The cutback in operating funds and manpower, faced by the Royal Navy when the new Conservative government limited fuel and operating allowances in a policy of tight monetary control, and the belief in the economy of Hawker Siddeley Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft and submarines for anti-submarine operations quickened their demise. The recommissioning of the carrier and conversion of into a helicopter carrier and then an anti-submarine carrier meant that they could carry twice as many Sea Kings as could the "Tiger"s in anti-submarine warfare, vital against the Soviet Union submarine threat in the Atlantic Ocean, and decreased the importance of the "Tiger"s even further. As well-armed command ships, including twin twin 4.7 guns and standard SM2 the Dutch and were particularly vital stand-in destroyer leader ships working with RN carriers from the mid-1970s. Operating alone as a RN task force, carriers could not be risked in blue water operations without an escort of Type 42 destroyers, Type 22 frigates or Sea Wolf-equipped s. The true manpower requirements for open water and power projection were too high in terms of fiscal cost for the UK spending 5.2 percent of GNP on defence in 1981 to justify the "Tiger"s. During the Falklands War, the "Belgarno"s ability to efficiently fight her armament is doubtful and her two Exocet-armed FRAM 2 escorts may have represented a greater threat to the Task Force. The rapid-firing guns of 'Tiger' and 'Blake', and their flight-decks and facilities to refuel and maintain on station Sea King helicopters and possibly VSTOL Harrier jump-jets, were arguments used to justify approving emergency reactivation as landing pads during the Falklands War. The stock of 3-inch ammunition held for the "Tiger"s, however, was more useful for the Canadian .