Sea Slug shows how missile systems changed destroyer design

Sea Slug emerged from roughly twenty years of guided-weapon development before entering service in 1961. Earlier work included the liquid-oxygen-and-petrol LOPGAP projectile, Fairey's Stooge, and British Army beam-riding research. The service missile was still a first-generation weapon despite that long development period. Its versions weighed about 2 to 2.3 tons and measured roughly 6 to 6.1 metres, with external booster rockets helping launch the weapon. Mark 1 weighed about two tons and carried a warhead under 100 kilograms. Mark 2 used a continuous-rod warhead to enlarge the damaging area and compensate for possible guidance inaccuracy. The missile's dimensions and supporting equipment help explain why air-defence weapons drove destroyers toward larger, more specialized designs.