L-3505 Sir Tristram

Country:  United Kingdom

Class, [Type]: Sir Bedivere, [LST].

Builder: Alexander Stephen, Glasgow, U.K.

Launch date: 12 December 1966.

Commission date: 14 September 1967.

Decommission date: 17 December 2005.

Displacement ( tons ): 6.400 full load.

Dimensions ( metres ): 135,8 x 18,2 x 4

Main machinery: 2 x Mirrlees 10-ALSSDM diesels ( 9.400 hp ).

Speed ( knots ): 17.

Range ( miles ): 8.000 at 15 knots.

Complement: 50 ( 18 officers ).

Guns: 2 or 4 x Oerlikon 20mm, 4 x 7,62mm.

Military lift: 340 soldiers ( 534 hard lying ) or 18 x MBT or 34 x mixed vehicles. 30 tonnes ammunition.

Radar: Navigation: Kelvin Hughes Type 1006, I band.

Countermeasures: Decoys: 2 x Plessey Shield launchers.

Helicopter: Aft flight deck: one spot for Sea King of Lynx; vehicle deck: one spot for Chinook, Sea King or Lynx.

Callsign: GVMA ()

Comment: On June 8th 1982, during the Falklands War, Sir Tristam was bombed and straffed by five argentinian A-4 Skyhawks. As a result two crew were killed. A large bomb also smashed through the deck, but luckily failed to explode immediately, allowing the surviving crew to be evacuated. Following the explosion, Sir Tristram was abandoned. After the war the hulk was towed to Port Stanley, where it was used as an accommodation ship until 1984. In 1985 the ship reentered active service, from then until his last days served in the First Gulf War, the Balkan conflicts, relief operations for hurricane Mitch, Sierra Leona in 2000, and the Irak invasion in 2003.

Similar units:

 L3004 Sir Bedivere
 L3027 Sir Geraint