The Type 82 or Bristol class destroyer was to be a class of four Royal Navy warships intended as area air-defence destroyers to escort the planned CVA-01 aircraft carriers. Eventually only a single ship, HMS Bristol was built and served as a prototype for much of the modern technology and armaments seen in later classes of Royal Navy warships. Sometimes described as a "cruiser", she was officially classified as a destroyer as the former term had fallen out of favour with governments keen to reduce manpower-intensive cruisers and aircraft carriers. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ... The CVA-01 Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier was designed to replace the smaller, warbuilt carriers of the Royal Navy in the 1960s - ships like Ark Royal. ... An aircraft carrier is a warship designed to deploy and recover aircraft—in effect acting as a sea-going airbase. ...

History

The CVA-01 aircraft carrier project was cancelled in the 1966 Strategic Defence Review, eliminating the requirement for the Type 82 class. Never the less, one hull of the original four was ordered on 4th October 1966 for use as a testbed for new technologies. HMS Bristol was laid down in 1967, featuring four new systems; The 1966 Defence White Paper was a major review of the United Kingdoms defence policy brought about by the Labour Party government under the Prime Minister Harold Wilson. ... October 4 is the 277th day of the year (278th in Leap years). ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... HMS Bristol (D23) was the only Type 82 destroyer of the Royal Navy. ...

• The Sea Dart missile that would later be fitted in the Type 42 destroyers and Invincible class carriers.
• The Ikara anti-submarine weapon, later fitted to some Leander class frigate.
• A new 4.5 inch (114 mm) Mk 8 main gun.
• The advanced ADAWS-2 (Action Data Automation Weapons System Mk.2), a computer system designed to coordinate the ship's weapons and sensors.

The latter feature, although not externally apparent, was perhaps the most pioneering of the design; a leap forward from the rudimentary action information system of the Counties and it’s heavy reliance on manual data input. Sea Dart launcher Sea Dart is a surface to air missile system mounted on air defence destroyers of the Royal Navy. ... Type 42 destroyer HMS Manchester Type 42, also known as the Sheffield class, is a class of destroyers of the Royal Navy. ... The sixth (and current) HMS Invincible. ... The Ikara missile was an Australian ship-launched anti-submarine missile, named after an Australian Aborigine word for a throwing stick. The missile concept is quite Disimilar to the American RUM-139 ASROC. It was powered by a two stage solid-fuel rocket engine and guided by radio until it... The BAE RO Defence 4. ...

The Type 82 was followed into service by the smaller Type 42 destroyer that featured the same Sea Dart missile, 114 mm Mark 8 gun and integrated ADAWS. It was not a direct replacement for the Type 82 per se, but filled a similar role, fleet area air defence, in a changed navy. The Type 42 design was however smaller and had a lower manpower requirement and as such many more hulls could be brought into service than a design of the Type 82's size. It also featured a flightdeck and hangar for its own air component providing improved anti-submarine, surface-strike and general utility to the design. Type 42 destroyer HMS Manchester Type 42, also known as the Sheffield class, is a class of destroyers of the Royal Navy. ...

Design

The Type 82 was loosely based on the layout first generation County class destroyer and the Type 12I Leander class frigate (hence the inclusion in the escort Type numbering scheme.) HMS Devonshire The County class destroyers were large vessels built by the Royal Navy around the Sea Slug anti-aircraft missile system. ... The Leander class, informally known as the Type 12M, comprising twenty-six frigates, was arguably the most successful and popular class of frigates in the Royal Navys modern history. ...

The vessel was powered by a combined steam and gas (COSAG) plant, and was the last warship designed for the Royal Navy to be powered by steam. The steam plant vented through the large fore funnel while the gas plant exhausted though a side-by-side pair of after funnels (on either side of the extensive air intakes and filters for the gas turbines), giving rise to a unique three funnelled layout. Principle of a COSAG propulsion system Combined steam and gas (COSAG) is a propulsion system for ships using a combination of steam turbines and gas turbines to power the shafts. ...

Weapon Systems

The new Sea Dart missile was fired from a twin-arm launcher on the quarterdeck and there was a pair of radar Type 909 target illumination sets, an improvement over the single radar Type 901 set of the County design. Quarterdeck Office Systems, later Quarterdeck Corporation, was an American computer software company. ...

The single Mark 8 114 mm gun was not intended as an anti-aircraft weapon, and as such had an elevation of only 55°. The weapon was designed specifically for reliability over rate of fire, allowing only a single mounting to be shipped, and the comparatively low rate of fire of 25 rounds per minute was more than suitable for the intended anti-ship and shore-bombardment roles.

The third weapon system was the Australian Ikara anti-submarine weapon; a rocket powered glider capable of carrying a small homing torpedo out to 10 miles from the ship. The Ikara was backed up by a Mark 10 Limbo anti-submarine mortar. Although capable of landing a Westland Wasp helicopter on the quarterdeck the ship lacked a hangar and aviation facilities and thus had to rely on external air support. Limbo was the name for the final development of allied anti-submarine weapon during World War 2. ... Westland Wasp The Westland Wasp was a general purpose helicopter, basically a derivative of the British Army Scout helicopter, with the requirement of being small enough to land on Royal Navy frigates. ... Quarterdeck Office Systems, later Quarterdeck Corporation, was an American computer software company. ...

Electronics

The original design called for a long range 3-D air search radar to be fitted, and early drawings and artists impression show a large dome on the bridge to carry this set. A similar set was to be fitted to the CVA-01 design. However, the projected Anglo-Dutch system never materialised, and instead she was fitted with the venerable radar Type 965 air search radar, with a "twin bedstead" AKE-2 antennae, on a stump foremast. Radar Type 992Q low-angle search was carried on the tall, slender mainmast and as such the electronics fit had not advanced significantly from the County class. Type 909 sets were shipped fore and aft for Sea Dart fire control, allowing two targets to be engaged at any one time.

The main advance in the design was with how the sensor data was processed and displayed. The ADAWS-2 system, based on two Ferranti FM1600 computers, integrated the identification, tracking and engagement of targets into a single system. ADAWS-2 could accept input from any of the ship’s radars or sonars, identify targets and produce continuous track histories. Using this information it could evaluate threat levels and control the engagement of targets using the relevant weapons systems. The whole process occurred almost automatically, requiring only oversight and command from the human operator. This new generation of warship would be fought from an operations room within the ship rather than the traditional location of the bridge. Ferranti or Ferranti International Signal plc by the time of its collapse, was a major UK electrical engineering and equipment firm, known primarily for their defense electronics and power grid systems. ...

Shortcomings

Despite introducing various new systems, the role for which Bristol was designed never materialised. She faced the problem of entering a navy that had no operational role or requirement for her and that was faced with rapidly changing priorities. This single, large ship was manpower and maintenance intensive and was not fitted out to the standard required for front line deployment.

The major shortcomings in the design were twofold; the lack of an air component and the lack of a long-range anti ship weapon. Within a few years these features would be standard on a ships of this size and type and as such the Type 82 was somewhat lacking. These deficiencies limited her to squadron (rather than individual patrol) duties, and ‘’Bristol’’ is usually seen as something of a white elephant. A white elephant is a supposedly valuable possession whose upkeep costs exceed its usefulness, and it is therefore a liability. ...

Service

The role which the Type 82 was built for never materialised and as such she spent most of her service in the 1970s trialling and building up experience using the new weapons and computer systems. A major boiler fire in 1974 destroyed the steam plant. Older ships may have been crippled by this, but Bristol was able to operate for 3 years using only her gas plant, demonstrating the flexibility and utility of the latter. The steam plant was repaired in 1976 and it was not until 1979 that she was fitted out for frontline service with ECM, Corvus countermeasures launchers and a pair of WWII-era Oerlikon 20 mm cannons. During this refit the Limbo weapon was removed and the well plated over to allow the landing of large helicopters on the quarterdeck. ECM is an abbreviation of: Electret condenser microphone Electro chemical machining Electronic countermeasures Electronic contract manufacturing Electronic control module Elliptic curve method (integer factorization) Electron Cloud Model Enterprise content management Entitlement control message - in secure data transfer Error correction mode (fax protocol) Essentials of Clinical Medicine Extracellular matrix See also... A corvus (meaning raven in Latin) was a Roman military boarding device used in naval warfare during the First Punic War against Carthage. ... German soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the worlds nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. ... Oerlikon has different meanings: Zürich Oerlikon: a quarter in the northern part of Zürich, Switzerland Oerlikon-Bührle: a company in Zürich, Switzerland that also owns Bally Shoes, Oerlikon Contraves, Pilatus Aircraft and Island Aircraft Oerlikon Contraves: a Swiss anti-aircraft artillery manufacturer founded in Zürich...

Being a large ship Bristol was suitable for use as a flagship as she could embark the extra staff members necessary for this role. As such, she served as the Royal Navy flagship during ‘’Exercise Ocean Safari ‘81’’. After a short refit, she joined the Royal Navy task force in the South Atlantic in the 1982 Falklands War as a component of the carrier battle-group. After the conflict she remained ‘’in situ’’ as flagship of the remaining Royal Navy forces. On return to the UK she entered a refit and, in light of the lessons of the conflict, she had her light anti aircraft weapons augmented with a pair of twin Oerlikon / BMARC 30 mm GCM-A03 and a pair of single Oerlikon / BMARC 20 mm GAM-B01 guns. Loral-Hycor SRBOC countermeasures launchers were also added to augment the elderly Corvus launchers. For other uses, see Atlantic (disambiguation) The Atlantic Ocean is Earths second-largest ocean, covering approximately one-fifth of its surface. ... Combatants United Kingdom Argentina Casualties 258 killed[1] 777 wounded 2 taken prisoner 649 killed 1,068 wounded 11,313 taken prisoner The Falklands War was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. ... American troops man an anti-aircraft gun near the Algerian coastline in 1943 Anti-aircraft, or air defense, is any method of combating military aircraft from the ground. ... The Mark 36 Super Rapid Bloom Offboard Countermeasures (abbreviated as SRBOC or Super-RBOC) is a short-range rocket intended to launch chaff within the vicinity of naval vessels, with the purpose of foiling anti-shipping missiles. ...

With the Royal Navy short on hulls after damages and losses incurred in the Falklands, Bristol remained in commission and made several overseas deployments until paid off for refit in 1984. Another boiler explosion when entering refit caused extensive damage and had to be repaired. The major work undertaken in the refit was to replace the obsolete radar Type 965 with the new radar Type 1022 for long range air search duties. In addition, the Ikara system was removed and it was intended that it be replaced with two triple STWS-1 launchers for 324 mm anti-submarine torpedoes, although these were never fitted. A modern torpedo, historically called a locomotive torpedo, is a self-propelled projectile that (after being launched above or below the water surface) operates underwater and is designed to detonate on contact or in proximity to a target. ...

In 1987 she replaced Kent as the Dartmouth training ship, for which duties she had extra accommodation and classrooms added in the former Ikara and Limbo spaces. In the early 1990s she was decommissioned from active service and is still in service as a static training ship for sea cadets at Portsmouth Naval Base. HMS Kent (D12) was a County-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. ... Map sources for Dartmouth, Devon at grid reference SX877514 The town seen from the River Dart Dartmouth is a town in Devon in the south-west of England. ... In some countries, Sea Cadet organisations are groups devoted to educating and training the youth of the nation in maritime matters, especially those pertaining to national defense. ... Portsmouth is a city of about 189,000 people located in the county of Hampshire on the southern coast of Great Britain. ...

Specifications

• Length: 154.3 m (507 ft) o/a
• Beam: 16.8 m (55 ft)
• Displacement: 7,200 tonnes (7,100 tons) fully laden
• Crew: 433
• Power: COSAG; 2x Admiralty steam turbines, 2x Rolls Royce Olympus TM1A gas turbines
• Speed: 30 knots maximum.
• Range: 5,750 nautical miles at 18 knots
• Electronics:
  • ADAWS-2 combat direction system
  • 1 x radar Type 965 2D air warning, later;
  • 1 x radar Type 1022 2D air search
  • 1 x radar Type 992Q low-angle target indication
  • 2 x radar Type 909 Sea Dart target illumination
  • 1 x radar Type 978 (later 1006) navigation
  • 1 x sonar Type 170 search
  • 1 x sonar Type 184 target indication
• Weapons:
  • 1 x 4.5 in (114 mm) Vickers Mk 8 gun
  • 1 x GWS 30 Sea Dart SAM Launcher (40 rounds)
  • 1 x Ikara A/S Launcher (32 rounds) (removed 1984)
  • 1 x Mk 10 Limbo A/S Mortar (removed 1979)
  • 2 x twin Oerlikon / BMARC GCM-A03 30 mm guns (from 1983-)
  • 2 x Oerlikon / BMARC GAM-B01 20 mm guns (from 1983-)
  • 2 x Oerlikon 20 mm guns (from 1979-)
• Aircraft: None

A rotor of a modern steam turbine, used in a power plant A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into useful mechanical work. ... Rolls-Royce Olympus 593 The Olympus is a high-powered axial-flow turbojet, originally developed at Bristol Aero Engines, later passed to Bristol Siddeley, and finally to Rolls-Royce. ... This machine has a single-stage radial compressor and turbine, a recuperator, and foil bearings. ... Vickers Armstrong (Aircraft) company logo Vickers, founded as the Vickers Company in 1828, was a British manufacturer, primarily of military equipment, traditionally based in Barrow-in-Furness. ...

Ships

HMS Bristol (D23) was the only Type 82 destroyer of the Royal Navy. ... Swan Hunter, formerly known as Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, is one of the best known shipbuilding companies in the United Kingdom. ... Portsmouth is a city of about 189,000 people located in the county of Hampshire on the southern coast of Great Britain. ...

Bibliography

• Royal Navy Destroyers Since 1945, Leo Marriot, Ian Allan Publishing, 1989, ISBN 0-7110-1817-0
• Vamguard to Trident : British Naval Policy since World War II, Eric J. Grove, The Bodley Head, ISBN 0-370-31021-7