Tiger-class firepower and the cost of neglected maintenance

Would the Tiger-class cruisers' guns have helped in 1982, and why were Tiger and Blake unavailable?

Their rapid-firing 3-inch and 6-inch guns would have been valuable, but the ships had not been maintained well enough to deploy.

The 3-inch battery offered rapid fire against aircraft and other close threats. The 6-inch guns could also deliver substantial naval gunfire support ashore. Together they would have added volume and flexibility to a force short of gun-armed ships. Tiger and Blake were unavailable because they had not been properly sustained or maintained, rather than because planners feared losing their large crews. The exchange turns a paper capability into a readiness lesson: a useful weapon contributes nothing if its ship cannot leave port.