The legendary battleship of the British Navy was retired, the only bodyguard of the aborted large aircraft carrier, and the flagship of the Falklands naval battle

The Royal Navy has been the global maritime hegemon for the past hundreds of years.

The 1982 Battle of Ingama Island was the last serious naval battle of the Royal Navy so far. As mentioned on the cover of Newsweek, it was an "Empire Strikes Back" (1980 The Star Wars Act II, which was released in 2016), and now, the last ship to witness the naval battle and the flagship at the end of the naval battle, the Type 82 destroyer "Bristol" (D23) has recently retired.

On October 28, the "Bristol", which had been berthed at the Whale Island Wharf in Portsmouth, the main base of the Royal Navy for 30 years, lowered the British navy flag and officially retired, which was officially retired in 1973. It has been 47 years since it served and joined the Navy. This destroyer, which once represented the highest level of the British in the 1960s and 1970s, served as a training ship on the dock most of the time. Heroes are useless.

▲The "Bristol" serving as a training ship

The "Bristol" is the only Type 82 guided-missile destroyer with a full load displacement of 7,000 tons, which is slightly larger than the previous generation of 6,200 tons of the "County" class, and more than its successor-the 4200 tons of Type 42 The guided missile destroyer is much larger. It was originally planned to be the main escort ship of the new large British aircraft carrier CVA01 in the 1960s. It will build 4 to 8 ships, but as the first ship, it was from the Swan Hunter Shipyard in 1969. After he was launched into the water, he became a "lonely man".

▲The mainmast radar was modified after the Falklands War

The culprit was the British Labor Party government, which came to power in the 1960s. In 1966, it issued the "National Defense White Paper", which hacked to death many major armament projects related to the recovery of the British military. The original plan was to replace the "Eagle" built at the end of World War II. Dismounted together with the "Royal Ark" large fleet aircraft carrier, the CVA-01 with a displacement of 54,000 tons, and the TRS.2 supersonic attack aircraft, and the Type 82, which is the bodyguard of the new aircraft carrier, is naturally useless.

▲CVA01 restoration drawing, ejection takeoff

The Type 82 destroyer uses a combined steam-fuel power similar to that of the "County" class. This is also a technology originally created by Britain in the 1960s. It has played a transitional role for the future popularization of marine gas turbines. It is mainly used for air defense and anti-submarine purposes. For the first time, the "Sea Javelin" mid-range and long-range ship-to-air missiles fired obliquely with both arms were used, and the "Yikara" anti-submarine missile developed by Australia was equipped with a helicopter platform at the stern but no hangar.

▲"Sea Javelin" at the stern

In 1982, Argentina regained the Malvinas Islands (called the Falkland Islands in Britain), which had been occupied by the British for many years. The then Prime Minister Mrs. Thatcher quickly organized a large task force to travel thousands of miles to the Falkland Islands.

As the flagship of the reinforcement fleet, "Bristol" led 2 destroyers and 5 frigates to the theater on May 26 of that year. At this time, the 2 most advanced Type 42 destroyers "Sheffield" and "Sherfield" "Coventry", two Type 21 female generals frigates, all sank in the cold South Atlantic Ocean.

▲The "Sheffield" sunk by the Flying Fish missile

After the heavy losses, the Royal Navy gradually gained the upper hand. The "Bristol" launched two "Sea Javelins", but failed to hit any Argentine fighters. The flagship of the task force "Sports God" (sold to 1986) India, renamed the "Villat") after the aircraft carrier returned to Britain, the "Bristol" became the flagship of the task force and continued to operate in the theater.

▲Supply on Asuncion Island in the Atlantic Ocean in 1982

However, after this battle, the "Bristol" sailed less frequently, and did not participate in the Gulf War like its successor, the well-reputed Type 42 destroyer. After 1991, it was basically used as a training ship. , Parked in Portsmouth, motionless.