HMS Antelope (F170)
| Career | 
|
|---|---|
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | 23 March 1971 |
| Launched: | 16 March 1972 |
| Commissioned: | 19 July 1975 |
| Decommissioned: | |
| Fate: | Sunk by unexploded Argentine bomb going off 24 May 1982. |
| Struck: | |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 3,250 tons full load |
| Length: | 384 feet |
| Beam: | 41' 9" |
| Draught: | 19' 6" |
| Propulsion: | Two Rolls-Royce Olympus gas turbines, plus two Rolls-Royce RM1A Tyne gas turbines for cruising |
| Speed: | 32 knots |
| Range: | 4000 nautical miles at 17 knots, 1200 nautical miles at 30 knots |
| Complement: | 177 |
| Armament: | One Mk8 4.5" gun Two 20 mm Oerlikon guns Four SeaCat SAMs Two Corvus chaff launchers One Type 182 towed decoy |
| Aircraft: | One Westland Wasp when built, refitted later for one Westland Lynx |
| Motto: | |
HMS Antelope (F170) was an Amazon-class Type 21 frigate of the Royal Navy, which participated in the Falklands War. Her keel was laid down March 23, 1971 by Vosper Thornycroft in Woolston. She was commissioned July 17, 1975.
On May 23, 1982, while Antelope was on air defence duty at the entrance to San Carlos Water, protecting a beachhead established two days earlier, she came under attack by Argentine A-4 Skyhawk jets.
A 1100-pound bomb entered the ship's starboard side, just aft of the funnel. Another bomb hit the ship forward in the vicinity of the petty officers' mess, killing a steward. Both bombs failed to explode, but that night Army EOD specialists triggered one of the bombs during attempts to defuse it, and the ship was torn open from water line to funnel. The blast started major fires in both engine rooms, and the fires spread very quickly. The starboard fire main was fractured, the ship lost all electrical power, and the commanding officer, Commander Nick Tobin, gave the order to abandon ship. Tobin was the last person to leave the ship, and about five minutes after his departure, the missile magazines began exploding. Explosions continued throughout the night, and Antelope sank the following day. TV and stills pictures of HMS Antelope's demise became one of the defining images of the Falklands War and appear repeatedly in histories of the event.
On January 27, 2002, a diving team from HMS Montrose replaced the Naval Ensign on HMS Antelope.
See HMS Antelope for other ships of the same name.
| Type 21 frigate |
| Amazon | Antelope | Active | Ambuscade | Arrow | Alacrity | Ardent | Avenger |
| List of frigates of the Royal Navy |
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