1/600 HMS GLAMORGAN (from Airfix DEVONSHIRE)

[Chewbacca]

On 11 June 1982, HMS GLAMORGAN was detached from the main Operation Corporate Task Group (TG 317.01) at 1700 and proceeded at 26 knots to provide Naval Gunfire Support to 45 Commando Royal Marines in their fight at Two Sisters.  She operated on the gunline to the south of Port Stanley all night until at around 0600 on 12 June she was released from her tasking and started her passage back to the TG, initially heading south to withdraw from the islands by the fastest possible route.

At 06:37 she was tracking 160 at 20kts when an Argentine Exocet missile, originally fitted to the destroyer ARA SEGUL but which had been mounted on truck bed to form an improvised shore battery was fired from the North East from Hookers Point, due East of Stanley.  The missile was tracked both in the Operations Room and on the Bridge, and it was the Navigating Officer, Lieutenant Commander Ian Inskip who ordered the wheel put hard over to starboard when it was readily apparent that the missile was going to hit.  This had the effect at 20kts of heeling the ship heavily to port which resulted in the Exocet striking a glancing blow on the upperdeck adjacent to the hangar rather than hitting the ship’s side.  This action almost certainly saved HMS GLAMORGAN.

 
Hitting the deck coaming, the Exocet blew a large hole in the deck alongside the hanger and destroyed the port Seacat missile launcher before ricocheting into the hangar, where it exploded, destroying the Wessex 3 helicopter and starting a severe fire both in the hangar and in the main galley immediately below.  There was serious flooding in the magazine and other adjacent compartments; 13 sailors were killed and a further 14 wounded. The casualties were quickly evacuated to HMS HERMES and HMS INVINCIBLE.

Just over three hours later, all fires were extinguished, the flooding contained and pumping out operations were underway.  GLAMORGAN had full power available and rejoined the TG at 20kts.

This model is based on the hull from the Airfix 1/600 HMS DEVONSHIRE but is extensively modified with a re-built superstructure, masts & Exocet launchers, WEM photo etch guardrails, SeaSlug launcher and 965M radar and WEM resin Seacat Launcher.  The SCOT platform just ahead of the mainmast was especially challenging but quite rewarding when complete. 

 

As others on here have highlighted, there is a serious design issue with this kit in the forward superstructure is set too far back and is too short.  Unfortunately I didn't spot this until fitting the Exocet by which time it was way too late to do anything about it.  I struggled also to determine the deck colour.  1982 was a period of change for the RN in which metal, non-flight, decks were being repainted from the green that had endured since the 1950s to Camrex Grey.  I found a colour photo of GLAMORGAN that was entitled Gibraltar, April 1982 which clearly showed her with green decks and another post her 1982 refit with grey, so my logic said that her decks was repainted then when she returned for her post Falklands refit.  It was only after showing this model at the Yeovilton model show about 2 years ago that one of the visitors pointed out that they were in fact grey in June 1982 as they had been repainted in Gibraltar, just prior to sailing south.  He should know, at the time he was the ship's painter!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 9, 2021 by Chewbacca
Typos corrected

[Martian]

A very effective effort!

 

Martian

[Chewbacca]

Thanks Martin

[phildagreek]

Good effort! 

[Chewbacca]

Thanks

[F-32]

Really looks the part

[Ratch]

Well done

[stevej60]

Excellent job ! Very interesting story to the build I wasn't aware of this incident.

[Chewbacca]

There's a great book by GLAMORGAN's navigator, Ian Inskip, entitled Ordeal by Exocet which details the whole of her Falklands deployment.  It is well worth the read.

[Orion]

Hello Chewbacca,

Although a sad moment in the ships history, it shows very effective what the hazards of war are.

You did a good job, especially in this scale. Regards, Orion / The Netherlands.

[bootneck]

That's a great rendition of the Glamorgan on that day, especially on such a small model.   I saw the whole episode unfold right before me, although it was total darkness; during our attack on Mount Harriet.  We saw the missile launch (confusingly to us as it came from the land to the right of us) and its glow went streaming out to sea.  I could hear the NGSFO (Naval Gunfire Support Officer) beside me shouting into his radio that a missile was outbound towards the gunline.  There was a streak of light, from one of the ships; which I found out later that it was a Seaslug missile, but it missed the exocet.  Immediately after that there was an almighty explosion, which turned the black night into daylight.  At the time we were positive that whichever ship had been hit must surely have been sunk; however we had to concentrate and continue with our own dangerous task.  Incidentally, the Argies would have had the same view and thought they'd sunk a British warship.  Seeing your model brought memories of the whole event back, as if it was yesterday, so thank you for posting those images.

 

Mike

[Chewbacca]

Thanks Orion and Mike.

 

It's interesting to hear about what happened from another perspective.  I must confess I was ummed and erred a lot when deciding whether to model GLAMORGAN after she was hit as although I made it in memory of those who gave their lives, there is always the danger of someone seeing it who was there and it bringing back bad memories.

 

Best rgds

[426]

On 6/1/2018 at 10:22 AM, bootneck said:

That's a great rendition of the Glamorgan on that day, especially on such a small model.   I saw the whole episode unfold right before me, although it was total darkness; during our attack on Mount Harriet.  We saw the missile launch (confusingly to us as it came from the land to the right of us) and its glow went streaming out to sea.  I could hear the NGSFO (Naval Gunfire Support Officer) beside me shouting into his radio that a missile was outbound towards the gunline.  There was a streak of light, from one of the ships; which I found out later that it was a Seaslug missile, but it missed the exocet.  Immediately after that there was an almighty explosion, which turned the black night into daylight.  At the time we were positive that whichever ship had been hit must surely have been sunk; however we had to concentrate and continue with our own dangerous task.  Incidentally, the Argies would have had the same view and thought they'd sunk a British warship.  Seeing your model brought memories of the whole event back, as if it was yesterday, so thank you for posting those images.

 

Mike

All true but I think Glamorgan fired a Seacat at the Exocet - a minor point against what is a fantastic build and a fine tribute to the ship’s company.

[Chewbacca]

Thank you for your kind words.  I think you could have a very good point there - I'll need to find Ian Inskip's book.

 

It makes more sense as Seaslug was a fairly cumbersome missile system, designed for long range high flyer engagement not short range sea-skimmers and in the 30 seconds or so from detection to impact, with the ship manoevering,  I doubt if they could have achieved 901 radar lock let alone got a missile away.  Furthermore, there is a "local boy made good" report I found in the Manchester Evening News of an Able Seaman, Steve Jillings, who claims to have fired two missiles at the Exocet.  There's no way that an AB would have launch authority over Seaslug but he could have been the port Seacat controller.

[grahamwalker]

and the link is  https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/sharp-steves-missile-shots-saved-990082

[Darby]

BZ

[Wafu]

On 3 June 2018 at 7:47 PM, Chewbacca said:

Thanks Orion and Mike.

 

It's interesting to hear about what happened from another perspective.  I must confess I was ummed and erred a lot when deciding whether to model GLAMORGAN after she was hit as although I made it in memory of those who gave their lives, there is always the danger of someone seeing it who was there and it bringing back bad memories.

 

Best rgds

Lost a good mate from the Wessex3 Flt. Gone but not forgotten.

[Chewbacca]

Sorry to hear that. 

[chuckb1]

That brought back memories. I joined her after the Falklands war, stayed on board and paid her off. I sewed her decommissioning pennant during our final duty as Cowes Guard ship and Royal Yacht Escort. Thank you, this brought back some memories of good times and good oppos. 

 

I still have her final commissioning pennant and sea ensign stored carefully in the loft along with a compartment marking plate from the bridge cross passage below the upper bridge.

 

 

[Rob 1]

That's a good thought provoking build - I recall this event back then, and remember the scurge of the Exocets which we seemed poorly prepared for at the time. I believe all the fleet ships were fitted with Corvus chaff dispensers then, which was used successfully in the conflict; could this have been the what AB Jillings fired off? which could result in partly pulling the missile up/away from the waterline as described.

 

Post edit - just found the link below to be of interest:

 

https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1982/1982 - 1960.PDF

Edited September 4, 2018 by Rob 1

[Chewbacca]

That's an interesting historical perspective on Anti-Ship Missile Defence (which is what this is now called) though not entirely accurate.  As a former Electronic Warfare Instructor I used to teach this stuff.  The Flight Global report is, shall we say, a little optimistic about what chaff was capable of in those days. 

 

The key thing is that the missile homing head on any active (or for that matter semi-active) missile cannot see the ships beam or waterline.  All it sees is the radar cross section (RCS) which is greatest- the spike or flash - where there is the greatest radar reflection - probably those areas that are at 90 degrees to the incoming radar signal or areas where there is a natural 90 degree corner but it is to a degree relative to the radar wavelength.  Look at any modern stealthy ship or aircraft and you will see that there are no 90 degree angles.

 

By turning away from the incoming missile, Ian Inskip instantly removed the beam RCS flash.  But of course by doing so at 24 kts, he caused the ship to heel quite markedly to port which presented a nice 90 degree reflector where the hangar door meets the wide waist just aft of the Sea Cat launcher.  I can't remember if the hangar door was open or not - if open it would be even worse because the open hangar would enhance the return.

 

Would chaff have helped?  I don't think so, not with the chaff rockets that were available in 1982 in this particular scenario.  That's not to say that chaff doesn't work because it does.  It saved my life in 1991, but that's another story that I won't go into here.

[Francis Macnaughton]

The Flight Global report is certainly wrong on one bit - the attack that hit Atlantic Conveyor was initially targeted on HMS Ambuscade (I was the Officer of the Watch at the time) which was the first ship to detect the Agave search radar on the Etendards.  We took the standard chaff and manoeuvre counter measures and were well separated from the targeted position by the time the Exocet homing head would have switched on.  Presumably the homing head on switch on found Conveyor first as the nearest radar return to the expected position and went for that.  I saw the official report some time afterwards and there was never any suggestion that the carriers had actually been targeted.  Glamorgan was attacked by a surface launched Exocet which has a shorter range than the air launched variety and initial targeting by one of the shore based search radars that were transmitting anyway so there was no cue to alert the ship until the call from the NGFOs went out.  This would leave very little time to do anything meaningful before the homing head switched on and found the ship where it was expected to be so the chaff at the time would have had no chance of distracting the Exocet in those circumstances.