NAVY
NEWS. AUGUST 1982
V /
Mr. Ted Brett (left), contracts editor of Portsmouth and Sunderland Newspapers plc, presenting a full colour framed photograph of Navy News to Lieut-Cdr. Len Truscott to mark the 12-year link between him and the company which prints the paper. Second right in the foreground is Maureen Brown, who succeeds him as business manager. Pclu,e: The News.
C= S. 0.
wood J.
CPOWTR
~n-cal
Folk Contest oft THE Services Folk Competition. due to have culminated in a grand final at Biclefeld. W. Germany. on October 26, has been cancelled because of lack of entries due to the Falklands crisis.
SUCCESSOR "I soon realised that the popular conception of golf and lunchtime tipples and locker-room tales was a fallacy!" he said. Nevertheless, his love of golf if anything grew stronger and in 1971 he was Captain of Lee-on-Solent Golf Club. Len is succeeded as business manager of Navy News by Miss Maureen Brown, who has spent two years as his deputy. Before that she worked in the Finance Department of Portsmouth Naval Base. "I am looking forward to the challenge," she said. 'But he will be a hard man to follow!"
F ewirst 5ea L ord 0
Nelson
Jimmy Hugh.s. Served AN 12 years. latterly Cunard 13 yea's Died in Mantle Conveyor May 25. Paul Crlspin. Ex-PO radio moctran'oan. Last ship HMS manes'.. monte, of Or~ Field Gun Crew 19734. on poce motor-cyclo course Lieut.-Cdr. Arthur McT,gganlShort RNVR Cardiff Infirmary July 5 aged 86 Ex-POOEL J.W. (Dusty) Rhod.s. HM ships Eagle. Devonshire. Leopard. Chest~ HosxtaJ. June 10 J. R. Douglas. Assooat.on of Burnley and Pendlo Distnct Naval Ex. Serincamen June 9. aged 64 Fredrick Fryer. Burton-on-Trent. My 24. aged 66 William C.dflc Neiman. (Ex-MAA) HMS Charybdis survivor 1943. May 17. aged 77 Lieut.-Cdr. (SCC) O.L (Jack) Cosa.ne RNR MBE. March 6 Ll.ut. Tom Event DSC RN (rild.). NM ships Plucky. Kent. Royal Sovereign June 7. aged 82.
1966 he served on the Staff of the C.-in-C. South America and South Atlantic, with headquarters at Youngsfield, Capetown. His last ship was HMS Dolphin. Len played for Plymouth Albion Rugby Football Club and subsequently Devonport Services RFC, but his rugby career was sadly cut short by the Second World War. However, the sporting instinct was still there and on retirement from the Service, Len tried his hand as a golf club secretary.
ADML LEACH TO BE PROMOTED ADMIRAL OF FLEET
RosInd.ll taeut. June 16 B. Stet~ WEM(R)2 (pt5ag.
July 8 B. Smith. 11 July
Portsmouth
LIEUT.-CDR. LEN TRUSCOTT retired as business manager of Navy News on July 19, shortly after his 65th birthday, and after 12 highly successful years in the post. During that time the world-wide circulation of the paper has increased from 30,000 to more than 85,000 and its Influence and volume of advertising have risen accordingly. Len Joined the Royal Navy as a writer in May 1937, was promoted from the lower deck in July 1952, and retired in the rank of lleut.-cdr. In July 1967. when he was made MBE in the Birthday Honours. Among HM ships In which he served were the Capetown and Cardiff on the China Station; the Gambia on the Mediterranean and East Indies Stations; the submarine depot ship Forth in the Mediterranean and during the 1956 Suez invasion; and the Ark Royal in the Mediterranean, North America and the Arctic. Between 1958 and 1959, he served as Captain's Secretary, London Division RNR, at HMS President, and between 1964 and
9
N
Flag Officer Plymouth
REAR-ADMIRAL David Worthington Brown is to he promoted vice-admiral in September and becomes Flag Officer Plymouth. Port Admiral Devonport, Commander Central Sub Area Eastern Atlantic and Commander Plymouth Sub Area Channel. has nol,% returned to the UK. Rear-Admiral Brown joined Rear-Admiral Rc!feli is a the Royal Navy in 1945 and former commanding officer of (luring his career has served as HSIS Sirius and HMS Hermes. Captain 5th Frigate Squadron while in command of HMS os,er appointments recently announced r,.~ Hermione. He has also cornP. 0. J. Munson. Capt. Fishery manded HMS Bristol. In 1981) Protection and CSO (Fishery Protoc8on) to he became Assistant Chief of FOSNI October 14 Capt. R. R. W. Rumble. Osprey as the Defence Staff (Operations). CSO (Eng) to FOST. Capt. Of Portland Rear-Admiral 1). R. Reffeil Naval Base and Capt FM Portland has become the Naval Task October 26 Capt. 0. A. Wattla. Director 01 Naval Group Commander in the South October 13. Atlantic in succession to RearRNAY J. L Williams. Supt Admiral
J.
F.
Woodward,
who
Capt. Fleettands
HOME AND DRY
Her 38.000 mile voyage ended with an ecstatic welcome from the people of Plymouth - only fitting for a ship which had been the first to leave for the South Atlantic; first to use Sea Wolf in anger; and first Task Force ship to spend 107 days continuously at sea. The Brilliant directed Sea Harriers on successful strikes against at least seven Mirages and five Skyhawks at the time of the initial Falklands landings and had several near misses from enemy bombs and shells. She was followed home, on July 23, by her sister-ship HMS Broadsword, also armed with Sea Wolf missiles which proved so deadly against Argentine aircraft. But, while the fighting ships stole most of the thunder. supporting vessels were also returning to welcomes every bit as joyful. Home to Portsmouth on July 17 came the tanker RFA Blue Rover, followed two days later by the flagship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary service, the stores ship Stromness. which had been in the thick of the fighting in Falkland Sound. RFA Tidespring returned on July 22. Plymouth welcomed RFAs Fort Austin - the large (June 28), Olmcda (July 12) tanker which alone kept the carriers supplied for four weeks - and Resource (July 19). Off San Carlos, bombs missed the Fort Austin by 2Oft., while her older cousin, the Resource, endured similar experiences during her two days in Bomb Alley. She
November 2
ADMIRAL Sir John Fieldhouse, who as Commander-in-Chief Fleet was in overall military control of the Falklands operation, is to be First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff in December. lie succeeds Admiral Sir Henry Leach, who is promoted Admiral of the Fleet on December 1. Admiral Fieldhouse (54) began his Royal Navy, career as a Dartmouth cadet in 1941 and from 1956 commanded several submarines, including the nuclear-powered Fleet submarine HMS Dreadnought. Appointed captain in 1967 while serving in ((MS Hermes, he then commanded the Royal Navy's Polaris submarine squadron before serving in frigates and destroyers from 1971) to 1972, first as commanding officer of HMS Diomede and Captain Third Frigate Squadron and then as Commander of the NATO Standing Naval Force
CoMnued *m page *m
returned with two Argentine howitzers on board, captured at Port Stanley and destined for a life of peace as museum exhibits. Among the merchant ships which returned were the BP tankers British Dart (Plymouth. July 1) and British Wye (Portland. July. II). The Wye, which made the long trip back to the South Atlantic after refuelling, was afforded full naval courtesies when she returned; the Dart had a dramatic story to tell of how an Argentine bomb bounced off her deck and into the water.
Thc my Elk, which took 2,000 tons of ammunition into San Carlos, entered Plymouth on July 12. She was the first merchant vessel to join the Task Force, - a carrying her lucky mascot grey parrot named Lord Nelson.
the
rank
RAF BrIze Norton was landfall on July 12 for the First Raiding Squadron RN, who played an Important part In the taking of Port Stanley. On the same day the Duke of Edinburgh, Captain General of the Corps, visited 3 Commando Brigade at Stonehouse where he chatted to many of the families of the 2,000 Royal Marines who had returned In the Canberra. The Royal Marines commander of the land forces during the conflict, Gen. Jeremy ~re, was welcomed home on July 20. There to greet him at Brize Norton was the Task Force Commander, Rear-Admiral Sandy Woodward. " More reports and pictures of the homecomings appear in pages 22, 23 and 28.
of
After a period as Deputy Director and then Director of Naval Warfare he became nag Officer Second Flotilla as a rear-admiral and then Flag Officer Submarines in 1976.
Admiral Fleldhouse
ADC TO
In January 1979 he was appointed Controller of the Navy as a vice-admiral and took up his present appointment on May, 14, 1981.
QUEEN
Appointed ABC to the Queen from July 7 were: Commodore (;. M. F. raIlis and Captains F. 6. S. Walker, i. J. Streatfeild-James, M. E. Barrow. W. B. Canning, L. E. Middleton, J. J. B. Oswald, M. A. Vallis, J. C. Judge, J. Jacobsen. N. S. Robinson and C. A. Baxter.
Admiral Leach (5$), a gunnery specialist, entered the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. in 1937 at the age of 131/2 and became First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff. and Principal Aide-dc-Camp to the Queen on July 6, 1979.
value Embrostyle, quality andvalue direct from our own factory !J
uip,4J
-
Smallest ship to take part in the initial assault on East Falkland, ms Europic Ferry. reached Portsmouth on July 17. The 4.000-ton Townsend Thoresen ship landed 80 troops.
HEROES AND VILLAINS
SQUADRONS have also been returning in strength. The Sea Kings of 846 Squadron, which rescued the victims of the attack on Sir Galahad, flew In to RN air station Yeovliton on July 13 - led by captured Argentine helicopters with Navy men at the controls. Four days earlier A Right of 824 Squadron returned to RN air station Cuidrose, as did the ten Sea Kings of 826 Squadron from HMS Hermes on July 22. The Royal Marines who recaptured South Georgia and expelled the Argentines from South Thule (see Page 21) were flown in to RAF St Mawgan, Cornwall, on July 18. The men of N Company 42 Commando were the first commandos to go to the Falklands and the last to leave.
!
Atlantic in Commodore.
" V-neck style embroidered sweaters with your own motif
" Lambswool, Botany wool or acrylic
" Choice of 7 Standard colours, Other colours available on request
S
"o
" Sizes: Lambswool 36"-48' Botany Wool 34"-4.8" Acrylic 24"48" " 6-week delivery from receipt of order direct from our own factory " Minimum order 10 garments " Money-back guarantee
EMBRO (Macclesfield) LIMITED Embroidery Manufacturers Alma Works - Pickford Street Macclesfield, Cheshire Ski 1 6JG Telephone 0625 616777 (2 lines)