HMS Antelope (F170)
HMS Antelope after being bombed on 23 May 1982, showing the mast bent in half
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | Antelope |
| Builder: | Vosper Thornycroft |
| Laid down: | 23 March 1971 |
| Launched: | 16 March 1972 |
| Commissioned: | 19 July 1975 |
| Identification: | Pennant number: F170 |
| Motto: |
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| Fate: | Sunk by Argentine bombs on 24 May 1982 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Type 21 frigate |
| Displacement: | 3,250 tons full load |
| Length: | 384 ft (117 m) |
| Beam: | 41 ft 9 in (12.73 m) |
| Draught: | 19 ft 6 in (5.94 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph) |
| Range: |
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| Complement: | 177 |
| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: | 1 × Westland Wasp helicopter, later refitted for 1 × Lynx |
HMS Antelope was a Type 21 frigate of the Royal Navy that participated in the Falklands War. Her keel was laid down 23 March 1971 by Vosper Thornycroft in Woolston, Southampton, England.
Initial budget costs for this class were £3.5 million, with final costs exceeding £14 million. She was commissioned on 17 July 1975, and was the only unit of the class never to be fitted with Exocet launchers.
In 1977, she attended the Silver Jubilee Fleet Review. At this time she was part of the 7th Frigate Squadron.
Antelope took part in the Falklands War arriving in the area of operations on 21 May 1982.
On 23 May 1982, while on air defence duty at the entrance to San Carlos Water, protecting the beachhead established two days before, she came under attack by four Argentine A-4B Skyhawks of Grupo 5. The first pair attacked from astern, with the flight leader breaking off his attack after one of Antelope's Sea Cat SAMs exploded under the port wing of his aircraft.
The pilot, Capitán Pablo Carballo, managed to nurse his aircraft back to Rio Gallegos. The second aircraft on this flight pressed home his bomb run and put a 1,000-pound bomb in Antelope's starboard side, killing one crewman, Steward Mark R. Stephens. The bomb did not explode and the Argentine aircraft was damaged by small arms fire.
The second pair of Skyhawks attacked minutes later from the starboard quarter. During this attack, one of the Argentine jets, piloted by First Lieutenant Luciano Guadagnini, was hit by the ship's 20mm cannon before hitting Antelope's main mast, but some sources says that the A-4 'striker' was the one flwn by ten. Philippi, who returned safely. Guadagnini was not so lucky, but shot down and killed by anti-aircraft weapons (it may have been Sea Wolf missiles fired by HMS Broadsword, but also Rapiers, Sea Cats and Blowpipes were involved in the shooting so who actually shot him down is still unknown [1]), while his bomb pierced the frigate's hull, also without exploding.Antelope also fired a Sea Cat at what was believed to be a fifth attacker, but this was Capitán Carballo, who was still trying to establish if his aircraft was fit to fly. This missile missed, but passed less than 10 metres from Carballo's cockpit.
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Wikipedia