HMS Fearless in the Falklands Helen Gibbons mwr Helen Gibbons 2007 application/x-shockwave-flash Built by Harland and Wolff, Belfast. HMS Fearless was completed in 1965 and commissioned in November of that year. Designers based HMS Fearless on the American Raleigh Class of Landing Platform Docks (LPD). HMS Fearless is 158.5 meters in length, with a beam of 24.4 meters. She displaces 11,060 tons as standard and 12,120 tons with a full load. When Ballast Tanks at the stern are flooded with 3,000 tons of sea water, enabling the stern of the ship to lower and deploy the landing craft, the displacement is 16,950 tons. The ship has accommodation for 400 Royal Marine Commandos, but a further 700 can be held on the tank decks and in the corridors for a limited amount of time in extreme cases. Prior to the San Carlos Landings during the Falklands campaign, the ship held an extra 1,200 troops! 4 x 4 Seacat launchers for use against fast jet aircraft, 2 x 40 mm Borfors Mk 9 GP guns for anti-aircraft defence. 1 x 978 and 1 x 994 radars, electronic warfare equipment, radio direction finding and SCOT (Satellite Communications Onboard Terminal), a system for advanced global communications. Fearlesss sister ship, HMS Intrepid was the first to be fitted with such a system and was used in sea-borne trials to test it out. The upper open tank deck was converted during building to become a helicopter landing deck. It has provision for four helicopters, but no hangar space to maintain the craft. During the Falklands War, a Sea Harrier was successfully landed on the flight deck. Four LCVPs (Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel) and four LCUs (Landing Craft Utility). The LCVPs are suspended from davits on the side of the ship and can be lowered into the water. They can hold 30 men, or two Land Rover vehicles. The large LCUs are transported within the ship. These ships can also carry fifteen tanks, seven 3-ton and twenty quarter-ton trucks. An Assault Operations Command Centre on board the ship enables the coordination of an amphibious assault at sea. 15 ton crane port side and 6 ton crane starboard side for lifting stores and vehicles.