Vital Statistics
Built by Fairfield in Govan and launched in 1970 as the last of eight of her Class, all named after Counties; she displaced 6000 tons, had a length of 520ft (158m) and a draught of 20ft (6m).
Her role was to provide long range air defence of the fleet for which she was armed with the Seaslug missile on her quarter-deck. The warning was provided by the large 'double bedstead' 965 radar, this was fed into a (very basic) computer in the Operations Room which calculated which of the incoming aircraft was the greatest threat. This target was then 'acquired' by the 'drum-like' 901 fire-control radar just forward of the Flight Deck, and this controlled the missile in flight onto the target.
Her other armament consisted of:
- a twin 4.5in (115mm) gun in the bows for both air and surface targets (range 14 miles)
- four of the French Exocet anti-ship missiles (range 20 miles)
- two mountings of 4 x Seacat missiles for close air defence
- two 20mm Oerlikon guns
She carried a Wessex 3 helicopter 'Humphrey' which was optimised for anti-submarine work. It carried a sonar which could be dunked deep into the water and torpedoes and depth charges to prosecute any submarine contact. It could also be re-roled as a troop carrier. It had both a Search and Rescue and a store-carrying capability and all these roles were employed exhaustively down south. The helicopter and its crew served with distinction; they crippled the submarine Santa Fe, landed troops on enemy-held territory in foul weather conditions; rescued men from the sea; and spent many, many hours ferrying men and materials around the Force.
Antrim was powered by both steam and gas turbines, and this gave her the ability to get underway at short notice and a top speed of over 30 knots.
To keep all the equipment running and the lights on, she had an electrical generating capacity of 5,000 kilowatts.