Q&A ยท 4:14:51-4:16:51

The elusive 1952 Vickers-Armstrong missile cruiser

A little-documented British Talos cruiser remains difficult to reconstruct from the surviving preliminary material.

Question

What is known about the Vickers-Armstrong missile-cruiser design of 1952?

Short answer

It was a British Talos proposal, but sparse drawings leave its precise hull lineage and arrangement unresolved.

Notes

The Vickers-Armstrong proposal is the only British Talos design the panel can identify. Basic diagrams leave its hull ancestry unresolved: it may belong to the Arethusa/Dido lineage or the larger Town-class lineage. Internal volume for the missile system is central to that question, while Vickers' preference for the smaller cruiser lineage complicates the assumption that it must be a Town derivative. Detailed drawings would be needed to decide. Research is also hampered by an online archive catalog described as returning inconsistent results for the same search term.