HMS Tiger (C20)
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HMS Tiger pre-conversion | ||
| Career | 
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|---|---|---|
| Ordered: | 1941 | |
| Laid down: | October 1941 | |
| Launched: | October 1945 | |
| Commissioned: | March 1959 | |
| Decommissioned: | April 1978 | |
| Fate: | Scrapped September 1986 | |
| General Characteristics | ||
| Displacement: | 11,700 tons (12,080 tons after conversion) | |
| Length: | 555.5 ft (169.3 m) | |
| Beam: | 64 ft (19.5 m) | |
| Draught: | 23 ft (7 m) | |
| Propulsion: | Steam turbines, 4 shafts, 4 boilers, 80,000 shp | |
| Speed: | 31.5 knots | |
| Range: | 8,000 nautical miles at 16 knots | |
| Complement: | 716 (885 after conversion) | |
| Armament: | 4 x 6-in guns (2 later removed after conversion)
6 x 3-in guns (4 later removed after conversion) 2 x Seacat quad missile launchers (added after conversion) | |
| Aircraft: | 4 helicopters (originally Wessex then Sea King) | |
HMS Tiger was a conventional cruiser of the Royal Navy, one of a three ship class known as the Tiger class. Tiger was ordered as Bellerophon, and laid down in 1941 as part of the Minotaur-class light cruisers. They had a low construction prioity due to more pressing requirements for other ship types during WWII. Bellerophon was renamed Tiger in 1945, and was launched, partially constructed, that year. However, work on Tiger was suspended in 1946.
Construction of Tiger resumed, but to a new design, with Tiger becoming the nameship of the class. Tiger was finally commissioned in 1959. She took part in operations in the Far East during the Indonesian Confrontation in the early 1960s. In 1966, talks between Prime Ministers Harold Wilson and Ian Smith, the latter of which had declared the former colony of Rhodesia independent from Britain due to Britain's insistence on black majority rule there. Tiger was placed in reserve in 1966 before undergoing conversion to a helicopter and commando cruiser from 1968-72.
The refit was very expensive, some say the many millions to convert Tiger, as-well as Blake to helicopter cruisers drained much needed resources better used elsewhere. She was recommissioned in 1972. Tiger took part in the 1977 Silver Jubilee Fleet Review in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II, but only the following year Tiger was placed in reserve, subsequently being placed on the disposal list in 1979. She was scrapped in 1986 in Spain.
See HMS Tiger for other ships of the name.
| Tiger-class cruiser |
| Blake | Lion | Tiger |
| List of cruisers of the Royal Navy |