Type 82 destroyer
The Type 82 or "Bristol"-class destroyer was to have been a class of eight Royal Navy guided missile destroyers mounting the Sea Dart missile, intended to replace the Seaslug-armed s. They would provide area air-defence over carrier task forces and could serve independently in the modern cruiser role East of Suez. With long range air, surface and anti submarine missile capability and would also serve in a group of four Type 82s and four "Broad Beam" "Leander"-class frigates as outer and inner escorts to the planned CVA-01 aircraft carriers. The CVA-01s were cancelled in 1966 , eliminating one of the main roles for the class and removing the need for such a large design. A smaller design also mounting Sea Dart was designed to fill the air defence role, emerging as the Type 42 destroyer. One Type 82 was ordered anyway, , to act as a testbed for the various technologies to be used on future ships. Sometimes described as a "light cruiser", she was officially classified as a destroyer. History. The CVA-01 aircraft carrier project was cancelled in the 1966 Defence White Paper, eliminating the requirement for the Type 82 class. Nevertheless, one hull of the  original four was ordered on 4 October 1966 for use as a testbed for new technologies. HMS "Bristol" was laid down in 1967, featuring four new systems: 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 its heavy reliance on manual data input. 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 the area air defence role in a Cold War, North Atlantic 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 flight deck and hangar for its own air component providing improved anti-submarine, surface-strike and general utility to the design. Design. The Type 82 was loosely based on the layout of the and the Type 12I (hence the inclusion in the escort Type numbering system.) However  the County and "Leander" designs provided only a limited weapon and command replacement for the war built cruisers the last of which had been decommissioned in 1962-65. The County class depended on data links from "Eagle", "Hermes" and "Victorious" the three aircraft carriers with 984 3D radar and ADWAS computers which were able to track 50-100 targets and prioritize targets for fighters, missiles and long range AA. The later Tiger-class cruisers were completed too late with unreliable machinery and automatic guns prone to jamming. The Tigers were inefficient East of Suez and similar problems plagued the last  Battle-class destroyer and "Darings". The Countys had the same obsolescent 4.5 guns and obsolete Seaslug missile system. Their helicopter facilities were cumbersome and unrealistic at night for deterrence of nuclear submarines in the Soviet fleet or even diesel submarines of the Chinese navy and other Far-East fleets. The serious naval confrontation with Indonesia of 1963-6, showed Asian powers now had jet bombers armed with cruise missiles, and RN legacy carriers with subsonic second generation de Havilland Sea Vixen and Supermarine Scimitar fighters were insufficient. Three of the RN strike carriers in 1963-65 had capacity for only  25 aircraft, which was completely inadequate for the required mix of strike aircraft, fighters, interceptors, tankers, Fairey Gannets and anti-submarine helicopters or aircraft. Moving the anti-submarine requirement to separate small cruisers or carriers armed with either 4-6 anti submarine helicopters or more reliable dual conventional/nuclear missile anti-submarine missiles such as Ikara or ASROC propelled the development of the Type 82 which impressive legend was set on 7 July 1965. Other East of Suez issues in the Gulf and with Egypt, UAE and China and unstated India. Iraq and Iran were also seen as justifying more  powerful cruiser substitutes as aircraft carrier complements. As with the County class, gun armament was light, no light AA was included prior to the 1982 Falklands War and the warships were unarmoured. Scantlings, supply and storage capacity was based on destroyer standards as in the preceding Countys and scaled down on the follow-on Type 42, the Type 82 was a much more spacious warship better planned for sustained crew functionality in operational conditions in distant waters. 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. 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-class design. 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 aircraft capable of carrying a Mk.44 homing torpedo or nuclear depth bomb out to 10 miles from the ship. The Ikara primary anti-submarine weapon  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. Electronics. The original design called for a long-range 3-D air search radar to be fitted; the joint Anglo-Dutch Type 988 "Broomstick", and early drawings and artist's 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 RN dropped out of the program  due to high cost, and instead she was fitted with the ageing 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 commanded from an operations room within the ship rather than the traditional location of the bridge. 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. Because this class of destroyer was proposed to be deployed alongside the new aircraft carriers, both of these capabilities were intended to be  delivered from other components of the carrier battle group. Within a few years these features would be standard on ships of this size and type. These deficiencies limited her to squadron (rather than individual patrol) duties, and "Bristol" is usually seen as something of a white elephant. 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 three years using only her turbine 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 World War II-era Oerlikon 20 mm cannons. During this refit the Limbo weapon was removed; the well subsequently saw service as a makeshift swimming pool. Thanks to her size, "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, during which the mortar well was plated over to allow the landing of large helicopters on the quarterdeck, 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. 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. In 1987 she became part of Dartmouth training squadron, for which duties she had extra accommodation and classrooms added in the former Ikara and Limbo spaces. Finally she was withdrawn from service on 14 June 1991 and configured for her current role in 1993 as a replacement for as a static training ship at , a shore  facility in Portsmouth. As of 28 October 2020, "Bristol" was decommissioned and is currently awaiting disposal.