HMS Sheffield D80 Type 42 Destroyer

Thank you to the original Bohemian Eagle, The Mighty Jingles, for sharing his experience while writing this Ship Brief in 2023. He was a great help. Any mistakes in this video are my own and not a reflection of Mr. Jingles knowledge and experience.

*VERY IMPORTANT NOTE* The SEA DART missile system was initially semi-active homing. An upgrade made it a 'more autonomous' active homing. Thus SEA DART was both Semi-active homing and Active homing in it's life time.

The HMS Sheffield (D80) was a Type 42 (Sheffield class) destroyer in the Royal Navy, commissioned in 1975. This warship was among the first of its class, designed primarily for area air-defense to protect carrier battle groups from aerial threats, including low-flying aircraft and anti-ship missiles.

Technical Specifications:
HMS Sheffield
Propulsion: It was powered by COGOG (Combined Gas or Gas) propulsion systems, consisting of two Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B high-speed gas turbines for high-speed operations and two Rolls-Royce Tyne RM1A cruising gas turbines, generating a combined output of about 36,000 horsepower. This setup allowed the ship to operate more efficiently at different speed ranges, with a top speed of over 30 knots.
Armament: The primary armament of the HMS Sheffield included a twin Sea Dart missile launcher, capable of engaging aerial targets at long ranges. It also featured one 4.5-inch Mark 8 naval gun for surface targets, two 20 mm Oerlikon cannons, and two Phalanx CIWS (Close-In Weapon Systems) for last-minute defense against incoming missiles.
Electronics: The ship was equipped with a sophisticated suite of sensors and radars, including the Type 1022 long-range air search radar, Type 996 3D surveillance radar, and Type 909 fire control radar for the Sea Dart missiles. It also had sonar equipment for anti-submarine operations.
Aircraft: The destroyer had facilities to operate one Lynx helicopter, enhancing its capability in anti-submarine warfare and surface warfare operations.

Operational History:
The HMS Sheffield gained historical significance during the Falklands War in 1982. It was tragically hit by an Exocet missile fired by Argentine forces, leading to severe damage and the loss of 20 crew members. This incident underscored the vulnerability of modern warships to missile attacks and led to significant changes in naval tactics and defense systems.

The Sea Dart missile
Key Components and Functionality:
Missile Design: The Sea Dart missile was typically about 4.4 meters in length, with a wingspan of around 1 meter. It was equipped with a solid rocket booster for initial launch and a ramjet sustainer motor for flight. This design allowed the missile to accelerate to speeds over Mach 2.
Guidance System: Initially, Sea Dart missiles used semi-active radar homing for guidance. This required the ship's radar to illuminate the target until the missile impacted. The system was later updated to include a more autonomous active radar homing capability, allowing greater flexibility and the ability to engage multiple targets simultaneously.
Warhead: The missile was armed with a high-explosive blast fragmentation warhead, triggered by a proximity fuse. This was designed to detonate near the target, maximizing the likelihood of destroying or disabling it through shrapnel.
The missile system operated by first detecting and tracking targets using the ship's radar systems. Once a target was identified and within range, the Sea Dart could be launched. After launch, the missile's booster would activate, propelling it away from the ship and towards the target. Upon booster burnout, the ramjet would take over, maintaining high speed as the missile approached the target area.

During its terminal phase, the guidance system would home in on the radar reflections from the target, guided by the ship's radar or its own onboard radar in later versions. The proximity fuse would detect the optimal moment to detonate the warhead, intending to destroy or incapacitate the target with a blast and shrapnel.

Historical Context and Legacy:
The Sea Dart proved its effectiveness during the Falklands War, where it was credited with several Argentine aircraft kills. However, its performance also highlighted some limitations in cluttered environments or against low-flying targets. These operational experiences helped inform subsequent developments in naval air defense systems, aiming to address these shortcomings.

[SubBrief]

Thank you to the original Bohemian Eagle, The Mighty Jingles, for sharing his experience while writing this Ship Brief in 2023. He was a great help. Any mistakes in this video are my own and not a reflection of Mr. Jingles knowledge and experience.
/ bohemianeagle VERY IMPORTANT NOTE The SEA DART missile system was initially semi-active homing. An upgrade made it a 'more autonomous' active homing. Thus SEA DART was both Semi-active homing and Active homing in it's life time.

[justandy]

I would like to add that 'The Mighty Jingles' or Paul has recently had a diagnosis of bowel cancer. He has been in for treatment, Has been operated on, and because they caught it early he is expected to make a full recovery. He'll probably be out of commission for a week or 2 but he is over the worse of it.
i think it would mean the world to him to show him some love in his time of need.

[hangarrat]

One of the men killed in the attack was Tony Norman. He was from the same town as me (small, 4K ish people in South East England.) there’s a memorial plaque to him inside the main church in town, and 2 years ago I had the honour of watching his mother lay a wreath at our war memorial in his memory on armistice day.

[vxrdrummer]

I served on HMS Gloucester, my dad served on 5 Type 42s, my brother in law on 2 and, my Uncle was on Sheffield when she sank, and my other uncle was Coventry when she went down. I haven't started this video yet, but I'm looking forward to it. These were the work horses of our fleet for a number of years, and amazing ships to serve on. I went to T45 after Gloucester and it wasn't half as much fun to work on. They were my Dad's favourite ships as well and he served on all sorts of different classes!

[aidensman]

Love to see Jingles in the wild. Congrats to him for overcoming bowl cancer in recent weeks.

[jamesreid]

As a Brit Thank You For doing this Video.

[WOTArtyNoobs]

I served on HMS Intrepid. As far as I am aware, the Exocet warhead didn't explode but the rocket motor spread the fire along with the contents of the galleys. Had the warhead detonated then it would have been a catastrophic loss. One thing we were not aware of at the time is that the Argentines had only just received the AM39 from the manufacturers and French engineers were still working with the Argentines to make the system work. There were suggestions that the French disconnected the warheads so they could not detonate. They could not make the missiles miss the target, but they could make it easier for the target to survive a hit.

The same thing happened with Atlantic Conveyor, one of the ships taken up from trade carrying the supplies including spare helicopters. Both missiles impacted and Prince Andrew who witnessed it said that debris fell a quarter of a mile from the ship. However, it appears that neither missile detonated and they set fire to the ship instead. When the fire was burnt out the ship was boarded to see if anything could be recovered but nothing could be salvaged.

According to one of the books written by the Sea Harrier pilots, the Combat Air Patrol was ordered to carry out a visual search away from the Task Force. Command lacked confidence in the Sea Harrier's ability to detect enemy ships using the Blue Fox radar. The tragedy was that had the CAP stayed where they were, they would have been able to intercept the Super Etendards when the RWR was detected.

The engineers in 801 Squadron had been tweaking and extending the range of the Sea Harrier's radar. A pilot from 801 detected the Northern pincer of the Argentine Task Force whilst they were some distance from the British fleet. The Argentine attack was called off due to lack of wind for their carrier. However, the attempt led to the order to sink the Belgrano, lead ship of the Southern pincer of the attack.

[potusuk]

I went on board for some beers in Pompey with shipmates who were serving on her the night before they sailed for their Armilla Patrol. Next time I saw them was in Gib, they had spent Christmas away and were returning home, we were there for Exercise Springtrain 82. From there, well, we sailed South. Lost a couple of mates on Sheff. Antrim was way luckier, we got to go back to Pompey with our ship. RiP Shippers.

[almac]

I served on a Batch 3 42. Sea Dart was steered by the 909 radar, of which there are two (the white domes). There were 3 live firings whilst I was on board including one surface to surface. All three hit. HMS Gloucester's Sea Dart took out a Silkworm missile that was aimed at the USS Missouri during the Gulf War. The Torpedo launchers were not internal, but were 2 Ships Torpedo Weapon System (STWS) one each side of the ship on 01 deck just aft of the uptakes. The Lynx HAS Mk 3 cruised at 120 knts, max was about 140 knts. The Lynx that obtained the speed you talked about was G-LYNX, an Army variant which was very much lighter than the RN version (skids instead of oleos, no radar, etc) fitted with British Experimental Rotor Programme (BERP) blades (now standard) flown by Westland Helecopters test pilots for the record breaking flight of 249 mph. There were 2 182 towed Torpedo decoys, don't remember the other one you talked about.

[BadGaming]

we are very proud of all military branches in the uk there service and sacrifice is not forgotten , thank you for covering this

[Marcus]

The Clyde is absolutely hammering out these new frigate hulls there’s 4 already

[LeeXRV]

First of all @sub brief, thank you sincerely for the amazing content. You're a great presenter. I served in the Royal Navy and my first (temp draft) ship was HMS Glasgow (early 2000s), it shocked me how awful they are to live on and Glasgow had some of her war wounds marked so people would remember.

My Royal Navy basic training was very much influenced by the Falklands war. The Royal Navy spent a lot of time in introspection after the Falkland's war, the Royal Navy learned a huge number of lessons from the conflict, in terms of tactics with air defenses, ship construction, anti-air systems. We watched videos and heard first hand reports from RN personnel who served in the conflict. It was invaluable experience to the Royal Navy who hadn't had an active conflict with a dangerous enemy since WW2.

And then in the first gulf war, HMS Gloucester potentially saved USS Missouri from a Silkworm. From detecting the Silkworm through to killing it, took her 89 seconds firing the missile over 7 miles before impact. The video onboard the USS Missouri makes for fascinating viewing.

I later served on Type 23's that had the upgraded Sea Wolf anti-air systems.

[Wannes_]

24:00 the black on the masts was painted out with gray paint, to make it less observable
Then there was a wide vertical stripe added from funnel top to waterline, to differentiate them from Argentinian Type 42s ...

[kens]

The Mighty Jingles is truly missed on World of Tanks.

[redjacc]

In response to Glasgow's warning, an order to stand to was issued to the crews of the 4.5 inch gun, Sea Dart and 20 mm guns. The aircraft were detected on the forward Type 909 radar but not on the aft set.[3] Sheffield's UAA1 sensor was then blocked by an unauthorised transmission by the ship's satellite communications systems (SCOT)

[jonathantarrant]

The attack on HMS Sheffield discussed is missing several factors. Argentina launched the SUE earlier, but had to turn back because of fuel issues. The may4th attack was launched with 2 SUE, each with an exocet. 1 was launched at the first target that was a type 42, the 2nd exocet launched at the largest, which was HMS Hermes the carrier. Sheffield was, using datalink at the time and had to shutdown their radar to transmit. Sheffield did its job and protected the fleet as a picket, the idea is not to lose the ship, but a bruke would be used in the same manner

[BruceCromell]

I will say that a Sea Dart can be effective against a Silkworm missile, as the HMS Gloucester D96 did indeed shoot one down that was headed straight for our ship the USS Missouri BB-63 in the Gulf War. Big thanks to all the British Sailors that helped us during the Gulf War! I can't thank you enough as I and my shipmates were sitting at repair 2 which is on the second deck between turrets 1 and 2, with three red hot glowing barrels, and we are standing on the armored deck so not much protection.

[robertweller]

I'm here because Jingles sent me many years ago while playing Cold Waters! Brilliant to see you working together.

[Zippercdrr]

Jingles sent me here back when you where doing mostly Comd Waters. It's nice to see the nod back

[hmmjedi]

Just a quick note the P2 Neptune was not a UK build aircraft it was built by Lockheed from the late 1940's they had over the years 16 aircraft and they did aquire 8 from the RAF in 1958... during the war they finally ran out of spare parts and the Lockheed C-130's took over looking for targets... also for HMS Sheffield a message was being sent out on her SCOT (SATCOM) system which caused issue for her UAA1 sensor which was part of her ESM suite which could detect radar emissions from aircraft and missiles for example the Agave radar on the Super Etendards which would have given her some warning as she also didn't receive any data over the datalink from HMS Glasgow which had the updated radar system the 965M which detected the Etendards when they popped up at around 45nm... As to the reasoning for the Phalanx gun it was simple it was lighter than Goalkeeper and the Type 42's had little in the way of excess weight to be added high up which is why the Batch 3's where longer and heavier, Batch 2 design was already set at this point. As to the Type 22's they where running goalkeeper duties on the carriers at that time to defend them from the Exocets... and a final note on the Mk8 4.5inch gun it was a pretty good gun system and was used by the Type 21 frigates for shore bombardment on multiple occasions though yes it did jam on a few occasions it was a more reliable weapon than has been made out...