By 1964 the Conservative Government and half the naval staff saw the "Tiger"s as no longer affordable or credible in the surface combat or fleet air defence role, and would have preferred to decommission them but given they were technically only three years old and built at immense expense, scrapping them was politically impossible. They approved conversion into helicopter carriers; carrying Westland Wessex helicopters primarily to land troops in Royal Marine Commando operations. A large hangar replaced the 'Y' turret, the forward turrets were retained for gunfire support and anti-surface vessel warfare. Intended provide extra powerful vessels to support and conduct amphibious operations east of Suez where it was difficult logistically for the Royal Navy to sustain even one operational carrier and one commando carrier in 1963–64. The original plan retained the full three twin 3-inch mounts or CIWS with full update of the sonar and radar including Type 965M AW but replacing the Type 992 target indicator radar with the slower Type 993. British Army preference in 1964 with the Indonesian confrontation building was to retain the "Tiger"s with their full two turret 6-inch gun armament for bombardment.