1:700 HMS Cerberus (C22), Royal Navy Tiger-Class Cruiser; during deployment with Task Force 317 to the Falkland Islands/Malvinas (Southern Atlantic), 1982 (Whif/modified Matchbox kit)

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

 

 

Some background:

The Tiger-class cruisers were the last class of all-gun cruisers completed for the British Royal Navy. They came from an order of 8 Minotaur-class cruisers in 1941-2; work on the second group of three ships was effectively suspended in mid-1944. HMS Cerberus was originally one of these conventional cruisers for the British Royal Navy. Cerberus started out as HMS Superb and was the last of the Minotaurs to be built. The ship was completed to a slightly different design to that of the previous members of the class, with a foot more beam than her immediate predecessor HMS Swiftsure.

With Superb, the first Type 275 sets, modified versions of the lock and follow radar, were introduced to also control anti-aircraft fire of the twin 4-inch mounts. Construction on Superb’s unfinished sister ships was halted after the end of the war and they were later scrapped or converted into the new Tiger-class automatic gun cruisers.

 

Superb herself was planned to be converted to full automatic 6-inch and 3-inch/70 gun Tiger specifications. The plans to modernize Superb at the time of the 1957 Defense Review were much more cost-constricted and would have been similar to the limited modernization of HMS Belfast, with new MRS8 multi-channel directors for four twin 4-inch and six twin proximity fused L70 Bofors and new radar, fire control, AIO and a data link to the modernized carriers Victorious and Hermes.

Superb spent some time as the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Herbert Packer, was refitted in 1955-6 and decommissioned, 18 months later in December 1957, when the ship’s update was cancelled in April 1957. She was approved for disposal 2 years later and arrived at the Dalmuir yards of Arnott Young on 8 August 1960 to be stored, waiting to be eventually scrapped. This did not happen, though.

 

In parallel, the Royal Navy was undergoing severe structural changes: In 1957, the Royal Navy had 21 cruisers, 9 of them in operation, but by 1961 the cruiser fleet had declined to 9 of which 5 were in service. By that time, the revised Tiger Class had been put into service (HMS Tiger was the first converted ship), but its automated weapons turned out to be unreliable and ineffective. One reason for this was that the Tigers’ revised weapon fit was based upon immediate post war requirements, and by the late Fifties her 6 inch turrets were insufficient to guarantee surface fire and were even less effective in the AA role due to improvements in missiles and aircraft. Furthermore, the basic fit of three twin 3 inch turrets was poor for effective, reliable coverage of the fire arcs – even more so without the L60 40mm Bofors guns or twin L70 40mm Bofors guns approved in 1954/57 as essential for CIWS. But the Tigers had no lighter anti-aircraft armament, and also lacked torpedo tubes.

 

Furthermore, the crew lacked space and comfort, even though air conditioning was fitted throughout the ship, and a 200-line automatic telephone exchange was installed.

HMS Tiger’s first captain (Captain Washbourn) said that the ship “(…) had been designed to cope with nuclear attacks, in that she can steam for up to a fortnight through radio-active fall-out with remotely controlled boiler and engine and armament operating with re-circulating purified air below decks, and could operate as a fighting unit even if a nuclear bomb was dropped nearby." However, in real life, the Tigers were not the modern, well-armed, fast, long range cruisers, likely to be “effective ships for a long period to come, and especially is this true east of Suez, where distances are so gigantic." Despite the many deficits, HMS Tiger and its sister ships Blake and Lion were accepted by the Navy in 1959 in order to fill the gaps among operational Royal Navy ships.

 

The ships’ career was lackluster, and in 1966, the decision was made to convert the Tiger Class ships into "helicopter and command cruisers" from 1968-72 in HMNB Devonport. This reconstruction included a thorough reconstruction of the upper structures and of the ship’s rear section, and beyond the modernized hulls of Tiger, Lion and Blake, Superb (still moored at Dalmuir, but surprisingly well preserved) was also chosen for a thorough conversion and further modernization.

In order to accommodate a flying deck, the ships’ hull rear section was widened and the aft 6 inch and 3 inch mounts were removed. Instead, a large, even deck and a hangar underneath to store and operate four helicopters was installed, together with a lift in an armored deck hangar bay.

 

When these plans were announced to Parliament in March 1964, it was said that the Navy did "not expect this conversion work to be difficult or particularly expensive". The refits were planned to take 18 months and to cost £5 million each, and the Tiger class update program was executed. Despite its rather derelict condition, Superb was the first ship to be modified, in order to test the plan and to have a benchmark for the other conversions.

 

Superb was earmarked to be given an even more thorough change, with a lengthened hull, that not only resulted in a larger flight deck with three landing pads instead of only two on the other ships. A 66’5” plug was inserted in front of the hangar section, and the resulting gain in internal space would now allow to store six helicopters and more fuel to operate them.

Superb’s upper structure was different from the other Tiger-Class cruisers, with an additional structure between the hangar and the command section ahead. The space was direly needed for crew accommodation: With the ship's helicopter squadron added, the ship's peacetime complement increased to 985 (95 officers and 870 ratings). The original Tigers had, before their conversion, a complement of roughly 720 men, and this had already been quite cramped. The other, later Tiger ships had, after their modernization, still a crew of round 880 men.

 

The modified upper structure of Superb was, however, also used for more sophisticated radar systems, which would allow long-range air space observation. The original two separate funnels for the four engines were grouped into a single structure, what made room for a second antenna array mast.

The ship’s armament was modified, too. Only the automatic 6 in turret on the front deck remained as gun armament, the former 3 in station behind it was replaced with a SeaDart SAM launcher against airborne attackers at medium range and altitude. In order to protect the ship from incoming aircraft and esp. modern, low-flying missiles at closer range, a pair of 20mm Oerlikon guns were added, as well as three automated Raytheon Phalanx CIWS 20 mm close-range Gatling guns, one placed on each side of the hull and the third one on top of the hangar structure.

In this new guise, the ship was re-christened Cerberus (C22), and even though she differed considerably from its shorter sister ships Tiger (C20), Lion (C34) and Blake (C99), Cerberus was still counted to the Tiger-class of cruisers. They all had, after the renovation, excellent command, control and communications facilities installed, and found use as flagships to task groups.

 

Despite the high costs and the extensive modernization phase, Cerberus was eventually recommissioned on 6 May 1972. The reconstruction of Superb, Blake, Lion and Tiger was examined in the third report of the Public Accounts Committee for 1972. Michael Barnes said in parliament that the refits "show too lax an attitude towards the way in which the taxpayers' money is being spent". "...”, but in the end, the Tiger-Class refit took over five years and cost over £28 million. Rear-Admiral Morgan-Giles suggested bringing the full-fledged aircraft carrier HMS Eagle back into commission instead of manning the Tiger-Class cruisers, which he said were "among the worst abortions which have ever been thrust on the Royal Navy."

 

The Tigers’ large crew (and esp. Cerberus with 100 men on top) made them expensive ships to operate and maintain, and the complex systems, esp. the aircraft infrastructure, raised operational costs even further. When the economic difficulties of the late seventies came around, this led to a defense manpower drawdown that resulted in manpower shortages. As consequence Cerberus was, together with the other Tiger ships, placed in reserve again in 1978. She was decommissioned on 4 May 1979 and soon put on the disposal list, but Cerberus and her sister-ships remained listed as part of the Standby Squadron, moored inactive at HMNB Chatham until further notice.

 

When the Falklands War broke out in early April 1982, the Tiger-Class ships were rapidly surveyed and it was determined that HMS Tiger and HMS Cerberus were still in very good material shape. Both were immediately dry-docked (Tiger in Portsmouth and Cerberus at Chatham) and recommissioning work was begun.

Whilst there was speculation that their remaining 6-inch guns would be useful for shore bombardment, the real reason for their potential deployment was the size of their flight decks (Cerberus offered the third largest in the Royal Navy at that time, after the aircraft carriers Hermes and Invincible, Tiger came in the fourth place).They offered the potential to use them as mobile forward operating and refueling bases for Task Force (Sea) Harriers, even though their benefit would be more as platforms to extend the range and endurance of the Harriers and as a refueling stop on the way back to the carriers, rather than as somewhere to operate offensive missions from.

Cerberus was intended to place two pairs of Sea Harriers as an extended-range CAP (Combat Air Patrol) ahead of the two carriers, reducing their own exposure to air strikes, but the need to take off vertically rather than the use of a ski-jump severely reduced the Harriers' endurance and weapons carrying capability. Two Sea Kings would also be carried for SAR and aerial surveillance missions, and there were plans to use the ship as launch platform for small commando troops on helicopters.

 

The British government had no contingency plan for an invasion of the islands, and the British task force was rapidly put together from whatever vessels were available, including HMS Cerberus. The nuclear-powered submarine Conqueror set sail from France on 4 April, whilst the two aircraft carriers Invincible and Hermes, in the company of escort vessels, left Portsmouth only a day later. The whole task force eventually comprised 127 ships: 43 Royal Navy vessels, 22 Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships and 62 merchant ships.

 

The retaking of the Falkland Islands was considered extremely difficult. The chances of a British counter-invasion succeeding were assessed by the US Navy, according to historian Arthur Herman, as "a military impossibility". Firstly, the British were significantly constrained by the disparity in deployable air cover. The British had 42 aircraft (28 Sea Harriers and 14 Harrier GR.3s) available for air combat operations, against approximately 122 serviceable jet fighters, of which about 50 were used as air superiority fighters and the remainder as strike aircraft, in Argentina's air forces during the war. Crucially, the British lacked airborne early warning and control (AEW) aircraft with suitable range - the Sea King AEW helicopters were only able to cover the direct vicinity of the carriers, in order to protect them from Exocet missile attacks from vessels and aircraft.

 

HMS Cerberus was ordered on 2 April 1982 to join the task force being assembled to retake the islands. Ammunition and supplies were taken on board. To avoid her being mistaken for Argentinean cruisers, a vertical black marking was painted on the funnel and down to the side to her waterline to aid recognition – a marking that soon disappeared after initial battle contacts, because Argentinian Skyhawk pilots used these markings as visual aims to place their bombs!

Departing for the South Atlantic HMS Cerberus reached Ascension Island on 10 April, sailing from there on 14 April accompanied by HMS Arrow, HMS Brilliant, HMS Coventry, HMS Glasgow and HMS Sheffield to be later joined by RFA Appleleaf. They joined other vessels of the Task Force 317 and commenced operations in the Total Exclusion Zone around the Falklands on 1 May 1982.

 

It was British policy that any Royal Navy vessel that suspected it might be under missile attack would turn toward the threat, accelerate to maximum speed and fire chaff to prevent the ship being caught defenseless again. The codeword used to start this procedure was 'handbrake', which had to be broadcast once the signal of the Super E Agave radar of Super Étendard aircraft was picked up.

 

Cerberus was first detected by an Argentine Naval Aviation Lockheed SP-2H Neptune (2-P-112) patrol aircraft at 07:50 on 4 May 1982. The Neptune kept the British ships under surveillance, verifying their position again at 08:14 and 08:43. Two Argentine Navy Super Étendards, both armed with AM39 Exocets, took off from Río Grande naval air base at 09:45. At 10:35, the Neptune climbed to 1,170 meters (3,840 ft) and detected two large and two medium-sized contacts. A few minutes later, the Neptune contacted the Super Étendards with this information. Flying at very low altitude at approximately 10:50, both Super Étendards climbed to 160 meters (520 ft) to verify these contacts but failed to locate them and returned to low altitude. 25 miles (40 km) later they climbed again and, after a few seconds of scanning, the targets appeared on their radar screens.

Both pilots loaded the coordinates into their weapons systems, returned to low level, and after last minute checks, each launched an AM39 Exocet missile at 11:04 while 20 to 30 miles (32 to 48 km) away from their targets.

 

One of these Exocets struck Cerberus, even though the missile was detected and a SeaDart ASM launched on short notice to counter it - but without success. The Exocet hit and impacted on the starboard side at deck level 2, traveling through the junior ratings' scullery and breaching the Forward Auxiliary Machinery Room/Forward Engine Room bulkhead 2.4 meters (7 ft 10 in) above the waterline, creating a hole in the hull roughly 1.2 by 3 meters (3.9 by 9.8 ft). Cerberus’ second line of defense, the Phalanx CIWS, though, apparently hit the missile and damaged it, because the warhead did not explode. Nevertheless, the missile’s initial impact disabled the ship's electrical distribution systems and breached the pressurized sea water fire main, severely hampering any potential firefighting response. With this severe damage, doubts about the ship's self-defense capabilities and a crew of almost 1.000 men exposed to further attacks, Cerberus was retired and sent back home. Before leaving the theatre of operation on 6 May, Cerberus’ complement of four Sea Harriers and two Sea Kings, together with their crews and maintenance personnel, was transferred to HMS Hermes.

Another ship from the same group, HMS Sheffield, was hit by the other Exocet missile and sank after fire broke out. The loss of Sheffield was a deep shock to the British public and government and justified the decision to save Cerberus and its crew from a similar fate with potentially disastrous outcome.

 

Back in Great Britain, Cerberus was immediately decommissioned again and tied to a mooring buoy in Portsmouth harbor. After the hostilities in the Southern Atlantic had ended, Chile showed a faint interest in acquiring the Tiger-Class ships, but this did not get past the discussion stage. Cerberus existed in a slowly deteriorating condition until mid-1986 and, following competitive tendering, she was sold for scrap to Desguaces Varela of Spain. She was towed to Spain and scrapping started in October 1986.

 

 

General characteristics:

Class and type: Tiger-class light cruiser

Displacement: 11.170 tons standard, 13.530 tons deep load

Length: 622.1 ft (189.9 m) overall

Beam: 64 ft (20 m)

Draught: 21 ft (6.4 m)

Complement: 985

 

Propulsion:

4× Admiralty-type three drum boilers (400 psi),

driving 4× Parsons shaft steam turbines, producing 80,000 shp

 

Performance:

Speed: 31.5 knots (58 km/h)

Range: 2,000 nautical miles (3,704 km) at 30 knots (55.6 km/h)

4,000 nautical miles (7,408 km) at 20 knots (37.0 km/h)

6,500 nautical miles (12,038 km) at 13 knots (24.1 km/h)

 

Sensors and processing systems:

Types 278, 903 (x4), 965M, 992Q radars, Types 174, 176 and 185 sonars

 

Armament:

2× 6-inch (1 × 2)

1× Sea Dart SAM missile system (1 × 2)

2× Oerlikon 20 mm cannons

3 × Raytheon Phalanx CIWS 20 mm close-range Gatling guns

SeaGnat launchers for chaff or flare decoys

Up to six aircraft; initially only helicopters (Westland Wessex, then Sea King),

but later Hawker Sea Harrier VTOL aircraft could be operated, too

 

 

The kit and its assembly:

Well, I am treading on hazardous terrain with this one, but I like the challenge. I have built some ships in the past, including some of Matchbox’ waterline models in 1:100, but that was decades ago. But for the current “in the navy” group build I found a ship model to be a suitable submission.

 

I have never built Matchbox’ HMS Tiger before, though, but I found the concept of a WWII cruiser turned into a quasi-modern heli carrier so absurd that the ship lent itself as basis. My initial idea was to create a fictional Royal Navy Tiger-class ship, but with Sea Harriers on board, part of Task Force 317 that took part in the Falklands conflict. For that purpose I had already stashed away a Revell HMS Invincible, primarily for the Sea Harriers, which are not available as aftermarket sets (e .g. from Trumpeter – you only get AV-8Bs, and the difference is quite visible).

 

However, for a what-if model, OOB is never enough – with the Invincible kit at hand I quickly considered some transplants and detail changes, and finally I wanted to enlarge the landing deck for more traffic and operational security. This called for a hull extension, and this is where the real adventure began.

 

I found a straight hull section around the hangar area, and with an L-shaped cut the ship was cut in two pieces. A 3cm 1.5mm styrene plug, together with internal stiffeners, was implanted, and the landing deck replaced with a tailored piece of 0.5mm styrene sheet.

 

The section between the hangar and the command structure was totally changed with parts from the Invincible’s kit, including a twin funnel that replaces Tiger’s separate funnels. The masts were also modified – the rear mast come from the Tiger, but made slightly taller, while the front mast comes from Invincible, but it was shortened.

The Invincible kit was furthermore used a donor bank for the modified armament and the aircraft models (4 Sea Harriers, 2 SeaKings, (one of them an AEW.2 with a retracted radome) and a Lynx).

 

 

Painting and markings:

Since I like subtle what-if models, I stayed close to the paint scheme of the real HMS Tiger: all upper structures in a uniform light grey (I assume it is RN “Light Weatherwork Grey”, BS 381C 676? But I am absolutely NO expert when it comes to ship camouflage and the respective authentic tones!) with a black waterline, together with deck surfaces in very dark grey (black?) and sea green. I used, after an unsuccessful experiment with FS 16473 (ADC Grey, from Modelmaster), which turned out to have a weird, greenish touch, Humbrol 127 (FS 36375), Revell 9 (Anthracite) and Humbrol 88 (Royal Navy Deck Green).

 

Due to the small scale of the model I added only a VERY light black ink washing for more contrast between the single structures and surfaces and to point out details on the hull. The whole painting process turned out to be nightmare, because there are so many edges and small parts – I know now (again) why I am not a fan of small-scale ship models!

 

The quick ID marker for British aircraft was created with black decal sheet material – very simple and effective. The landing deck markings come partly from the HMS Tiger OOB sheet, but some more white stripes were added. The tactical codes on the flanks and on the landing deck were created with single letters in black and white in various sizes. While the font is not exactly RN-like (it should be more squared), it works well.

 

Finally, the model received a coat with matt acrylic varnish from the rattle can, and final details were added, like the lifeboats (which received, according to real life pictures, different liveries in bright red and a dull dark blue), a crane and the aircraft – the Sea Kings and three Sea Harriers were painted in Dark Sea Grey while one Sea Harrier and the Lynx received a dark blue/white “peacetime livery”, in order to add some highlights to the flight deck.

 

 

Well, the first 1:700 ship model after years, and probably the last one for the next decades. This is not my home turf, but I am happy that I used the group build to motivate myself enough to tackle it. I am not 100% satisfied with the outcome, but that’s due to the many conversions and my lack of ship building experience. In the end, I can live with HMS Cerberus, since I was able to turn my ideas into model hardware – and overall the ship does not look bad or implausible at all?

 

Done