HMS Blake (C99)

HMS Blake in 1975
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Blake
Namesake:	Admiral Robert Blake
Ordered:	1942 Additional Naval Programme
Builder:	Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan
Laid down:	17 August 1942
Launched:	20 December 1945
Commissioned:	18 March 1961
Decommissioned:	December 1979
Identification:	Pennant number: C99
Nickname(s):	'Snakey Blakey'
Fate:	Sold for scrap August 1982
General characteristics
Class and type:	Tiger-class light cruiser
Displacement:	11,560 tons as built 12,080 tons after conversion
Length:	555.5 ft (169.3 m) overall 538 ft (164 m)) between perpendiculars
Beam:	64 ft (20 m)
Draught:	21 ft (6.4 m)
Propulsion:	Four Admiralty-type three drum boilers (400 psi) Four shaft Parsons steam turbines 80,000 shp
Speed:	31.5 knots (58.3 km/h)
Range:	8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km) at 16 knots (30 km/h)
Complement:	716 (885 after conversion)
Armament:	As built: Four × QF 6 inch Mark N5 guns (2 × 2) Six × 3 in (3 × 2) After Conversion: Two × 6 in (1 × 2) Two × 3 in (1 × 2) Two × Sea Cat quad missile launchers
Aircraft carried:	After conversion: Four helicopters (originally Westland Wessex, then Sea King)

HMS Blake was a light cruiser of the Tiger class of the British Royal Navy, the last of the (traditional) Royal Navy gun-armed cruisers in the 20th century. She was named after Robert Blake, a 17th-century admiral who was the "Father of the Royal Navy". She was ordered in 1942 as one of the Minotaur class of light cruisers. They had a low construction priority due to more pressing requirements for other ship types during World War II, particularly anti-submarine craft. Blake was laid down in 1942. In 1944, Blake was renamed Tiger, then Blake again in 1945, the year she was launched partially constructed at the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company at Govan, by Lady Jean Blake, wife of Vice Admiral Sir Geoffrey Blake. Construction of Blake was suspended in 1946 and she was laid up at Gareloch.

In 1954, construction of Blake resumed, but to a new design. The new design was approved in 1951, but construction did not resume until 1954. She would have fully automatic 6 inch guns in twin high-angle mounts with each gun capable of shooting 20 rounds per minute, and a secondary battery of fully automatic 3 inch guns which delivered 90 rounds per minute per gun. She would have no lighter anti-aircraft armament or torpedo tubes. Air conditioning was fitted throughout the ship, and a 200-line automatic telephone exchange was installed. Each 6 inch and 3 inch mounting had its own director, linked to a dedicated radar on the director. On 18 March 1961, Blake finally commissioned into the Royal Navy, to date the last (traditional) cruiser to do so. Just two years later, she was placed in reserve.

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