transporter, and the associated electronics trailer were assembled by the Argentine navy at Puerto Belgrano and flown by a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft to the Falkland Islands. A RASIT radar supplied by the Argentinian Army tracked Glamorgan{{'}}s movements.

Glamorgan was steaming at about {{convert|20|kn|km/h|0}} some {{convert|18|nmi|km|0}} offshore. The first attempt to fire a missile did not result in a launch. At the second attempt, a missile was launched, but it did not find the target. The third attempt resulted in the last remaining missile tracking the target. The incoming Exocet missile was also being tracked on Glamorgans bridge and operations room by the Principal Warfare and Navigation Officers.{{harvnb|Inskip|2002|pp=160–185}}

Before the missile impact, the ship executed a highspeed turn away from the missile, before the Exocet struck the port side adjacent to the hangar near the stern. The turn had prevented the missile from striking the ship's side perpendicularly and penetrating; instead, it hit the deck coaming at an angle, skidded on the deck and detonated, making a {{convert|10|x|15|ft}} hole in the hangar deck and a {{convert|5|x|4|ft}} hole in the galley area below, where a fire started.

The blast travelled forwards and down, and the missile body, still travelling forwards, penetrated the hangar door, causing the ship's fully fuelled and armed Wessex helicopter (HAS.3 XM837) to explode and start a severe fire in the hangar. Fourteen crew members were killed and dozens more wounded."Fourteen crew members were killed and dozens more seriously injured." [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-12472079 HMS Glamorgan: memorial for Falklands War ship]

Six of those killed were from the ship’s flight of 737 Naval Air Squadron. Thirteen crew members who lost their lives that day were buried at sea that evening, a fourteenth, Able Seaman David McCann died of his wounds on August 19, 1982 [https://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1980-89.htm Casualty Lists of the Royal Navy - 1980-1989 - in date, ship/unit & name order]{{Cite web |url=http://rnaportland.org/2017/06/07/falklands-war-35th-anniversary-hms-glamorgan-ships-flight/ |title=HMS Glamorgan - Falklands War 35th Anniversary |access-date=30 June 2020 |archive-date=24 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924231001/http://rnaportland.org/2017/06/07/falklands-war-35th-anniversary-hms-glamorgan-ships-flight/ |url-status=dead }} The ship was underway again with all fires extinguished by 11:00.

Both the ship and its aircraft pursued no combat operations for the remainder of the conflict. On the following day, repairs were made at sea and, after the Argentinean surrender on 14 June, more extensive repairs were undertaken in the sheltered bay of San Carlos Water.{{cite book|last=Villar |first=Roger |date=1984 |title=Merchant ships at war: the Falklands experience |publisher=Naval Institute Press |pages=65 |isbn=0-87021-845-X}} She sailed for home on 21 June, and re-entered Portsmouth on 10 July 1982 after 104 days at sea.{{cite web|url=http://www.hmsglamorgan.co.uk/html/diary_of_events.html |title=HMS Glamorgan: Diary of Events |publisher=hmsglamorgan.co.uk |access-date=22 February 2015}}

A Memorial was erected in 2011 in memory of the ship and the lost crew at Hookers Point outside Stanley.{{cite news| url=https://issuu.com/navynews/docs/201104| title=Memorial unveiled for 'forgotten ship' | publisher=Navy News | date=April 2011 |page=31 |access-date=2020-01-03}}

HMS Glamorgan spent many months in late 1982 being refitted and repaired. Two sets of STWS-1 triple anti-submarine torpedo tubes, capable of launching US Mark 46 torpedoes were fitted, while the ship's Seacat launchers were removed, replaced by two Bofors 40 mm guns. The Wessex helicopter was replaced by a Westland Lynx. The ship returned to service in 1983.{{harvnb|Marriott|1989|p=108}}{{harvnb|Sturtivant|Ballance|1994|p=416}}

Her last active deployment for the Royal Navy was in 1983/4 and she was sent on the Armilla Patrol with HMS Brazen. She was originally to sail to the Far East. En route she docked at Gibraltar where the ship's crew were granted shore leave but, within a few hours and with members of her crew still enjoying a 'run ashore' she was back at sea. The bases of the US Marines and French forces in Beirut had been bombed by suicide bombers on 23 October and there were fears that British interests were at risk. Absent crew members were finally rounded up and flown aboard by the ship's Lynx. As the ship had a greater range than the Brazen she set off ahead and raced across the Mediterranean to the coast of Lebanon to evacuate the British peace-keeping troops with her Lynx. With this completed she rejoined the rest of her group and proceeded to the Straits of Hormuz.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}

{{other ships|Chilean ship Almirante Latorre}}

She was decommissioned by the Royal Navy in September 1986, sold to the Chilean Navy on 3 October that year, and renamed Almirante Latorre.{{harvnb|Baker|1998|pp=99–100}}. Latorre arrived in Chile in December 1986. The Sea Slug system was retained, although only for use against surface targets. A single MBB Bo 105 helicopter was carried. She was refitted from September 1995 to August 1996, with the ship's 40mm Bofors guns replaced by two 16-cell launchers for the Israeli Barak surface-to-air missile and the ADAWS combat data system replaced by the Chilean SISDEF-100 system. The destroyer was decommissioned again in late 1998.{{harvnb|Colledge|Warlow|2006|p=141}} On 11 April 2005, she sank in the South Pacific while under tow to be broken up.MoD release detailing date and position of sinking, 25 July 2008

• Russian cruiser Moskva
• HSV-2 Swift

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{Cite Colledge2006}}
• {{cite book|last=Baker|first= A. D. |title=The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World 1998–1999: Their Ships, Aircraft, and Systems |year=1998 |publisher=U.S. Naval Institute|location=Annapolis, Maryland, USA |isbn=1-55750-111-4}}
• {{cite book|last=Brown |first=David |date=1987 |title=The Royal Navy and the Falklands War |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=0-87021-572-8}}
• {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman |title=British Destroyers & Frigates: The Second World War and After|year=2008 |publisher=Seaforth Publishing |location=Barnsley, UK |isbn=978-1-84832-015-4}}
• {{cite book|editor1-last=Gardiner|editor1-first=Robert|editor2-last=Chumbley|editor2-first=Stephen |title=Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995|year=1995|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland, USA|isbn=1-55750-132-7}}
• {{cite book |last=Inskip|first= Ian |title=Ordeal by Exocet: HMS Glamorgan and the Falklands War |year=2002|publisher=Chatham |isbn=186176197X}}
• {{cite book |last=Marriott |first=Leo |title=Royal Navy Destroyers Since 1945 |year=1989 |publisher=Ian Allan |location=Shepperton, UK |isbn=0-7110-1817-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/royalnavydestroy0000marr }}
• {{cite book|last=McCart|first= Neil|title=County Class Guided Missile Destroyers|year=2014|publisher=Maritime Books|isbn=978-1904459637}}
• {{cite book|editor-last=Moore|editor-first=John |title=Jane's Fighting Ships 1979–80 |year=1979|publisher=Jane's Yearbooks|location=London|isbn=0-354-00587-1}}
• {{cite book|author-link=Robert H. Scales |last=Scales |first=Robert H. |date=1990 |title=Firepower in Limited War |publisher=Diane Publishing |isbn=0-7881-1228-7}}
• {{cite book|last=Scheina |first=Robert L |date=2003 |title=Latin America's Wars: The age of the professional soldier, 1900–2001. |publisher=Brassey's |isbn=1-57488-452-2}}
• {{cite book|last1=Sturtivant|first1=Ray |first2=Theo |last2=Ballance |title=The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm|year=1994|publisher=Air Britain (Historians) Ltd|location=Tonbridge, Kent, UK|isbn=0-85130-223-8}}
• {{cite book |last=Tinker|first= David |title=A Message from the Falklands, The Life and Gallant Death of David Tinker, Lieut. R.N. from his Letters and Poems |publisher=Penguin |year=1982 |isbn=0-14-006778-7}}
• {{cite book |last1=Woodward|first1= Sandy |last2=Robinson|first2= Patrick |title=One Hundred Days: Memoirs of the Falklands Battle Group Commander |year=1992

|publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=0-00-215723-3}}

• {{in lang|es}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20080302010742/http://www.fuerzasnavales.com/itb.html Interview to Rear Admiral (Engineer) Julio Pérez] team leader of ITB Exocet battery

{{refend}}

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7sv9ODO-YU HMS Glamorgan – Computer Ship Of The Future (1967) YouTube]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930064352/http://www.sama82.org.uk/garden/0/6/5/woodward.htm Extract about the Exocet attack on Glamorgan] from Sandy Woodward's book (see above)
• [http://www.hmsglamorgan.co.uk/html/diary_of_events.html Falklands timeline for Glamorgan]
• [http://www.hmsglamorgan.co.uk/html/12_june_1.html Navy news account of Glamorgan in the Falklands (part 1)] [http://www.hmsglamorgan.co.uk/html/12_june_2.html (part 2)]

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{{Commons category|HMS Glamorgan (ship, 1964)}}

{{County class destroyer}}

{{Falklands War British ships}}

{{Chilean destroyers}}

{{1982 shipwrecks}}

{{2005 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glamorgan (D19)}}

Category:County-class destroyers of the Royal Navy

Category:Ships built on the River Tyne

Category:1964 ships

Category:Cold War destroyers of the United Kingdom

Category:Falklands War naval ships of the United Kingdom

Category:Royal Navy ship names

Category:County-class destroyers of the Chilean Navy

Category:Maritime incidents in 1982

Category:Maritime incidents in 2005

Category:Maritime incidents in Chile

Category:Shipwrecks in the Chilean Sea