123-591: (Redirected from County-class ) County class may refer to: County-class destroyer , a post–World War II class of guided missile destroyers County-class cruiser , pre–World War II class of heavy cruiser The County class of Great Western Railway locomotives, were both a class of 4-4-0 locomotives built between 1904 and 1912 and a class of 4-6-0 locomotives built between 1945 and 1947 Monmouth -class cruiser of pre–World War I armoured cruisers, also known as County class Talbot County -class tank landing ship ,
246-529: A Royal Navy Dockyard : Devonshire ( Devonport Dockyard ), Hampshire ( Portsmouth Dockyard ), Kent ( Chatham Dockyard ), and Fife ( Rosyth dockyard ). Glamorgan and Antrim are the counties in Wales and Northern Ireland which contain the port cities and regional capitals of Cardiff and Belfast (by analogy to London , England). Norfolk is the county of Nelson 's birth, and the important 19th-century ports of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn . Three of
369-629: A proximity fuze in the Mk 1 made it of limited value. Short-range air defence was provided by the GWS-22 Seacat anti-aircraft missile system, which made the Counties the first Royal Navy warships to be armed with two different types of guided missile. The second four Counties had improved air warning and target indicator radar ("double bedstead" 965M and a revised 992 for closer range tracking rather than only surface warning). The revised Seaslug Mk2
492-536: A substantive sub-lieutenant on 15 January 1919. HMS P. 31 took part in the Peace River Pageant on 4 April 1919. Mountbatten attended Christ's College, Cambridge , for two terms, starting in October 1919, where he studied English literature (including John Milton and Lord Byron ) in a programme designed to augment the education of junior officers which had been curtailed by the war. He
615-598: A German course change. This was "a rather disastrous move as the directors swung off and lost target" and it resulted in Javelin being struck by two torpedoes. He rejoined Kelly in December 1940, by which time the torpedo damage had been repaired. Kelly was sunk by German dive bombers on 23 May 1941 during the Battle of Crete ; the incident serving as the basis for Noël Coward 's film In Which We Serve . Coward
738-731: A bomb planted aboard his fishing boat in Mullaghmore, County Sligo , Ireland, by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army . He received a ceremonial funeral at Westminster Abbey and was buried in Romsey Abbey in Hampshire. Mountbatten, then named Prince Louis of Battenberg , was born on 25 June 1900 at Frogmore House in the Home Park, Windsor , Berkshire. He was the youngest child and
861-500: A conventional Tiger -class gun armament. During 1956–1958 a full "alternative" gun armament was an option for the new Fast Escort for the fleet based on a modern combined gas turbine and steam turbine (COSAG) propulsion unit and armed with two twin 4.5-inch guns, two twin 40 mm Bofors and a single twin 3-inch gun. A detailed March 1957 study following the Suez Crisis and the 1957 Defence White Paper decided to increase
984-435: A datalink. According to a RN naval architect, "Sea Slug did not live up to expectations" and was obsolete by 1957. The compromises required by the heavy and dated Seaslug system detracted from the success and popularity of an otherwise advanced ship design. Its ineffectiveness and vulnerable magazine and missile fuel reduced confidence in the class, which had potential as command ships, having good seaworthiness, speed and in
1107-557: A different turn. Given Mountbatten's determination, Nehru and Sardar Patel 's inability to deal with the Muslim League and, lastly, Jinnah's obstinacy, all Indian party leaders (except Gandhi) acquiesced to Jinnah's plan to divide India, which in turn eased Mountbatten's task. Mountbatten also developed a strong relationship with the Indian princes , who ruled those portions of India not directly under British rule. His intervention
1230-703: A flawed layout, it proved usable when tested in the Falklands War in 1982. Lord Mountbatten classified the County-class as guided missile destroyers to gain Treasury and political support with cruisers discredited in the media as colonial relics, obsolete gunships like battleships. The Royal Navy staff and officers regarded the County class as cruisers and to signify they were major surface units they were given names previously carried by cruisers including
1353-663: A floating (though immobile) accommodation and training ship in Portsmouth harbour until 1996. The four ships of Batch 2 however would be operated for 16 to 23 more years after sale to the Chilean Navy , in which they all received extensive upgrades and modernisation. The ships were built at the major UK yards, with some of the machinery coming from Associated Electrical Industries of Manchester, Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company of Wallsend-on-Tyne, John I. Thornycroft & Company of Southampton, Yarrows of Glasgow, and
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#17327723909701476-540: A flying visit to Pearl Harbor , three months before the Japanese attack on it . Mountbatten, appalled at the US naval base's lack of preparedness, drawing on Japan's history of launching wars with surprise attacks as well as the successful British surprise attack at the Battle of Taranto which had effectively knocked Italy's fleet out of the war, and the sheer effectiveness of aircraft against warships, accurately predicted that
1599-802: A former member of the Royal Marines , have written that these lessons should not have needed a debacle such as Dieppe to be recognised. Nevertheless, as a direct result of the failings of the Dieppe Raid, the British made several innovations, most notably Hobart's Funnies – specialised armoured vehicles which, in the course of the Normandy Landings , undoubtedly saved many lives on those three beachheads upon which Commonwealth soldiers were landing ( Gold Beach , Juno Beach and Sword Beach ). In August 1943, Churchill appointed Mountbatten
1722-460: A great deal of weight to be carried high up on the ship which affected the ship layout. Although superior the Type 984 radar was rejected as it was even heavier and would excluded fitting a twin turret 4.5-inch armament forward which was needed for gunfire support or action against surface vessels. It was hoped that RN carriers with Type 984 would provide primary air targeting for the destroyers through
1845-453: A hangar so cramped it took an hour to get the aircraft either in or out again, during which the port Seacat launcher was unusable. However it was determined that beam-restrictions would still limit the Counties' helicopter operation in RN service to the obsolescent Wessex, as they were too narrow to handle the far more capable British-built Sea King HAS . The Chilean navy, however, did convert two of
1968-523: A high flush deck from B turret, increasing internal space, the cancellation of the nuclear-tipped Seaslug, and provision for folding fins for the Seaslug; this allowed storage of 20 extra missile bodies which could be rapidly assembled. Against staff advice, a tight fitting, fixed side-hangar for the anti-submarine Westland Wessex helicopter was added on the insistence of the First Sea Lord. While
2091-513: A hit without requiring a nuclear warhead. Mountbatten doubted the usefulness of tactical nuclear weapons by 1962, due to escalation theories, scientific advice and greater evidence of fallout consequences, leading to the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963. There were also staff and space difficulties with carrying nuclear warheads on confined destroyers. As early as 1952, Air Chief Marshal John Slessor ( Chief of
2214-412: A limited nuclear strike capacity against ships and cities equipped with Blackburn Buccaneer S.1 (and then the improved S.2) strike aircraft mainly aimed to deter regional powers such as Indonesia. Early versions of the equivalent US missile system RIM-2 Terrier , like Seaslug, relied on beam riding and needed a nuclear warhead variant to compensate for inaccuracy at low level and range. However, by 1962,
2337-597: A nuclear war would last long enough to require trans-Atlantic convoys. Corresponding doubt whether major conventional war was still possible on the basis of the last 1954-5 HC speeches of Churchill and Eisenhower, justified large cutbacks of British and American large ship, destroyer and carrier programmes and the future role and relevance of the Royal Navy was "unclear" moving the RN to more limited East of Suez task forces with gun and Seaslug- and Seacat-armed destroyers escorting medium British aircraft carriers with only
2460-668: A platoon of stokers, many of whom had never handled a rifle before, in Northern England . He transferred to the battlecruiser HMS Repulse in March 1921 and accompanied the Prince of Wales on a Royal tour of India and Japan. Edward and Mountbatten formed a close friendship during the trip. Mountbatten survived the deep defence cuts known as the Geddes Axe . Fifty-two percent of the officers of his year had had to leave
2583-614: A position that had been held by his father, Prince Louis of Battenberg , some forty years earlier. Thereafter he served as chief of the Defence Staff until 1965, making him the longest-serving professional head of the British Armed Forces to date. During this period Mountbatten also served as chairman of the NATO Military Committee for a year. In August 1979, Mountbatten was assassinated by
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#17327723909702706-664: A post–World War II class of landing ships County-class patrol vessel , a class of patrol vessel operated by the Jamaican Coast Guard Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title County class . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=County_class&oldid=931040174 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
2829-530: A royal proclamation changing the name of the British royal house from the German House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the House of Windsor . The king's British relatives with German names and titles followed suit with Mountbatten's father adopting the surname Mountbatten, an anglicisation of Battenberg. The elder Mountbatten was subsequently created Marquess of Milford Haven . At the age of 16, Mountbatten
2952-553: A speed of 315-375 mph. This enabled the Minister of Defence Duncan Sandys to gain the approval of the Cabinet Defence Committee for Seaslug production to be approved in 1958. While the missile worked against level flying targets, the beam guidance system was dubious at range and in rough water and eight fixed stabilisers were added to the design of the County-class. Advocacy for the guided missiles fit
3075-457: A traditional cruiser flagship role with shore bombardment, and attacking enemy shipping. In 1955 the new First Sea Lord Louis Mountbatten specified the development of 4,800 ton Fast fleet escort design (DNC 7/959) with a Seaslug missile replacing a stern twin 3-inch anti-aircraft mounting,. This replacing a 15,000 ton cruiser design which would have combined Seaslug with the Type 984 3D radar and
3198-609: A united India as a result of the transfer of power but authorised him to adapt to a changing situation in order to get Britain out promptly with minimal reputational damage. Mountbatten arrived in India on 22 March by air, from London . In the evening, he was taken to his residence and two days later, he took the Viceregal oath. His arrival saw large-scale communal riots in Delhi , Bombay and Rawalpindi . Mountbatten concluded that
3321-473: A united India was an unachievable goal and resigned himself to a plan for partition, creating the independent nations of India and Pakistan. Mountbatten set a date for the transfer of power from the British to the Indians, arguing that a fixed timeline would convince Indians of his and the British government's sincerity in working towards a swift and efficient independence, excluding all possibilities of stalling
3444-477: A viceregal candidate acceptable to the Indian National Congress , in clandestine meetings with Sir Stafford Cripps and Clement Attlee . Attlee advised King George VI to appoint Mountbatten Viceroy of India on 20 February 1947 charged with overseeing the transition of British India to independence no later than 30 June 1948. Mountbatten's instructions were to avoid partition and preserve
3567-575: A younger son of a marquess, becoming known as Lord Louis Mountbatten ( Lord Louis for short) until he was created a peer in his own right in 1946. He paid a visit of ten days to the Western Front in July 1918. While still an acting- sub-lieutenant , Mountbatten was appointed first lieutenant (second-in-command) of the P-class sloop HMS P. 31 on 13 October 1918 and was confirmed as
3690-539: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages County-class destroyer The County class was a class of British guided missile destroyers , the first such warships built by the Royal Navy . Designed specifically around the Seaslug anti-aircraft missile system, the primary role of these ships was area air defence around the aircraft carrier task force in
3813-595: The Partition of India into India and Pakistan . He then served as the first Governor-General of the Union of India until June 1948 and played a significant role in persuading princely states to accede to India. In 1952, Mountbatten was appointed commander-in-chief of the British Mediterranean Fleet and NATO Commander Allied Forces Mediterranean . From 1955 to 1959, he was First Sea Lord ,
County class - Misplaced Pages Continue
3936-719: The Potsdam Conference when Mountbatten, desiring to receive an invitation to visit the Soviet Union , repeatedly attempted to impress Joseph Stalin with his former connections to the Russian imperial family . The attempt fell predictably flat, with Stalin dryly inquiring whether "it was some time ago that he had been there". Says Lunghi, "The meeting was embarrassing because Stalin was so unimpressed. He offered no invitation. Mountbatten left with his tail between his legs." During his time as Supreme Allied Commander of
4059-805: The Royal Naval College, Greenwich . Mountbatten became a Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers ( IEE ), now the Institution of Engineering and Technology ( IET ). He was posted to the battleship HMS Centurion in the Reserve Fleet in 1926 and became Assistant Fleet Wireless and Signals Officer of the Mediterranean Fleet under the command of Admiral Sir Roger Keyes in January 1927. Promoted lieutenant commander on 15 April 1928, Mountbatten returned to
4182-726: The Russian Imperial Family , harbouring romantic feelings towards his maternal first cousin Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna , whose photograph he kept at his bedside for the rest of his life. Mountbatten adopted his surname as a result of World War I . From 1914 to 1918, Britain and its allies were at war with the Central Powers , led by the German Empire . To appease British nationalist sentiment, in 1917 King George V issued
4305-685: The Second World War . He later served as the last Viceroy of India and briefly as the first Governor-General of the Dominion of India . Mountbatten attended the Royal Naval College, Osborne , before entering the Royal Navy in 1916. He saw action during the closing phase of the First World War , and after the war briefly attended Christ's College, Cambridge . During the interwar period , Mountbatten continued to pursue his naval career, specialising in naval communications. Following
4428-790: The Suez Crisis of 1956, Mountbatten strongly advised his old friend Prime Minister Anthony Eden against the Conservative government's plans to seize the Suez Canal in conjunction with France and Israel. He argued that such a move would destabilize the Middle East, undermine the authority of the United Nations, divide the Commonwealth and diminish Britain's global standing. His advice was not taken. Eden insisted that Mountbatten not resign. Instead, he worked hard to prepare
4551-483: The Wallsend Slipway and Engineering Company , Wallsend-on-Tyne. In 1974, the costs of the major refits for County-class ships was given as £5½ million – £8 million. Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (born Prince Louis of Battenberg ; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979), commonly known as Lord Mountbatten ,
4674-455: The accession of Kashmir to India , citing his close relationship to Nehru. Mountbatten's own account says that he simply wanted Maharaja Hari Singh to make up his mind. The viceroy made several attempts to mediate between the Congress leaders, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Hari Singh on issues relating to the accession of Kashmir, though he was largely unsuccessful in resolving the conflict. After
4797-661: The funeral of George V in January 1936. Mountbatten was appointed a personal naval aide-de-camp to King Edward VIII on 23 June 1936 and, having joined the Naval Air Division of the Admiralty in July 1936, he attended the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in May 1937. Mountbatten was promoted captain on 30 June 1937 and was then given command of the destroyer HMS Kelly in June 1939. Within
4920-746: The honorary ranks of lieutenant general and air marshal to have the authority to carry out his duties in Combined Operations; and, despite the misgivings of General Sir Alan Brooke , the Chief of the Imperial General Staff , Mountbatten was placed in the Chiefs of Staff Committee . He was in large part responsible for the planning and organisation of the St Nazaire Raid on 28 March, which put out of action one of
5043-614: The substantive rank of vice-admiral on 22 June 1949, he became Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet in April 1950. He became Fourth Sea Lord at the Admiralty in June 1950. He then returned to the Mediterranean to serve as Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet and NATO Commander Allied Forces Mediterranean from June 1952. He was promoted to the substantive rank of full admiral on 27 February 1953. In March 1953, he
County class - Misplaced Pages Continue
5166-410: The tribal invasion of Kashmir , it was on his suggestion that India moved to secure the accession of Kashmir from Hari Singh before sending in military forces for his defence. After his tenure as governor-general concluded, Mountbatten continued to enjoy close relations with Nehru and the post-Independence Indian leadership, and was welcomed as a former governor-general of India on subsequent visits to
5289-423: The "Counties" had names which had been used by the famous interwar County-class cruisers : London , Norfolk , Devonshire and Kent . (The last of that class, HMS Cumberland , had survived until 1959 as a trials ship). Devonshire , Hampshire and Antrim had been the names of Devonshire -class armoured cruisers of the First World War . Four of the new ships were named after counties containing
5412-514: The 1960s: the last decade when the UK oversaw significant colonial territory East of Suez. Its missile capability had been overtaken by aircraft development by 1962–63, when HMS Devonshire and Hampshire entered service, but in the early and mid-1960s the modern lines of these guided-missile destroyers, with their traditional RN cruiser style and their impressive-looking missiles, enabled the overstretched Royal Navy to project sufficient power to close down
5535-578: The Admiralty, Mountbatten was called "The Master of Disaster" for his penchant of getting into messes. When war broke out in September 1939, Mountbatten became Captain (D) (commander) of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla aboard HMS Kelly , which became famous for its exploits. In late 1939 he brought the Duke of Windsor back from exile in France and in early May 1940 Mountbatten led a British convoy in through
5658-677: The Air Staff ) the most influential defence Advisor to Winston Churchill considered the Navy irrelevant in a nuclear war, he first defined, the role of RN was "uncertain" as a pretext to maintain a large fleet and required only for political reasons. The collapse of the 1956 Suez operation and the huge impact of the British hydrogen bomb tests in 1954-57 led to the 1957 review of Britain's defences , reliance on nuclear deterrence by strategic aircraft, missiles and missile submarines and doubt that
5781-402: The American ambassador from 1961 to 1963, was a particularly harsh critic of Mountbatten in this regard. However, another view is that the British were forced to expedite the partition process to avoid involvement in a potential civil war with law and order having already broken down and Britain with limited resources after the Second World War. According to historian Lawrence James, Mountbatten
5904-477: The British fleet from missile destroyers and cruise missile-armed submarines. The Tu 95 and the improved Tupolev Tu-142 were demanding targets for a missile like Seaslug; the long-range Soviet turboprop aircraft flew at an altitude of 7.5 mi (40,000 ft; 12,100 m), at 572 mph (921 km/h) and were barely within the engagement capability of Seaslug. In 1956 during the first integrated trials of Sea Slug on HMS Girdle Ness cancellation of Seaslug
6027-402: The Counties could have been developed for the anti-submarine role by replacing the Seaslug system with a larger hangar and flight deck and the possibility of removing Seaslug and rebuilding the missile tunnel as storage for extra Westland Lynx helicopters. Certainly, these arrangements as originally installed to operate a single Westland Wessex anti-submarine helicopter were problematic, with
6150-411: The County class. However, the RAN instead decided to proceed with the Perth class (a modified version of the US Charles F. Adams class ). Two different reasons have been put forward for the Australian decision: according to an Australian history, British authorities would not allow a steam-propelled variant of the county, whereas, according to a British account, the re-design required to accommodate
6273-507: The Dieppe Raid, Mountbatten became a controversial figure in Canada, with the Royal Canadian Legion distancing itself from him during his visits there during his later career. His relations with Canadian veterans, who blamed him for the losses, "remained frosty" after the war. Mountbatten claimed that the lessons learned from the Dieppe Raid were necessary for planning the Normandy invasion on D-Day nearly two years later. However, military historians such as Major-General Julian Thompson ,
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#17327723909706396-403: The Royal Navy a good number of impressive County-class 'destroyers' and a greater number of ship commands and posts for ambitious officers. While short on the support and logistic spares stocks of a traditional cruiser, they were envisaged by the Director of Naval Construction as being 'probably' used in the cruiser role with space for Flag staff offices, and admiral's barge accommodation in
6519-465: The Royal Navy by the end of 1923; although he was highly regarded by his superiors, it was rumoured that wealthy and well-connected officers were more likely to be retained. Mountbatten was posted to the battleship HMS Revenge in the Mediterranean Fleet in January 1923. Pursuing his interests in technological development and gadgetry, Mountbatten joined the Portsmouth Signals School in August 1924 and then went on briefly to study electronics at
6642-461: The Royal Navy for war with characteristic professionalism and thoroughness. Despite his military rank, Mountbatten was ignorant as to the physics involved in a nuclear explosion and had to be reassured that the fission reactions from the Bikini Atoll tests would not spread through the oceans and blow up the planet. As Mountbatten became more familiar with this new form of weaponry, he increasingly grew opposed to its use in combat. Yet, he realised
6765-551: The Signals School in July 1929 as Senior Wireless Instructor. He was appointed Fleet Wireless Officer to the Mediterranean Fleet in August 1931 and, having been promoted commander on 31 December 1932, was posted to the battleship HMS Resolution . In 1934, Mountbatten was appointed to his first command – the destroyer HMS Daring . His ship was a new destroyer, which he was to sail to Singapore and exchange for an older ship, HMS Wishart . He successfully brought Wishart back to port in Malta and then attended
6888-422: The Southeast Asia Theatre, his command oversaw the recapture of Burma from the Japanese by General Sir William Slim . A personal high point was the receipt of the Japanese surrender in Singapore when British troops returned to the island to receive the formal surrender of Japanese forces in the region led by General Itagaki Seishiro on 12 September 1945, codenamed Operation Tiderace . South East Asia Command
7011-425: The Spanish pretender Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona , to ease the eventual accession of his son, Juan Carlos , to the Spanish throne by signing a declaration of abdication while in exile. The next year Mountbatten attended an official White House dinner during which he took the opportunity to have a 20-minute conversation with Richard Nixon and Secretary of State William P. Rogers , about which he later wrote, "I
7134-423: The Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia Command (SEAC) with promotion to acting full admiral . His less practical ideas were sidelined by an experienced planning staff led by Lieutenant-Colonel James Allason , though some, such as a proposal to launch an amphibious assault near Rangoon , got as far as Churchill before being quashed. British interpreter Hugh Lunghi recounted an embarrassing episode during
7257-403: The Tartar missile would have taken longer than the RAN was prepared to accept. The US Terrier missile had some support amongst the RN staff but consideration was not given to acquiring it for the second batch of four ships, as the County class were "shop windows" for advanced UK technology, and it was vital for the British missile and aerospace industry to continue the Sea Slug project, to allow
7380-403: The Terrier Mk11 or Thunderbird would take too long. The improved Mark 2 version of Seaslug had 10,000 ft (3000 m) greater altitude and speed. The Seaslug system was a large weapon. Each missile was 6 m (19 ft 8 in) long and weighed two tons; its handling arrangements and electronics systems were also large; so even fitting a single system aboard a ship the size of the Counties
7503-437: The US was concentrating on the medium range radar guided RIM-24 Tartar and long range RIM-8 Talos , which had success against long range North Vietnamese aircraft from 1968. The Royal Air Force's semi-active land-based Bristol Bloodhound was unrelated to Seaslug development, but drew top scientists away from RN work. The County-class design attempted to give maximum protection from nuclear fallout. The operation rooms, where
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#17327723909707626-465: The US would enter the war after a Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Mountbatten was a favourite of Winston Churchill . On 27 October 1941, Mountbatten replaced Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Keyes as Chief of Combined Operations Headquarters and was promoted to commodore . His duties in this role included inventing new technical aids to assist with opposed landings. Noteworthy technical achievements of Mountbatten and his staff include
7749-425: The USN Terrier missilem the RAF Bristol Bloodhound and the British Army's Thunderbird semi-active homing missiles in service by 1958. CNS, Mountbatten and Vice Admiral Reid, saw it as 'deplorable' that Sea Slug was so far behind due to the lack of engineers and higher priority for Korea but it was essential to Royal Navy and UK credibility and independence to continue with Sea Slug. A new British missile or adoption of
7872-424: The carrier systems for primary radar and targeting processing of Seaslug. As constructed, the County-class ships were armed with a pair of twin QF 4.5-inch gun mountings. These had magazines for 225 shells for each gun, two-thirds of the magazine capacity for the same guns in the single-turreted Leander -class frigates . The second batch of four ships ( Antrim , Fife , Glamorgan and Norfolk ) were refitted in
7995-499: The construction of "PLUTO", an underwater oil pipeline to Normandy , an artificial Mulberry harbour constructed of concrete caissons and sunken ships, and the development of tank-landing ships . Another project Mountbatten proposed to Churchill was Project Habakkuk . It was to be an unsinkable 600-metre aircraft carrier made from reinforced ice (" Pykrete "); Habakkuk was never carried out due to its enormous cost. As commander of Combined Operations, Mountbatten and his staff planned
8118-407: The country, and, through the efforts of their close mutual friend, Krishna Menon , developed a certain depth of feeling and intimacy with both Nehru that was shared by his wife, Edwina. He felt differently about the Muslim League leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah , but was aware of his power, stating "If it could be said that any single man held the future of India in the palm of his hand in 1947, that man
8241-426: The country, including during an official trip in March 1956. The Pakistani government, by contrast, lacked a positive view of Mountbatten for his perceived hostile attitude towards Pakistan and deemed him persona non grata , barring him from transiting their airspace during the same visit. After India, Mountbatten served as commander of the 1st Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean Fleet and, having been granted
8364-434: The date of the partition from June 1948 to 15 August 1947. The uncertainty of the borders caused Muslims and Hindus to move into the direction where they felt they would get the majority. Hindus and Muslims were thoroughly terrified, and the Muslim movement from the East was balanced by the similar movement of Hindus from the West. A boundary committee chaired by Sir Cyril Radcliffe was charged with drawing boundaries for
8487-459: The development of the much improved Sea Dart missile. Following problems with the original version, a reworked Action Data Automation Weapon System (ADAWS) was successfully trialled on HMS Norfolk in 1970. In the mid-1960s the County-class destroyers were assets; their impressive appearance and data links , feeding off the carriers' Type 984 radar , projected effective capability during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation . The Mark 1 Seaslug
8610-439: The end of the conflict. It destroyed her aircraft hangar and the port Seacat mounting. Her Navigating Officer's prompt reaction to visual detection of the Exocet narrowly averted a hit on the fatally vulnerable Seaslug magazine, by turning the ship so as to give as small a target as possible (the stern) to the incoming weapon. The ship suffered fourteen deaths, injuries, and was lucky to survive with extensive damage and flooding. Had
8733-472: The first group of ships) was dropped as it needed extra crew, space and security which were not available on the smaller hull; development of the nuclear warhead for Seaslug on the second group of ships was cancelled in June 1962, to reduce the naval budget, and the RNs requirement below 334 tactical nuclear warheads. The County-class and the Seaslug missile were interim solutions and the new Sea Dart anti-aircraft missile would have speed and accuracy to ensure
8856-707: The fog to evacuate the Allied forces participating in the Namsos Campaign during the Norwegian Campaign . On the night of 9–10 May 1940, Kelly was torpedoed amidships by a German E-boat S 31 off the Dutch coast, and Mountbatten thereafter commanded the 5th Destroyer Flotilla from the destroyer HMS Javelin . On 29 November 1940 the 5th Flotilla engaged three German destroyers off Lizard Point, Cornwall . Mountbatten turned to port to match
8979-460: The following July. The Defence Secretary , Denis Healey , interviewed the forty most senior officials in the Ministry of Defence; only one, Sir Kenneth Strong , a personal friend of Mountbatten, recommended his reappointment. "When I told Dickie of my decision not to reappoint him," recalls Healey, "he slapped his thigh and roared with delight; but his eyes told a different story." Mountbatten
9102-497: The four ships they purchased along these lines. Eight vessels were built in two batches between 1959 and 1970, the later four vessels carrying the improved Seaslug GWS2 and updated electronics requiring rearranged mastheads. The major identifying feature was the Batch 2 vessels' prominent "double-bedstead" AKE-2 antennas of the Type 965 air-search radar , and their taller foremast carrying the Type 992Q low-angle search radar. Four of
9225-564: The group two ships a spacious operations room with ADAWS . In 1960, because US-designed missiles were seen at the time to be superior to the Seaslug, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) proposed a variation of the County-class armed with the US Tartar missile and two additional modifications: hangar space for three Westland Wessex helicopters and a steam propulsion system, rather than the combined steam and gas system used in
9348-433: The highly successful Bruneval raid , which gained important information and captured part of a German Würzburg radar installation and one of the machine's technicians on 27 February 1942. It was Mountbatten who recognised that surprise and speed were essential to capture the radar, and saw that an airborne assault was the only viable method. On 18 March 1942, he was promoted to the acting rank of vice admiral and given
9471-550: The last Tsar), "Nicky" was changed to "Dickie". Mountbatten was educated at home for the first 10 years of his life; he was then sent to Lockers Park School in Hertfordshire and on to the Royal Naval College, Osborne , in May 1913. Mountbatten's mother's younger sister was Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna . In childhood he visited the Imperial Court of Russia at St Petersburg and became intimate with
9594-434: The magazine. Their wings and fins would be reattached before being moved into the aft sections of the handling spaces and eventually loaded onto the large twin launcher for firing. The limitations of the beam riding guidance method and lack of a homing head, meant the Mk 1 and 2 Seaslug were intended to have nuclear variants - the much larger blast compensating for lack of accuracy. However nuclear warhead for Mk 1 Seaslug (for
9717-434: The mid-1970s – their 'B' turrets were removed and replaced by four single MM38 Exocet surface-to-surface anti-ship-missile launcher boxes in order to increase the fleets anti-ship capability following retirement of its aircraft carriers. This made the County-class ships the only Royal Navy ships to be fitted with three separate types of guided missile: Seaslug, Seacat and Exocet. It was suggested by Vosper Thornycroft that
9840-550: The missile hit a few inches lower, the above waterline magazine would have blown in an explosive fireball and many more of the crew might have been lost. All eight of the class had short Royal Navy careers, serving on average less than 16 years. Only London of the first batch would serve further (transferred to Pakistan) while the other three Batch 1 ships were decommissioned by 1980 with Hampshire being immediately scrapped in 1977 after cannibalization for spares, and Devonshire sunk in weapons testing in 1984. Kent would serve as
9963-627: The most heavily defended docks in Nazi-occupied France until well after the war's end, the ramifications of which contributed to allied supremacy in the Battle of the Atlantic . After these two successes came the Dieppe Raid of 19 August 1942. He was central in the planning and promotion of the raid on the port of Dieppe . The raid was a marked failure, with casualties of almost 60%, the great majority of them Canadians. Following
10086-581: The new nations. With a mandate to leave as many Hindus and Sikhs in India and as many Muslims in Pakistan as possible, Radcliffe came up with a map that split the two countries along the Punjab and Bengal borders. This left 14 million people on the "wrong" side of the border, and very many of them fled to "safety" on the other side when the new lines were announced. When India and Pakistan attained independence at midnight of 14–15 August 1947, Mountbatten
10209-794: The nuclear-war environment. Eight ships were built and entered service. Two served in the British naval task force in the Falklands War in 1982. After leaving British service, four ships were sold to the Chilean Navy and one to the Pakistan Navy. A class of ten ships was envisaged in 1958 for about £ 6–7.5 million each, equivalent to a costed Programme for four large, Seaslug-armed, 15,000-ton cruisers, estimated at £14 million each, based on an upgraded Minotaur -class cruiser (1951), approved for full design in early 1955. The final four County-class ships, with hull numbers 07 to 10, were delayed in 1960 while an anti-submarine escort carrier
10332-477: The original 1841 royal christening gown at the ceremony. Mountbatten's nickname among family and friends was "Dickie"; however "Richard" was not among his given names. This was because his great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, had suggested the nickname of "Nicky", but to avoid confusion with the many Nickys of the Russian Imperial Family ("Nicky" was particularly used to refer to Nicholas II ,
10455-601: The outbreak of the Second World War, he commanded the destroyer HMS Kelly and the 5th Destroyer Flotilla . He saw considerable action in Norway, in the English Channel, and in the Mediterranean. In August 1941, he received command of the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious . He was appointed chief of Combined Operations and a member of the Chiefs of Staff Committee in early 1942, and organised
10578-596: The potential for nuclear energy, especially with regard to submarines. Mountbatten expressed his feelings towards the use of nuclear weapons in combat in his article "A Military Commander Surveys The Nuclear Arms Race", which was published shortly after his death in International Security in the Winter of 1979–1980. After leaving the Admiralty, Mountbatten took the position of Chief of the Defence Staff . He served in this post for six years during which he
10701-527: The preceding County-class heavy cruisers and First World War armoured cruisers . They were however less than real cruisers, unarmoured and fitted to destroyer standards, except for staff accommodation and a dated, short ranged, semi automatic, 4.5 destroyer armament given additional spotting radar. They did provide space and weight for light Bofors and Oerlikons to be fitted if required as happened post Falklands War. The apparently impressive performance of Seaslug against jet Gloster Meteor UC15 drones, giving
10824-511: The process of independence unduly and recklessly, foreseeing vast disruption and loss of life and not wanting this to occur on his watch, but thereby actually helping it to occur (albeit in an indirect manner), especially in Punjab and Bengal. John Kenneth Galbraith , the Canadian-American Harvard University economist, who advised governments of India during the 1950s and was an intimate of Nehru who served as
10947-500: The process. Among the Indian leaders, Mahatma Gandhi emphatically insisted on maintaining a united India and for a while successfully rallied people to this goal. During his meeting with Mountbatten, Gandhi asked Mountbatten to invite Jinnah to form a new central government, but Mountbatten never uttered a word of Gandhi's ideas to Jinnah. When Mountbatten's timeline offered the prospect of attaining independence soon, sentiments took
11070-470: The raids on St Nazaire and Dieppe . In August 1943, Mountbatten became Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia Command and oversaw the recapture of Burma and Singapore from the Japanese by the end of 1945. For his service during the war, Mountbatten was created viscount in 1946 and earl the following year. In February 1947, Mountbatten was appointed Viceroy and Governor-General of India and oversaw
11193-526: The second son of Prince Louis of Battenberg and his wife Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine . Mountbatten's maternal grandparents were Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse , and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom , who was a daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha . His paternal grandparents were Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Julia, Princess of Battenberg . Mountbatten's paternal grandparents' marriage
11316-479: The self-promotion of his own part in Indian independence – notably in the television series The Life and Times of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Mountbatten of Burma , produced by his son-in-law Lord Brabourne , and Freedom at Midnight by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins (of which he was the main quoted source) – his record is seen as very mixed. One common view is that he hastened
11439-433: The ship was fought from, was located deep in the ship five decks below the bridge with a lift connecting it to the latter, which maintained some duplicated command systems. The operations room had the main radar, sonar and electronic warfare screens, and communication data and computer links. The electronics required for the Seaslug were the large Type 901 fire-control radar and the Type 965 air-search radar . These required
11562-435: The ships' names have been subsequently re-used: HMS London was a Type 22 frigate . HMS Kent and HMS Norfolk were used for RN Type 23 frigates though in their case after British dukedoms . Antrim and Glamorgan both served in the Falklands War ; Antrim was the flagship of Operation Paraquet , the recovery of South Georgia in April 1982. Her helicopter, a Westland Wessex HAS Mk 3 (nicknamed "Humphrey")
11685-463: The situation was too volatile to wait even a year before granting independence to India. Although his advisers favoured a gradual transfer of independence, Mountbatten decided the only way forward was a quick and orderly transfer of power before 1947 was out. In his view, any longer would mean civil war. Mountbatten also hurried so he could return to the Royal Navy. Mountbatten was fond of Congress leader Jawaharlal Nehru and his liberal outlook for
11808-436: The size of the new missile destroyers to that of light cruisers and include some cruiser features The study opted for a 505 ft (154 m) long hull with a fit of 18 Seaslug and four nuclear warhead fitted Seaslug for extended range anti-aircraft, anti-missile and anti-ship. Twin 40 mm Bofors were kept due to doubt over the future and effectiveness of the "Green Light" missile then under development. The Limbo mortar
11931-495: The streets to cheer Mountbatten as no European had ever been cheered before." During his reign as governor-general until 21 June 1948, he played a significant role in the political integration of India and persuaded many princely states to join India. On Mountbatten's advice, India took the issue of Kashmir to the newly formed United Nations in January 1948. Accounts differ on the future which Mountbatten desired for Kashmir. Pakistani accounts suggest that Mountbatten favoured
12054-640: The threat of a militant, left-leaning Indonesia to Malaysia and Borneo during the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation . The County class was designed around the GWS1 Seaslug beam riding anti-aircraft missile system. Seaslug was a first-generation surface-to-air missile intended to hit high-flying nuclear-armed bombers and surveillance aircraft like the Tupolev Tu-16 "Badger" and Tupolev Tu-95 "Bear" , which could direct strikes against
12177-670: The war, Mountbatten was known to have largely shunned the Japanese for the rest of his life out of respect for his men killed during the war and, as per his will, Japan was not invited to send diplomatic representatives to his funeral in 1979, though he did meet Emperor Hirohito during his state visit to Britain in 1971, reportedly at the urging of the Queen. Mountbatten's experience in the region and in particular his perceived Labour sympathies at that time, alongside his wife's longstanding friendship and collaboration with V. K. Krishna Menon , led to Menon putting forth Mountbatten's name alone as
12300-547: Was morganatic because his grandmother was not of royal lineage; as a result, he and his father were styled "Serene Highness" rather than "Grand Ducal Highness", were not eligible to be titled Princes of Hesse, and were given the less exalted Battenberg title. Mountbatten's elder siblings were Princess Alice of Battenberg (mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh ), Princess Louise of Battenberg (later Queen Louise of Sweden ), and Prince George of Battenberg (later George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven ). Mountbatten
12423-480: Was Mohammad Ali Jinnah." During his meeting with Jinnah on 5 April 1947, Mountbatten tried to persuade him of a united India, citing the difficult task of dividing the mixed states of Punjab and Bengal , but the Muslim leader was unyielding in his goal of establishing a separate Muslim state called Pakistan . Given the British government's recommendations to grant independence quickly, Mountbatten concluded that
12546-466: Was a British statesman, Royal Navy officer and close relative of the British royal family . He was born in the United Kingdom to the prominent Battenberg family . He was a maternal uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , and a second cousin of King George VI . He joined the Royal Navy during the First World War and was appointed Supreme Allied Commander , South East Asia Command , in
12669-412: Was a challenge. The missiles were stowed horizontally in a long unarmoured magazine which was sited above the waterline and took up a great deal of internal space. The risk of fire near the magazine was checked by an automatic sprinkler system. In order to increase the number of missiles that could be carried, on the last four ships, some of the missiles were stored partly disassembled in the forward end of
12792-602: Was a personal friend of Mountbatten and copied some of his speeches into the film. Mountbatten was mentioned in despatches on 9 August 1940 and 21 March 1941 and awarded the Distinguished Service Order in January 1941. In August 1941, Mountbatten was appointed captain of the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious which lay in Norfolk, Virginia , for repairs following action at Malta in January. During this period of relative inactivity, he paid
12915-554: Was able to consolidate the three service departments of the military branch into a single Ministry of Defence . Ian Jacob , co-author of the 1963 Report on the Central Organisation of Defence that served as the basis of these reforms, described Mountbatten as "universally mistrusted in spite of his great qualities". On their election in October 1964 , the Wilson ministry had to decide whether to renew his appointment
13038-525: Was able to talk to the President a bit about both Tino [Constantine II of Greece] and Juanito [Juan Carlos of Spain] to try and put over their respective points of view about Greece and Spain, and how I felt the US could help them." In January 1971, Nixon hosted Juan Carlos and his wife Sofia (sister of the exiled King Constantine) during a visit to Washington and later that year The Washington Post published an article alleging that Nixon's administration
13161-583: Was alone in his study at the Viceroy's house saying to himself just before the clock struck midnight that for still a few minutes, he was the most powerful man on Earth. At 12 am, as a last act of showmanship, he created Joan Falkiner , the Australian wife of the Nawab of Palanpur , a highness, an act that was apparently one of his favourite duties that was annulled at the stroke of midnight. Notwithstanding
13284-731: Was appointed Colonel of The Life Guards and Gold Stick in Waiting on 29 January 1965 and Life Colonel Commandant of the Royal Marines the same year. He was Governor of the Isle of Wight from 20 July 1965 and then the first Lord Lieutenant of the Isle of Wight from 1 April 1974. Mountbatten was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and had received an honorary doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 1968. In 1969, Mountbatten tried unsuccessfully to persuade his second cousin,
13407-595: Was appointed Personal Aide-de-Camp to the Queen. Mountbatten served his final posting at the Admiralty as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff from April 1955 to July 1959, the position which his father had held some forty years before. This was the first time in Royal Naval history that a father and son had both attained such high office. He was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 22 October 1956. In
13530-404: Was asked by Collins and Lapierre if he would have sabotaged the creation of Pakistan had he known that Jinnah was dying of tuberculosis , he replied, "Most probably". Mountbatten became the first Governor-General of independent India on 15 August 1947 upon the request of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru . The Life magazine noted on his reception in India that, "The people gathered in
13653-466: Was baptised in the large drawing room of Frogmore House on 17 July 1900 by the Dean of Windsor , Philip Eliot . His godparents were Queen Victoria (his maternal great-grandmother), Nicholas II of Russia (his maternal uncle through marriage and paternal second cousin, represented by the child's father) and Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg (his paternal uncle, represented by Lord Edward Clinton ). He wore
13776-442: Was considered. Hulls 07 and 08 were approved in 1963 as a temporary stopgap, and the ninth and tenth hulls were cancelled. The class was designed as a hybrid cruiser-destroyer with dimensions similar to the broad-beam 1951 Dido class . Much larger than predecessors such as the 2,800 ton Daring class . the new County class would be destroyer-leaders for aircraft carrier task forces and when operating " East of Suez " also play
13899-400: Was considered. The RAF found Seaslug could not cover low and high level targets and was only marginally capable on subsonic targets at 3–10 miles and height of 1–7 miles, and not effective against modern V Bomber , English Electric Canberra and Soviet Il-28 type aircraft which were likely to be used in a 1956 Suez confrontation. The missile was obsolete in many Admirals and MPs views compared
14022-472: Was decisive in persuading the vast majority of them to see advantages in opting to join the Indian Union . On one hand, the integration of the princely states can be viewed as one of the positive aspects of his legacy but on the other, the refusal of Hyderabad , Jammu and Kashmir , and Junagadh to join one of the dominions led to future wars between Pakistan and India. Mountbatten brought forward
14145-530: Was disbanded in May 1946 and Mountbatten returned home with the substantive rank of rear-admiral . That year, he was made a Knight Companion of the Garter and created Viscount Mountbatten of Burma , of Romsey in the County of Southampton , as a victory title for war service. He was then in 1947 further created Earl Mountbatten of Burma and Baron Romsey , of Romsey in the County of Southampton. Following
14268-822: Was elected for a term to the Standing Committee of the Cambridge Union Society and was suspected of sympathy for the Labour Party, then emerging as a potential party of government for the first time. Mountbatten was posted to the battlecruiser HMS Renown in March 1920 and accompanied Edward, Prince of Wales , on a royal tour of Australia in her. He was promoted lieutenant on 15 April 1920. HMS Renown returned to Portsmouth on 11 October 1920. Early in 1921 Royal Navy personnel were used for civil defence duties as serious industrial unrest seemed imminent. Mountbatten had to command
14391-505: Was led by Mountbatten and the Cabinet agreed with using the system, despite staff reports over missile unreliability and inaccuracy,. This was confirmed by the dismal performance in the following Seaslug target launches at Woomera range , South Australia in 1959 Many Royal Australian Navy officers felt Seaslug was unsuitable for the RAN. Final revisions to the design in 1958 were to adopt
14514-526: Was left with no other option but to cut and run, with the alternative being involvement in a potential civil war that would be difficult to get out of. The creation of Pakistan was never emotionally accepted by many British leaders, among them Mountbatten. Mountbatten clearly expressed his lack of support and faith in the Muslim League 's idea of Pakistan. Jinnah refused Mountbatten's offer to serve as Governor-General of Pakistan . When Mountbatten
14637-413: Was operationally reliable and proved useful as a missile target for the new Sea Dart missiles in the late 1970s and early 1980s; the supersonic Mark 2 version proved less effective for this. There are questions as to whether it was ever fully operational and there were problems with missiles breaking up when the boosters separated. Inaccuracy, primitive beam-riding guidance and lack of infrared homing or
14760-472: Was posted as midshipman to the battlecruiser HMS Lion in July 1916 and, after seeing action in August 1916, transferred to the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth during the closing phases of the First World War . In June 1917, when the royal family stopped using their German names and titles and adopted the more British-sounding "Windsor", Mountbatten acquired the courtesy title appropriate to
14883-461: Was responsible for the rescue of 16 Special Air Service operators from Fortuna Glacier and the subsequent detection and disabling of the Argentinian submarine Santa Fe . In San Carlos Water, Antrim was hit by a 1,000 lb (450 kg) bomb which failed to explode. Glamorgan , after many days on the "gun line" bombarding Port Stanley airfield, was hit by an Exocet launched from land at
15006-439: Was supposedly effective against supersonic and surface targets at up to 30 km. ADAWS command and control system could process and prioritise air targets detected by the 965 and 992 radar and other so fitted RN warships. This was important as the Type 984 3D processing system on the carriers Victorious , Hermes and Eagle were removed from 1967 to 1972, affecting the first four County class ships which depended on datalinks to
15129-481: Was the only anti-submarine weapon. A revised design in March 1958 added Seaslug and Seacat missiles and a telescoping aircraft hangar. Mountbatten staged an impressive demonstration shoot for flag officers and politicians: the Seaslug test ship HMS Girdle Ness launched ten Seaslugs, including a salvo of two Seaslugs together. The success included hits in the lethal zone of two piston-engine Fairey Firefly radio-controlled drones at 16 km (9.9 mi) flying at
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