Name HMS Antrim Laid down 20 January 1966 Decommissioned 1984 Launched 19 October 1967 Displacement 5.44 million kg | Ordered 5 January 1965 Commissioned 14 July 1970 Construction started 20 January 1966 Length 159 m Draft 6.1 m | |
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Sponsored by Mrs Roy Mason, wife of then Minister of Defence (Equipment), Roy Mason | ||
HMS Antrim was a County-class destroyer of the Royal Navy launched on 19 October 1967. Following Royal Navy service, including the Falklands War, she was sold to the Chilean Navy in 1984 and scrapped in 2010.
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Royal Navy service
Antrim first commissioned in 1970 and served her first commission in home and Mediterranean waters. In the mid-1970s, the Royal Navy removed 'B' turret and replaced it with four Exocet missile launchers to give her a much more powerful anti-ship capability. In 1976 her commission included a visit to Stockholm where she represented the Royal Navy at the wedding of the King of Sweden.
In 1982 she formed part of the Royal Navy task force for service in the Falklands War. She was the flagship of Operation Paraquet, the recovery of South Georgia in April 1982. Her helicopter, a Westland Wessex HAS.Mk3, was responsible for the rescue of 16 SAS men from Fortuna Glacier. The aircraft played a key role in the detection and disabling of the Argentinian submarine Santa Fe. Captain Largos, commander of the Argentine forces on South Georgia, signed the surrender document for the Argentine Forces there in her wardroom. Lieutenant-Commander Alfredo Astiz signed a separate document shortly afterwards aboard HMS Plymouth. While supporting the main landing on the Falkland Islands at San Carlos Water, a 1,000 lb (450 kg) bomb hit Antrim, but did not explode, and she fired her Sea Slug Missile at an Argentine Air Force A-4 Skyhawk without hitting it.
A name board formerly belonging to her now resides in the Falkland Islands Museum, Stanley.
Transfer to Chilean Navy
Antrim was decommissioned in 1984 and sold to Chile on 22 June 1984. The Chileans renamed her Almirante Cochrane after Thomas Cochrane, who had commanded the Chilean Navy from 1817 to 1822. In 1994 Almirante Cochrane underwent the same refit as her sister ship Blanco Encalada. This entailed removing her Sea Slug launcher and extending her deck aft to allow the installation of a new, larger hangar. In 1996 she received the Barak SAM in place of her Seacat launchers.
The Chilean Navy decommissioned Almirante Cochrane on 7 December 2006. On 11 December 2010, she was towed to China for scrap.
Affiliates as HMS Antrim
As part of her relationship with County Antrim, she carried a piece of the Giant's Causeway mounted in the ship's main passageway, appropriately also named the Giant's Causeway.
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