RN Cruisers: Tiger Class

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oldsalt
Posts: 243
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 3:08 pm
Location: Plymouth

RN Cruisers: Tiger Class

Unread post by oldsalt »

It seems odd that our last & best looking Cruisers are missing, Just a few photos, anymore welcome.
tger6b.jpg
6115265211_60c0705ff2_b.jpg
Tiger 1.jpg
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DaveH
Posts: 395
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:58 pm
Location: PLYMOUTH , DEVON

Re: RN Cruisers: Tiger Class

Unread post by DaveH »

Agreed Keith ..... they were the best looking until they stuck those portakabins in place of the after turrets.

But then again all our Cruisers were great looking ships .

Dave h
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jbryce1437
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Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2018 7:28 pm
Location: Roker, Sunderland

Re: RN Cruisers: Tiger Class

Unread post by jbryce1437 »

Some more of Tiger, sorry for any duplications

1466263_HMS-Tiger-1959[1].jpg
2746m29[1].jpg
8109tiger_and_wave_chief[1].jpg
32517[1].jpg
1448187_old-tiger[1].jpg
AA%20HMS%20TIGER[2].jpg
AA%20TIGER%20capetown[1].jpg
AA%20TIGER%201965[1].jpg
hms tiger [1].jpg
hms tiger 44.jpg
hms tiger 1977[1].jpg
HMS Tiger berthed in Fremantle Harbour Western Australia in December 1977.jpg
hms tiger cruiser.jpg
hms tiger dated 31959.jpg
hms tiger ex bellerophon 1959.jpg
HMS Tiger Genoa Italy.jpg
hms tiger on her way to the breakers yard.jpg
hms tiger on trials maybe.jpg
hms tiger passing gibraltar.jpg
hms tiger ros sep 63.jpg
hms tiger seen newly completed dated 41959.jpg
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HMS Raleigh 1963 , HMS Collingwood 1963 & 67 , HMS Ark Royal 1964-7, HMS Undaunted 1968-71, HMS Victory (Fleet Maintenance Group) 1971-72, HMS Exmouth 1972-74
JEM, EM, OEM, LOEM, POOEL
Then 28 years in the Fire Brigade
Retired since 2002
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jbryce1437
Posts: 1879
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2018 7:28 pm
Location: Roker, Sunderland

Re: RN Cruisers: Tiger Class

Unread post by jbryce1437 »

More of Tiger

hms tiger ships crest.jpg

hms tiger stockholm 1959.jpg
hms tiger23.jpg
hms tiger33.jpg
HMS Vanguard and HMS Tiger.jpg
HMS%20TIGER%201962..[1].jpg
HMS%20Tiger%201966%20Glasgow[1].jpg
HMS%20Tiger[1]..JPG
HMS%20TIGER-1-1945-1986[1].jpg
HMS%20TIGER-16-1945-1986-59-T[1].jpg
hms_tiger_ne[1].jpg
HMSTiger%5B1%5D[1].JPG
tamar 1973 hms tiger hms rhyl hmas yarra[1].jpg
Tiger (1966) paying off, pre C turret conv..jpg
tiger 001[1].jpg
TIGER and TIDEFLOW dated April 1965 off Norway3.jpg
Tiger berthed in Fremantle Harbour Western Australia in December 1977.jpg
Tiger in colour at Hobart 31 October 1962.jpg
tiger leaving Sunderland 1965.jpg
TIGER%20Leaving%20the%20Tyne%2027%20July%201965%201[1].jpg
tiger%202%20apr%201962[1].JPG
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HMS Raleigh 1963 , HMS Collingwood 1963 & 67 , HMS Ark Royal 1964-7, HMS Undaunted 1968-71, HMS Victory (Fleet Maintenance Group) 1971-72, HMS Exmouth 1972-74
JEM, EM, OEM, LOEM, POOEL
Then 28 years in the Fire Brigade
Retired since 2002
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jbryce1437
Posts: 1879
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2018 7:28 pm
Location: Roker, Sunderland

Re: RN Cruisers: Tiger Class

Unread post by jbryce1437 »

More of HMS Tiger
untitled 2.jpg
tigger.jpg
tiger-oz.jpg
tiger-from-cassandra.jpg
tiger-cruiser.jpg
tiger230986-forscr[1].JPG
tiger230986-3-forscr[1].JPG
tiger230986-2-forscr[1].JPG
tiger-1977-oz.jpg
tiger1061-2[1].JPG
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HMS Raleigh 1963 , HMS Collingwood 1963 & 67 , HMS Ark Royal 1964-7, HMS Undaunted 1968-71, HMS Victory (Fleet Maintenance Group) 1971-72, HMS Exmouth 1972-74
JEM, EM, OEM, LOEM, POOEL
Then 28 years in the Fire Brigade
Retired since 2002
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jbryce1437
Posts: 1879
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2018 7:28 pm
Location: Roker, Sunderland

Re: RN Cruisers: Tiger Class

Unread post by jbryce1437 »

HMS Blake was first commissioned in 1961, but two years later she was placed in reserve. When I joined Ark Royal in 1964 she was acting as an accommodation ship for part of our crew whilst the Ark was in a short refit. She then commenced modernisation between 1965 and 1969, when she was converted to a helicopter cruiser and her looks, in my opinion, were changed for the worst.
On completion of the modernisation she re entered service and was present at the withdrawal from Malta and at the Fleet Review at Spithead in 1977. She was placed in reserve again in 1979 and underwent a refit in 1980, and preparations were made to re activate her for the Falklands War, together with Tiger, but worked ceased when it was clear that neither would be ready in time for the conflict. Blake was sold for scrap in 1982 and scrapped at Cairnryan.

Jim

1341549_Image16[1].jpg
1385782_1291980Blake19601[1].jpg
1448145_HMS-blake-728[1].jpg
AA BLAKE.jpg
blake & typhoon 1979 ch.jpg
blake (1962).jpg
blake ch.jpg
blake hms[1].jpg
blake july 8th 1955[1].jpg
blake shooting.jpg
blake.jpg
blake[1].jpg
blake1-cruiser.jpg
blake2.jpg
blake100483 cairnryan.JPG
blake-cruiser.jpg
blake-cruiser-colour.jpg
blake-malta.jpg
BLAKE-TZ.jpg
blakey stern[1].jpg
blakey.jpg
Helicopter carriercommand ship at Portsmouth, 27576.jpg
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HMS Raleigh 1963 , HMS Collingwood 1963 & 67 , HMS Ark Royal 1964-7, HMS Undaunted 1968-71, HMS Victory (Fleet Maintenance Group) 1971-72, HMS Exmouth 1972-74
JEM, EM, OEM, LOEM, POOEL
Then 28 years in the Fire Brigade
Retired since 2002
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jbryce1437
Posts: 1879
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2018 7:28 pm
Location: Roker, Sunderland

Re: RN Cruisers: Tiger Class

Unread post by jbryce1437 »

More of HMS Blake, apologies for any duplicates

hms blake 1969 again.jpg
hms blake 1970s.jpg
hms blake 1971 portland.jpg
HMS BLAKE OPPOSITE SENGLEA 1961.jpg
HMS Blake Storm1.jpg
HMS Blake Storm3.jpg
HMS BLAKE3Black and White.jpg
hms%20blake%20[1].jpg
HMS%20BLAKE%20at%20Fairfields[1].jpg
HMS%20BLAKE%20Fitting%20out%20at%20Fairfields%20Basin%20August%201959[1].jpg
HMS%20BLAKE%208%20July%201955[1].jpg
hms_blake_001.jpg
hms_blake_1962[1.jpg
HMSBlake.jpg
HMSBlake2.jpg
Image16%20small[1].jpg
Tiger%20or%20Lion%20and%20Blake%2C%20in%20Bergen%20i%20think[1].jpg
tiger and blake.jpg
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HMS Raleigh 1963 , HMS Collingwood 1963 & 67 , HMS Ark Royal 1964-7, HMS Undaunted 1968-71, HMS Victory (Fleet Maintenance Group) 1971-72, HMS Exmouth 1972-74
JEM, EM, OEM, LOEM, POOEL
Then 28 years in the Fire Brigade
Retired since 2002
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jbryce1437
Posts: 1879
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2018 7:28 pm
Location: Roker, Sunderland

Re: RN Cruisers: Tiger Class

Unread post by jbryce1437 »

Originally named HMS Defence, HMS Lion was ordered during the war as one of the Minotaur Class and she was launched in 1944, but work was suspended in 1946. She was then laid up in the Gareloch for eight years. Work on her was recommenced and she was renamed HMS Lion in 1957 and she was commissioned in 1960. She was placed in reserve in 1965 until 1972 and was not converted to a helicopter cruiser like her two sisters. She was sold for scrap in 1975.

Jim

hms defence ,seen incomplete and laid-up in the gareloch,dated 91954 renamed lion 1957.jpg
c34[1]. hms lion.jpg
Gibralter%201965_1[1].jpg
Gibralter%201965_2[1].jpg
hms lion 22.jpg
hms lion 133.JPG
hms lion 1955.jpg
hms lion 1961.JPG
Lion%20C34%20pic5[1].jpg
hms lion at malta.jpg
hms lion clyde fleet review august 1965[1].jpg
hms lion dated 41961.jpg
hms lion seen entering malta newly completed dated 71960.jpg
hms lion seen entering malta,newly completed,dated 71960.jpg
hms lion45.jpg
HMS-Lion-1962-Malta[1].jpg
img116[1].jpg
lion 63[1].jpg
LION Alongside at Portsmouth 1960s.jpg
lion010364[1].jpg
lion-rotterdam-65.jpg
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HMS Raleigh 1963 , HMS Collingwood 1963 & 67 , HMS Ark Royal 1964-7, HMS Undaunted 1968-71, HMS Victory (Fleet Maintenance Group) 1971-72, HMS Exmouth 1972-74
JEM, EM, OEM, LOEM, POOEL
Then 28 years in the Fire Brigade
Retired since 2002
timlewin
Posts: 916
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2018 12:18 pm

Re: RN Cruisers: Tiger Class

Unread post by timlewin »

am I correct in believing they were the next iteration of the Colony class? They were so messed about post launching that they had endless troubles with their machinery. When TTL was FO2FEF Blake came under his command. Here is an extract from that chapter which will be serialised in full in the TTL section in due course along with the rest of the book.

His flagship for the Australian visit was to be HMS Blake. She was a curious hybrid. One of the three ‘Tiger’ class which were the last classical cruisers to be built by Britain, she had lain idle for years after launch and had been completed in 1961 with a gun armament of four six-inch and six three-inch. Both systems had taken a long time to develop, neither proved satisfactory in service, and for a 12,000 ton ship with a complement of 600 it was a poor return in terms of fighting power . Thoughts in the Ministry quickly turned towards her conversion to some role more in tune with the times.

The solution was one that to some extent hedged against possible cancellation of the escort cruiser, projected in the late 1950s when Lewin was DDTWP. In partial substitution, the ‘Tiger’ hull could be reconstructed at its after end to accommodate a hangar with a flight deck abaft it, able to operate four Wessex or, later, Sea King helicopters - aircraft that with their dipping sonar and torpedo armament could give a valuable extra dimension to the anti-submarine effort, but were too heavy to fly from frigates. The outcome of the Healey Defence Review had reinforced the perceived need to go ahead with this major reconstruction, and the Blake had been taken in hand accordingly.

The result was one of the oddest-looking ships of the Royal or any other Navy. From the stem to the mainmast she looked like a conventional, rather outdated, gun cruiser. From there aft she looked more like an aircraft carrier than anything else, with a massive hangar extending from one beam to the other and abaft that a flight deck with two landing spots. These new pieces of construction overlay a semi-enclosed quarterdeck, for all the world like those of all carriers since the genre began.

Unfortunately the expensive reconstruction had not extended to Blake’s machinery. When she came out of the Yard she had severe problems that set back her deployment by several months , and she was only now joining the station, with already the reputation of being an unlucky ship. This was borne out almost at once when Lewin, who had gone to Mauritius in RFA Stromness to meet Blake and transfer to her with his staff, heard that the cruiser had burnt out two boilers. He directed her by signal to proceed on her remaining two boilers directly from Capetown to Adelaide; he would rendezvous with her in Stromness in mid-ocean and he and the staff would transfer by jackstay.

There were three complicating factors. The first was that another RFA, Tarbatness, had essential stores for the Blake and this entailed further staff planning and another rendezvous in or near the Roaring Forties. That was relatively easily planned in. The second was that on leaving Mauritius, the local pilot put Stromness aground. That could have been extremely serious, but within two hours she had been floated off undamaged .

The third complicating factor was by far the most menacing. This was cyclone Louise. Tropical storms in the Indian Ocean are generally not so intense as those in the Pacific, but they follow the same general pattern of very high winds revolving round a low pressure centre which is, itself, moving in a generally westerly direction . In the southern hemisphere, which is where the Stromness was, the rotation is clockwise and the usual track south-westerly. But a storm can ‘recurve’, turning to the south-east, and this is an extremely difficult movement to predict.

Cyclone Louise was already blowing strongly when Stromness left Mauritius, and it was likely to get worse. There are less and more dangerous courses to steer in the track of a tropical storm; in what is called the dangerous quadrant, the speed of the wind is added to that of the storm itself, and that is where a ship is in most peril. However, the course of the Stromness was dictated by the need to rendezvous with Blake (who was well clear of the storm zone to the south) and it was judged that so long as the storm did not recurve, the risk of steering a less than optimum course was justified.

The storm recurved. There were in fact two RFA captains on board, one of them the Commodore of the RFA himself, as well as Lewin: ‘between us we had about 120 years of sea experience and none of us had seen anything like it. The wind got up to 120 knots; we don’t know if it got any higher because the anemometer at the top of the mast was blown off at that speed. I was glad I was in Stromness which was an excellent sea boat and very steady. We went through the eye of the storm, absolutely typical, with a circle of blue sky above us, then out the other side …’ The barometric pressure in the eye was 947 millibars, not the lowest ever recorded but not far off.

After that, the transfer to Blake might have seemed almost humdrum, but once on board Lewin encountered problems of a different kind. The ship’s material state was as poor as had been predicted, and confidence was not high . It would not have been impossible for Lewin to fly his flag for the Sydney visit, high profile and indeed Royal though it was, in one of the frigates that had been escorting the Royal Yacht, but characteristically he thought of the Blake’s ship’s company: they ‘had had such an appalling disappointing run, it was essential that she continued with the programme [for Adelaide and Sydney] … and then as soon as that was over we could send her back to Singapore for repairs’ .

There ensued a ‘fairly savage argument’ with the Fleet Staff in Singapore, who took the opposite view. Lewin won, and was sure he was right in retrospect; the ship’s company enjoyed Adelaide, a solo port visit, and were then well set up for the grander events in Sydney. Meanwhile, ‘to show willing’ they were beavering away down below on the defective boilers, replacing the tubes with a limited number of spares held on board, and Lewin himself ‘did his share’ in the steam drum; indeed one of his signals during the argument with Singapore began: ‘From where I am standing inside B2 boiler of HMS Blake …’ .

The festivities in Sydney were on a grander scale than those in New Zealand, and perhaps for that reason Lewin did not record them in anything like so much detail. He renewed old friendships in the Royal Yacht; it was over a decade since he had been Commander, but continuity is one of the characteristics of the Royal Yacht service. On the day of the Bicentenary itself, Britannia steamed round to Botany Bay and ceremonies were numerous and colourful; Lewin was on board for lunch, returning to Blake in the evening for the spectacular firework display that, in the incomparable setting of Sydney harbour, concluded the day.

When the assembled ships dispersed, Blake was released to proceed independently to Singapore. She did not get there without incident; contaminated fuel held her up for 24 hours inside the Barrier Reef, without steam or air conditioning, while the filters were cleaned. It was not the end of her troubles, as we shall see.
timlewin
Posts: 916
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2018 12:18 pm

Re: RN Cruisers: Tiger Class

Unread post by timlewin »

in the old forum there was a report by someone about TTL coming onboard Blake to find a long queue of POs and CPOs outside the regulating office, assuming this was requestmen, he asked what was going on. He was told it was defaulters. TTL realised it was absurd to have the backbone of the ships company in the situation and sent for the commander. In very short order he and the captain were reposted.
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