Tiger-class cruiser

HMS Tiger before conversion
Class overview
Name:	Tiger class
Operators:	Royal Navy
Preceded by:	Minotaur class
Succeeded by:	None
In commission:	1959-1979
Completed:	3
Retired:	3
General characteristics
Class and type:	Light cruiser
Displacement:	11,700 tons (12,080 tons after conversion of Blake and Tiger)
Length:	555.5 ft (169.3 m)
Beam:	64 ft (20 m)
Draught:	23 ft (7.0 m)
Installed power:	80,000 shp (60 MW)
Propulsion:	Four Admiralty-type three drum boilers Four shaft Parsons steam turbines
Speed:	31.5 knots (58.3 km/h)
Range:	8,000 nautical miles (14,816.0 km) at 16 knots (30 km/h)
Complement:	716 (885 after conversion of Blake and Tiger)
Armament:	As built: 2 × twin 6 in guns QF Mark N5 with RP15 (hydraulic) or RP53 (electric) RPC (One later removed from Blake and Tiger) 3 × twin 3 in guns QF Mark N1 As helicopter cruisers (Blake & Tiger): 1 × twin 6 in guns QF Mark N5 with RP15 (hydraulic) or RP53 (electric) RPC 1 × twin 3 in guns QF Mark N1 2 × quad GWS.21 Sea Cat missile launchers
Armour:	Belt 3.5–3.25 in (89–83 mm) Bulkheads 2–1.5 in (51–38 mm) Turrets 2–1 in (51–25 mm) Crowns of engine room and magazines 2 in (51 mm)
Aircraft carried:	4 × helicopters (originally Wessex then Sea King)

The Tiger-class cruisers were the last class of all gun cruisers completed for the British Royal Navy.

The Tiger-class cruisers were developments of the Minotaur-class light cruisers, laid down in 1942–3, but production of the Light Fleet Carrier was given priority and the Tiger design was viewed as obsolete by 1944, and therefore only the first Tiger, HMS Superb, was completed, largely fitted out to the earlier Minotaur specifications of HMS Swiftsure and HMS Minotaur (HMCS Ontario). Three other ships of the Tiger class had their construction suspended by late 1944, after HMS Defence, later HMS Lion, was launched in September 1944. Immediately post-war, a few months' work was done so that HMS Tiger and HMS Blake could be launched, albeit in a lesser state of completion, and in 1947 the class suspension was confirmed for complete redesign. By 1946, nine Mk 24 turrets were advanced to 75–80% of their planned specifications, with three other turrets partially complete for either the Tiger or Neptune class cruisers. These turrets were a more advanced version of the Mk 23 wartime triple 6-inch. The new Mk 24 6-inch mounts were interim turrets which had remote power control and power worked breech. Theoretically, the heavier Mk 24 offered a dual purpose (DP) capability with greater 60° elevation. With power ramming, the shells would fire at consistent intervals, and combined with the faster training speeds obtained with Vanguard's secondary armament, they might be useful against bomber and jet aircraft flying at World War II speeds and heights. The Tiger design had a broader 64 ft (20 m) beam from HMS Superb on which to accommodate the larger turrets. But it was preferred to complete Superb with the older Mk 23 turrets in 1945, with the ultimate available war fit rather than delay completion. The 1947 Tiger design would have had four STAAG 40 mm close-in weapon systems in which the 262 radar control was built into the gun mounts and more modern AIO and electrics.