Obsolescence and Decommissioning
In 1969, Blake returned to service followed by Tiger in 1972. However, the large crews and limited helicopter capacity made Tigers' further fleet service limited to less than nine years. After spending seven years in reserve; in 1973 the decision was made to strip Lion for spares to maintain Blake and Tiger, and Lion was sold for scrap in 1975. With Ark Royal’s entry into reserve, Tiger and Blake were the only major Royal Navy vessels capable of performing the fundamental anti-submarine warfare role. The conversion had given Tiger and Blake between fifteen and twenty years' further service, but the cut-back in operating funds and manpower that the Royal Navy faced in the 1970s quickened their demise. The recommissioning of the carrier, Bulwark and conversion of Hermes now configured to perform anti-submarine warfare, vital against the Soviet Union submarine threat in the Atlantic, a role that the Tigers had been used for, decreased the importance of the Tigers even further.
In April 1978 Tiger was withdrawn from service, followed by Blake in 1979 and both ships were laid up in reserve at HMRNB Chatham. When Blake decommissioned in 1979, she had the distinction of being the last cruiser to serve the Royal Navy and her passing was marked on 6 December 1979, when she ceremonially fired her 6-inch guns for the last time in the English Channel. Just a few days after the Falklands War started, both Blake and Tiger were rapidly surveyed to determine their condition for reactivation. Both ships were found to be in very good condition and were dry-docked (Blake at Chatham, and Tiger at Portsmouth) and round the clock reactivation work immediately begun. By mid-May it was determined the ships would not be completed in time to take part in the war and the work was stopped. Though Chile showed some interest in acquiring both ships, the sale did not proceed and the ships sat at anchor in an unmaintained condition until sold. Blake was then sold for breaking up in late 1982, followed by Tiger in 1986.
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