Facts and Figures
Launched:	1980
Displacement:	3,800 tons
Length:	125.6 metres (412ft)
Beam:	14 metres (46ft)
Armament:	Twin launcher for Sea Dart anti-aircraft missiles with surface-to-surface capability. One Vickers 4.5in. Mk. 8, two 20mm Oerlikons. A/S weapons: Tow triple launchers for anti-submarine torpedoes.
Propulsion:	Two Rolls-Royce Olympus gas turbines each developing 4,000 s.h.p.. The Tynes drive the two shafts and variable-pitch propellers for cruising, the Olympuses power the ship for higher speeds.
Speed:	30 knots
Complement:	21 officers, 64 senior rates, 185 junior rates.
Aircraft:	Lynx Mark 2 armed with anti-ship missiles or anti-submarine torpedoes.

Caribbean Task for Glasgow
Text from Ships Of The Royal Navy no. 294
HMS Glasgow is expected to head for the azure seas and green palms of the Caribbean next month on her first major deployment.

The Glasgow's trials programme, which began with the acceptance in March last year, ended in January. Then there followed six weeks of basic operational sea training before her current programme.

Those hard months of trials and work-up last year have, however, been spiced by a few visits at home and abroad - to Den Helder, Holland in June last year; a trip to Gibraltar to complete more trials after summer leave; and a visit to Hamburg in mid-December.

The visit to West Germany gave the Glasgow a chance to maintain her links with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, currently stationed there. Exchange visits were arranged between the regiment and the ships and, when she left, a regimental piper piped her out of harbour.

The ship's strongest links are of course with the city that gives her name. Her Scottish-born commanding officer, Capt. Robin Doe, and the ship's company have received official messages of goodwill from Glasgow, and the destroyer has many fine items of silver tableware that the city presented to her predecessors.

Old Glasgows, too, have presented the ships with photographs and mementoes from their days. The depth of their interest in the new ship can be gauged from the fact that hundreds responded when Old Glasgows were invited to spend a day aboard the destroyer at Portsmouth.

One priority on the destroyer's visiting list was a trip back to Newcastle, where she was built at the Wallsend-on-Tyne yards of Swan Hunter Shipbuilders. There she was overwhelmed by a warm Geordie welcome, more than 2,000 visiting her when she was open to the public.

Like her sister ships, the Glasgow's primary role is that of providing air defence to a group of ships which would possibly include a carrier of the Invincible class.

Built around the Sea Dart anti-aircraft missile system, the Type 42's have an impressive array of sensors and sonar equipment. Besides their primary role the ships could provide gunfire support, can take part in anti-surface operations, and have a limited anti-submarine capability.