Blue Water

Blue Water

Blue Water was a tactical "corps-support" missile developed by English Electric to a 1958 War Office requirement to replace the ageing Firestone Corporal system. English Electric had been foster parent for four years to the Corporal in British Army usage so it seemed logical to employ them to design its replacement.

The resulting missile was 25 feet long, weighed 3000lb and could carry warheads in the 1 to 10 kiloton range over 55 miles. The entire system including launch vehicle was airportable under a Bristol Belvedere helicopter. Deployment was rapid, the missile was carried on a three-tonner and, being solid propellant, no fuelling support was required. To set the inertial guidance system a computer carrying vehicle was brought alongside and target data fed into the system. This took around two minutes after which the missile could be elevated to the correct angle and fired.

Though initial trials went outstandingly well and the specifications matched those set out in a NATO requirement for a European weapon the system had one major and ultimately fatal flaw (can you guess what it is yet?) which led to the project being scrapped in 1962.

The rival Sperry Sergeant was adopted, being less accurate, five times the cost, three times the weight for a similar warhead yield and taking nine times longer to set up for launch. But, unlike the despised BRITISH Blue Water, the Sergeant had the unbeatable quality of being AMERICAN.

Craven arrse-licking short-sighted procurement cnuts!