From 1968 Tiger was converted to a "helicopter and command cruiser" and equipped with guided missile anti-aircraft defence before returning to service in the early 1970s.

Cruisers were seen as playing a secondary and complementary role to light fleet aircraft carriers in the defence of trade and attack on enemy shipping.

Due to the priority of the Royal Air Force (in providing defence against nuclear attack by Soviet bombers), the Cold War, and the conflict between the prime minister and Admiralty Naval Staff over shipbuilding issues, the warships that were approved in 1951-1953 were anti-submarine frigates, destroyers, and minehunters but no cruisers.

[8] However, Tiger's 6-inch guns usually jammed after 30 seconds firing,[9] and couldn't deliver sustained bombardment in support of troops ashore.

[10] HMS Tiger's revised weapon fit was for immediate post-war requirements and the continued reconstruction of the class confirmed the 1957 Defence White Paper as interim anti-aircraft ships pending the introduction of guided weapons into the Royal Navy; four County-class destroyers with the Seaslug missiles had been ordered by February 1957.

[d] By the time Tiger's legend was accepted by the Board of the Admiralty in July 1954 and the Cabinet in November 1954, the cruiser design, hull and machinery were really too old.

[12] The planned 40mm Bofors guns approved in 1954/57 as essential for close-in defence were omitted to give the crew space and comfort.

After workup, now under Captain R. Hutchins, Tiger went on a round of autumn flag-showing visits to Gdynia, Stockholm, Kiel and Antwerp.

Twenty officers (including all twelve midshipmen) were put ashore at Gibraltar before the talks to "make room for the three delegations of the Prime Minister, the Governor of Rhodesia and Mr.

[2] Once converted, Tiger carried: She had excellent command, control, and communications facilities installed, and found use as a flagship to task groups.

"[33][g] Rear-Admiral Morgan-Giles, MP for Winchester, while advocating for the carrier HMS Eagle to be brought back into commission, described Blake and Tiger as "among the worst abortions which have ever been thrust on the Royal Navy".

Both Tiger and her sister ship Blake were listed as part of the Standby Squadron, and moored inactive at HMNB Chatham.

When the Falklands War broke out in early April 1982, both ships were rapidly surveyed and it was determined both were in very good material shape, and both were immediately drydocked (Tiger in Portsmouth and Blake at Chatham) and recommissioning work was begun.

Their benefit would be more as platforms to extend the range and endurance of the Harriers and as a refuelling stop on the way back to the carriers, rather than as somewhere to operate offensive missions from, or as somewhere to place a pair of Sea Harriers as an extended-range Combat Air Patrol ahead of the two carriers (and reducing their own exposure to air strikes), but the need to take off vertically rather than the use of a ski-jump severely reduced the Harriers' endurance and weapons carrying capability, and in late May 1982 after the loss of the destroyer Sheffield and the Argentinian cruiser General Belgrano the refits were stopped.

There were also doubts about the two ships' self-defence capabilities, (the 6-inch and 3-inch armament had never been reliable) and this coupled with the large complement (and potential loss of life if one of the cruisers was to be lost), caused much anxiety in the Admiralty.

That, along with where to find 1,800 capable and qualified crew in a hurry at a time when the Royal Navy was already down-sizing, sealed the two ships' fate.

Tiger existed in a slowly deteriorating condition until mid-1986, and following competitive tendering she was sold for scrap to Desguaces Varela of Spain.