The County class was a class of guided missile destroyers, the first such vessels built by the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. Designed specifically around the Sea Slug

Sea Slug missile

Sea Slug was a first generation surface-to-air missile designed by Armstrong Whitworth for use by the Royal Navy...

 anti-aircraft missile system, the primary role of these ships was area air-defence around the aircraft carrier

Aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...

 task force in the nuclear-war environment.
The County class were designed around the GWS1 Sea Slug

Sea Slug missile

Sea Slug was a first generation surface-to-air missile designed by Armstrong Whitworth for use by the Royal Navy...

 beam riding

Beam riding

Beam-riding, also known as beam guidance, is a technique of directing a missile to its target by means of radar or a laser beam. The name refers to the way the missile flies down the guidance beam, which is aimed at the target...

 anti-aircraft missile system. Sea Slug was a first generation surface to air missile intended to hit high-flying nuclear-armed bombers.