HMS Antelope

1982

San Carlos, the unexploded bomb, the photograph Location: Falkland Sound, San Carlos Water · Coordinates: 51.57°S 59.00°W · Casualties: 1 · Survivors: 174 · Depth: 50 m · Cause: aerial attack · delayed bomb detonation — Bombed by Argentine A-4 Skyhawks at San Carlos Water on the afternoon of 23 May 1982. Two 1,000-pound bombs lodged unexploded in her hull. During the attempt to defuse them that evening, one detonated, cutting her in half. She burned through the night and exploded spectacularly in a single fireball at 10:10 on 24 May. · Fate: war grave · broke in two · dispersed · Type: frigate · Type 21 · Tonnage: 3,250 tons · Crew: 175 · Flag: United Kingdom · Launched: 1972 Royal Navy Type 21 frigate, on picket duty in San Carlos Water during the Falklands landings. Bombed by Argentine A-4 Skyhawks on the afternoon of 23 May 1982; two 1,000-pound bombs lodged unexploded in her hull. During the evening defusing attempt, one detonated and cut her in half. She burned through the night and went up in a single fireball on the morning of the 24th, producing the most widely reproduced British naval photograph of the war. The Vessel HMS Antelope (F170) was a Type 21 frigate of the Royal Navy, commissioned at Vosper Thornycroft at Woolston, Hampshire, on 19 July 1975. She was 117 metres long, 3,250 tons full load, armed with a single 4.5-inch Mark 8 gun, a Sea Cat surface-to-air missile system, two Exocet MM38 anti-ship missiles, and two triple Mark 32 anti-submarine torpedo tubes. Her designed speed was 32 knots on twin Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B gas turbines and two Tyne cruise turbines. The Type 21 class, eight ships built between 1974 and 1979, was the first Royal Navy class to use combined gas turbine (COGOG) propulsion and the first to use commercial-design hulls with naval-combat-systems integration. The class had been controversial within the Royal Navy from its outset: the commercial-design hull (adapted from the Vosper Thornycroft Mk 10 commercial warship design) had been criticised as having inadequate damage-control subdivision, and the aluminium superstructure had raised the same fire-risk concerns as the Type 42 destroyer class. The Type 21 was designed primarily for the General Purpose Frigate role, escorting fleet units and conducting constabulary operations. Her commanding officer in 1982 was Commander Nick Tobin, 38 years old, a career Royal Navy surface warfare officer. Her crew was 175 officers and ratings. The Disaster The unexploded bomb inside HMS Antelope created a tactical situation that the Royal Navy's 1982 doctrine had not adequately anticipated. Warrant Officer John Phillips of the Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal and Search Regiment, flown aboard by helicopter, attempted to defuse the bomb during the late afternoon and evening of 23 May 1982. His initial attempt to remove the detonator using a rocket wrench tool was unsuccessful; the detonator was stuck. His second attempt, at approximately 18:30 on 23 May 1982, used a water-displacement technique that had been effective in previous Argentine bomb recoveries. The bomb detonated at 18:45 on 23 May 1982. The detonation occurred within HMS Antelope's engineering spaces. The resulting fire spread through her ship's centre structure rapidly; her damage-control systems were unable to contain the progressive structural and fire damage. Warrant Officer Phillips was wounded in the detonation but survived. The ship's company was evacuated from the burning wreck over the following two hours. The progressive fire eventually reached HMS Antelope's main armament magazine. The magazine detonated at approximately 00:05 on 24 May 1982. The explosion was one of the most widely-photographed single events of the Falklands War: her sinking in a single fireball was captured on British press photography and became one of the iconic images of the conflict. The photograph of HMS Antelope breaking in half amidships, with flame rising 30 metres above her supers