Talk:Sea Cat missile

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This is my first article for Wikipedia, I hope I have not broken any fundamental rules. I wanted this to compliment the bald facts about the Sea Cat missile system found on the article page, please forgive me if I have misstated anything, I am writing from memory about events that happened thirty years ago.

As a Royal Navy Able Seaman Missiles I worked on the Sea Cat missile system in the late 1970's. I was a Sea Cat Missile Aimer on two Leander class frigates, HMS Apollo and HMS Diomede. As I'm sure you will understand if you read the description on the article page, these were very elementary missiles systems from a technology viewpoint and they required someone to guide or aim them into the target. This task required three primary attributes, which all gunnery trainees were screened for, keen eyesight, fast reaction times and manual dexterity, those trainees displaying these attributes went through additional training to turn them into Sea Cat Aimers. As a Sea Cat Aimer, you got a patch to be worn on your right sleeve with the image of a Sea Cat missile at a 45 degree angle. There were usually 1 or 2 aimers on each Navy ship in the late 70’s and we usually took turns to shoot missiles during live firing exercises. Live firing exercises were always (in my experience) done with dummy warheads, there was a way to determine proximity to the target and bringing the missile to within 20 to 30 feet of the target was deemed a ‘hit’ since the missile had a proximity fuse and it was assumed that the target would be fatally damaged by shrapnel at that distance. Targets were usually either towed ‘sleeve types’ or small propeller driven drones launched and controlled from the ships deck similar to a radio controlled model airplane but much larger. (I actually downed one of these drones while serving on HMS Diomede and a subsequent visit to the ship many years later found the propeller from the drone still hanging in place of honor in the Gunners mess.) The missile would be launched by the missile control center but was actually controlled by the aimer from a round dome like structure that sat on deck usually next to the missile battery containing 4 ready to launch missiles. The aimers dome revolved at the deck and had a radar dish on the front. The aimer sat in a chair and had a two handed yoke in front of him that controlled the domes direction. The dome was open to the air and the aimer had a powerful set of binoculars on a type of gimbaled bar at eye level. By using this hand yoke the aimer could train the binoculars in any direction when looking for a target and many an aimer spent many an hour doing this during war exercises. Naturally in a real wartime situation the ships radar would pick out an incoming target long before an aimer could and these coordinates would be transmitted to the missile control center which would automatically rotate the dome and elevate the binoculars to the correct position where the domes own radar could lock in on the target. Once the missile launched, the aimer would use a tiny joystick located under his right thumb to guide the missile back towards the center cross hairs on the binoculars and by minute adjustments he would edge it back on course each time it tried to stray. This was very hard to do, imagine trying to keep the flight of a bottle rocket straight and you’ll get some idea of how hard it was. It required lighting reactions but very small corresponding movements of the joystick. It was not unusual to keep a missile straight on target the whole way out and just before impact have it veer off course with no time to correct. Although hard to control and very primitive by the standards of contemporary missiles, the Sea Cat did benefit from not having an easy way to counteract it. I can imagine the consternation of the Argentinean pilots during the Falklands War as they dumped chaff and magnesium flares only to have a Sea Cat missile keep coming at them completely unaffected. Steve Kemp Ex RN AB Missiles 1976 - 1981

[edit] Falklands kills

• "BATTLE ATLAS of the FALKLANDS WAR 1982, by Land, Sea, Air" Gordon Smith, 2006 (on http://www.naval-history.net/F64argaircraftlost.htm]) - Argonaut 1 claim, Plymouth 1/2 claim, Antelope 1 claim, Fearless 1/2 claim, Yarmouth 1 claim;

• • Friday 21st May - Dagger A of FAA Grupo 6 shot down near Fanning Head by Sea Cat fired by HMS Argonaut or Plymouth, or more likely Sea Wolf from HMS Broadsword (10.30 am). Lt Bean killed.
  • Sunday 23rd May - A-4B Skyhawk of FAA Grupo 5 shot down over San Carlos Water by unknown SAM (1.50 pm). Claims that day include "Broadsword" Sea Wolf, "Antelope" Sea Cat, and land-based Rapiers and Blowpipe. Lt Guadagnini killed.
  • Monday 24th May - A-4C Skyhawk of FAA Grupo 4 damaged over San Carlos Water by ship and ground-based air defences and crashed into King George Bay, West Falkland on flight home (1.30 pm). Claims that day include "Argonaut" and "Fearless" Sea Cat, and Rapier and Blowpipe SAM's. Lt Bono lost.
  • Tuesday 25th May - A-4C Skyhawk of FAA Grupo 4 destroyed over San Carlos Water by a variety of weapons, claims including small arms fire, "Yarmouth" Sea Cat, and Rapier and Blowpipe SAM's (12.30 pm). Lt Lucero ejected.

This gives a total of at least 4 confirmed kills that Sea Cat claimed, I have ammended the article accordingly Emoscopes ^Talk 14:38, 16 April 2006 (UTC)