HMS ''Antrim'' was a destroyer of the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

launched on 19 October 1967. In the Falklands War, she was the flagship for the recovery of South Georgia, participating in the first ever anti-submarine operation successfully conducted exclusively by helicopters. In 1984, she was commissioned into the

Chilean Navy The Chilean Navy ( es, Armada de Chile) is the naval warfare service branch of the Chilean Armed Forces. It is under the Ministry of National Defense. Its headquarters are at Edificio Armada de Chile, Valparaiso. History Origins and the War ...

, and renamed ''Almirante Cochrane''.

Background

''Antrim'' first commissioned in 1970 and served her first commission in home and Mediterranean waters. In the mid-1970s, the Royal Navy removed 'B' turret and replaced it with four

Exocet The Exocet () is a French-built anti-ship missile whose various versions can be launched from surface vessels, submarines, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Etymology The missile's name was given by M. Guillot, then the technical director ...

missile launchers to give her a greater anti-ship capability. After installation of the Exocet missiles it was found that the missile could be activated by small arms fire, so armoured plates were fitted to the outer sides of the missiles containers.

Operational history

In 1976 her commission included a visit to Stockholm, where she represented the Royal Navy at the wedding of the

King of Sweden The monarchy of Sweden is the monarchical head of state of Sweden,See the Instrument of Government, Chapter 1, Article 5. which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system.Parliamentary system: see the Instrument ...

Falklands War

In 1982 she formed part of the Royal Navy task force for service in the Falklands War. ''Antrim'' was the flagship of

Operation Paraquet Operation Paraquet was the code name for the British military operation to recapture the island of South Georgia from Argentine military control in April 1982 at the start of the Falklands War. The operation, a subsidiary of the main Operatio ...

, the recovery of South Georgia in April 1982, where she took part in a 400-shell bombardment. Her helicopter, a Westland Wessex HAS.Mk3, was responsible for the rescue of 16 SAS men from

Fortuna Glacier Fortuna Glacier is a tidewater glacier at the mouth of Cumberland Bay on the island of South Georgia Island, South Georgia. It flows in a northeast direction to its terminus just west of Cape Best, with an eastern distributary almost reaching the ...

, and the crew of two previous rescue helicopters that had crashed. The aircraft played a key role in the detection and disabling of the Argentinian submarine . This was the first ever anti-submarine operation successfully conducted exclusively by helicopters. Captain Lagos, commander of the Argentine forces on South Georgia, signed the surrender document for the Argentine forces there in her wardroom. Lieutenant-Commander

Alfredo Astiz Alfredo Ignacio Astiz (born 8 November 1951) is an Argentine former military commander, intelligence officer, and naval commando who served in the Argentine Navy during the military dictatorship of Jorge Rafael Videla during the Proceso de Reorg ...

signed a separate document shortly afterwards aboard . While supporting the main landing at

San Carlos Water San Carlos Water is a bay/fjord on the west coast of East Falkland, facing onto the Falkland Sound. Name Despite its Spanish-sounding name, there is a wide discrepancy with the Spanish usage, for in Spanish "Estrecho de San Carlos" refers ...

, 12 bombs narrowly missed, but a bomb penetrated ''Antrim''. It did not explode or kill anyone, and it took 10 hours to remove. ''Antrim'' fired her Sea Slug missile system at an

Argentine Air Force "Argentine Wings" , mascot = , anniversaries = 10 August (anniversary) 1 May (Baptism of fire during the Falklands War) , equipment = 139 aircraft , equipment_label = , battles = * Operation Independence * Operation Soberanía * Falkl ...

Douglas A-4 Skyhawk The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a single-seat subsonic carrier-capable light attack aircraft developed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps in the early 1950s. The delta-winged, single turbojet engined Skyhawk was designed a ...

without hitting it. A name board formerly belonging to her now resides in the

Falkland Islands Museum The Falkland Islands Museum is located at the historical dockyard site in Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is run by the Falkland Islands Museum and National Trust (FIMNT), which is a registered char ...

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

Chilean Navy

''Antrim'' was decommissioned in 1984 and sold to Chile on 22 June 1984. The Chileans renamed her ''Almirante Cochrane'' after Thomas Cochrane, who had commanded the Chilean Navy from 1817 to 1822. In 1994, ''Almirante Cochrane'' underwent the same refit as her sister ship ''Blanco Encalada'' (HMS ''Fife''). This entailed removing her Sea Slug launcher and extending her deck aft to allow the installation of a new, larger hangar. In 1996 she received the Barak SAM in place of her

Seacat Seacat may refer to: * Seacat missile, a short-range surface-to-air missile system * SeaCat (1992–2004), ferry company formerly operating from between Northern Ireland, Scotland and England * The Sea-Cat, an imaginary monster from Flann O'Brien' ...

launchers. The Chilean Navy decommissioned ''Almirante Cochrane'' on 7 December 2006. On 11 December 2010, she was towed to China for scrap.

Affiliates as HMS ''Antrim''

Royal Irish Rangers The Royal Irish Rangers (27th (Inniskilling), 83rd and 87th) was a regular infantry regiment of the British Army with a relatively short existence, formed in 1968 and later merged with the Ulster Defence Regiment in 1992 to form the Royal Iris ...

As part of her relationship with

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

, she carried a piece of the

Giant's Causeway The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (5 km) northeast of ...

mounted in the ship's main passageway, appropriately also named the Giant's Causeway.

Commanding officers

Notable commanding officers include D A Loram 1971-1973 and B G Young 1981-1983.

Notes

Sources

* * McCart, Neil, 2014. ''County Class Guided Missile Destroyers'', Maritime Books. * Yates, D. (2006) ''Bomb Alley – Falklands War 1982: Aboard HMS Antrim at War'', Pen & Sword Maritime, * Parry, Chris (2012) "Down South: a Falklands War Diary" Viking Penguin

External links

HMS Antrim Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Antrim (D18) County-class destroyers of the Royal Navy Ships built in Govan 1967 ships Cold War destroyers of the United Kingdom Falklands War naval ships of the United Kingdom Falklands War in South Georgia County-class destroyers of the Chilean Navy