Background on the HMS Glasgow
The destroyer was the first British warship to enter the Falkland Islands Exclusion Zone on May 1, 1982, as the incursion of the Argentineans brought down the weight of the British military in protection of the people of the Falkland Islands.
This period earnt HMS Glasgow her reputation as a lucky ship, particularly for her miraculous escape when a bomb passed clear through her engine room without exploding or causing serious injury.
The destroyer had been operating in company with the frigate HMS Brilliant when three waves of Argentinian aircraft flew in to attack. A bomb entered Glasgow’s after-engine room. It passed over the main machinery and out of the port side, leaving a three-foot diameter hold on each side.
This potentially lethal event took Glasgow out of the war zone for only three days for emergency repairs, before she returned to the front and resumed her air defence role.
This turbulent time also saw Glasgow become the first Type 42 to land a Sea King on her flightdeck. The landing was an emergency call, and short of fuel and in desperation the Sea King landed on the destroyer’s tight flightdeck with only three feet to spare between the helicopter’s rotor tips and the ship’s hangar.
HMS Glasgow is now returning to the Falklands as part of her deployment on Atlantic Patrol Task (South), which will also see her visiting West Africa and South America in the course of her duties.
As the new Type 45 destroyers begin to take shape in shipbuilding yards across the UK, HMS Glasgow proves that even in the twilight of her career she can still keep the White Ensign
flying around the globe.
The current HMS Glasgow is the eighth Royal Naval ship to bear the name with a history that goes back to the early 1700s.
The first, a sixth rate, was originally named Royal Mary in 1696 and part of the Scots Navy. But once the union of England and Scotland was completed, the Scots ships became part of the Royal Navy and with two Royal Marys on the books, the Scottish ship was renamed Glasgow in 1707.
The second Glasgow was also a sixth rate, launched in Hull in 1745 but for some reason her care was neglected and she was laid up in need of extensive repairs in 1752 and sold for scrap in 1756.
Hull also saw the birth of the third HMS Glasgow, another sixth rate, in 1757. She was the first to accumulate battle honours for the name in action against the French and Americans. Her downfall was brought about by a steward making a private raid on the rum store while she was anchored in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Despite the best efforts of the crew, the third Glasgow burnt to the waterline and was lost in June 1779.
The fourth ship to bear the name was a frigate built in 1814 to take on the US Navy’s ships and in the course of the conflict she won a reputation as one of the best gunnery ships in the Navy. She served her country well until being broken up in Chatham in 1829.
The fifth Glasgow, a wood-screw frigate, was launched in 1861 but her career was not illustrious and she was sold on in 1884.
The sixth Glasgow, a second class cruiser, was the first to be built in Scotland and served through World War I, particularly winning distinction in battle with Admiral Von Spee off the Falkland Islands. She was eventually scrapped in 1927, but her guns were returned to store and all saw service in World War II.
The seventh Glasgow, a 9,100-ton cruiser commissioned in 1937, saw action in the various arenas of World War II and continued her career until eventual scrapping in 1958.
Facts and Figures
Class: Type 42 destroyer (Batch 1)
Pennant number: D88
Builder: Swan Hunter, Wallsend
Launched: April 14, 1976
Commissioned: May 24, 1979
Displacement: 4,800 tons
Length: 125 metres
Beam: 14.3 metres
Draught: 4.7 metres
Speed: 28 knots
Complement: 250 (26 officers)
Main machinery: COGOG (Combined gas turbine or gas turbine); two Rolls-Royce Olympus and two Rolls-Royce Tyne engines; two shafts; controllable pitch propellers
Weapons: Sea Dart surface-to-air missiles; one 4.5 inch gun; two 20mm guns; Phlanx close-in weapon system; helicopter can launch depth charges, Stingray torpedoes or Sea Skua anti-ship missiles
Sensors: Type 1022 air search radar; Type 996 air/surface search radar; Type 1007 and Type 1008 navigation radar; also hull-mounted sonar
Aircraft: One Lynx general purpose helicopter
Linear Mode
