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www.navynews.co.uk
NAVY NEWS, MAY 2002
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Helicopter wreck is a reminder
Anniversary sparks slew of conflict exhibitions
ICE PATROL ship HMS Endurance has completed a two-week visit to the Falklands - and one of her helicopters paid a visit to an old shipmate from more than 30 years ago. The ship took the Governor of the Falklands, Donald Lament, and his wife Lynda to visit the remote and stunningly picturesque settlements on the West Falklands. A survey team from the ship completed the survey for a ferry route across the sound which separates East and West Falklands. One of the ship's two Lynx helicopter flew into the Salvador Settlement on East Falkland, the home of a Westland Whirlwind. XM 666, based on the old Endurance, ran out of fuel while lifting supplies ashore in 1969. It was subsequently salvaged, major components removed, and the airframe left in the settlement. Locals made good use of it. Its front wheels went on a farm trailer, and did sterling service until the bearings wore out. Nuts and bolts were removed to keep vehicles and other machinery running. The distinctive original red livery can still be discerned on the skeleton of the Whirlwind, which now sits against the hedgerow of Jene and Robin Pitalugar's house. A small group from the current Endurance enjoyed the Pitalugars' hospitality during the visit. The team from Endurance comprised Flight Commander Lt Cdr Chris Yefiand, pilot Capt Pete Clarke RM, ship's navigator Lt Cdr Jim Buck, SMR CCAEA Steve Wooding, PO(PHOT) Chris Brick and flight winchman AEM Craig Hobson. Endurance has now finished her work in the Antarctic region, and is sailing north with stops at Tristan de Cunha, Cape Town, Senegal and Madeira before she arrives back in Portsmouth towards the end of this month.
City honour DERBY City Council has granted the Freedom of the City to the Royal Navy Submarine Service. The Mayor of Derby, Cllr Janet Till, said that the honour recognised the importance of the Service and its ties with Derby - Rolls-Royce, based in the city, has supplied nuclear reactors for the flotilla since 1959. The city of Derby also has had an affiliation with hunterkiller submarine HMS Sovereign for 25 years, and the Freedom marks the Service's centenary last year.
THE 20th anniversary of the Falklands War has sparked a slew of exhibitions and events around the country.
• HMS Fearless is nudged alongside at Portsmouth in March on her return from her final deployment.
Falklands museum plan for Fearless CAMPAIGNERS have identified HMS Fearless as an ideal home for a Falklands War museum. The Falklands veteran, which returned home from her final deployment in March, will soon be up for disposal, and a group of supporters is racing against time to put in a bid for the amphibious assault ship. Colin Waite, who served in Fearless in the Falklands as a Royal Marine, said he understood that the ships disposal team was talking to other governments, but he believed it is likely that she would eventually be sold for scrap. He and his fellow campaigners have set themselves an initial target of £400,000 to buy the warship. "The aim behind this is to preserve Fearless for what she is - an important piece of our maritime history," said Mr Waite. "She is the first and last of her type, and she did 37 years service, so we want to try to create something a little bit special. "We would like to see a museum built on Fearless and in Fearless around the major con-
flicts she played a part in, from Aden to the Falklands." Mr Waite said he and his colleagues were looking into business sponsorship, and were already receiving donations as a result of an appeal on the website wwwJimsfearless.co.uk There is no preferred location if the team was to succeed - Mr Waite has already spoken to officials at Portsmouth City Council, and he said Plymouth and Gosport were other obvious possibilities. Mr Waite recognises that buying Fearless would only be the beginning of the hard work. "Running costs are going to be a problem, but I have spoken to people at HMS Belfast and the Royal Marines Museum. "Those costs are going to be a major drain on resources, so it will be down to marketing and getting the people through." The campaign has lobbied MPs, and is seeking support from a central figure in the Falklands War, Baroness Thatcher. They
already have backing from an unexpected corner - former Defence Secretary John Nott. • The bid to buy the former HMS Vengeance back from the Brazilian Navy and put it on show in the UK now has just one serious competitor, according to leading campaigner Martin Hill. The Minas Gerais is likely to be sold by the summer - but the rival bid is said to be from the city authorities in Rio de Janeiro, who want to turn the aircraft carrier into a floating entertainment complex and conference centre. The Save the Vengeance campaign can be contacted at 01262 490248. • The Historic Warships Preservation Society is calling for a concerted effort to preserve two wartime Royal Navy ships - formerly HMS Whimbrel and HMS Zenith - as sea-going museum pieces, visiting maritime events around the country and abroad. The two ships are being sold off by the Egyptian Navy, and the Society also suggests the ships, if preserved, should reflect the whole of their service life, not just the Royal Navy element, promoting links between the two navies.
Leading role for Cumberland TYPE 22 frigate HMS Cumberland has returned to Devonport after taking a leading role in major NATO exercises in the Baltic. Exercise Strong Resolve involved 46 ships from 11 nations, and Commodore James Fanshawe, as Commodore of the UK Task Group and Maritime Component Commander, flew his flag in the frigate. The exercise, which featured maritime and land elements, simulated NATO peacekeeping operations similar to those undertaken for real in the Balkans, East Timor and West Africa. And at one point Cumberland's Commanding Officer, Capt Ian Corder, led an 11-strong flotilla including ships from France, Germany, the US and Poland, as well as HM ships Edinburgh, Lancaster and Roebuck. Planning meeting and mock peace talks were also held aboard the frigate. A visit to Copenhagen rounded off the deployment, and the ship is now undergoing a maintenance period before her next tasking. • Type 22 poster - centre pages
Picture: Geoff Parselle (DLO).
• HMS Cumberland in company with American command ship USS Mount Whitney.
Flag leads 'normal life' THE MISSING flag from HMS Monmouth is alive and well - and enjoying some leisure pursuits while in captivity. The frigate's black flag was taken from her while the ship was in refit in Rosyth, as reported in last month's Navy News. Now the paper has received another message from the 'flag-nappers', accompanied by photos of the flag. The note said that "great lengths had been gone to in order to ensure the flag would continue to lead as normal a life as possible. As such, the flag has been taken clay pigeon shooting and quad-biking. The pictures can be seen on the Navy News website. With HMS Iron Duke having sailed from Rosyth after refit, the finger of suspicion now points at HM ships Invincible, Liverpool, Spartan and Sceptre.
Explosion!, the Museum of Naval Firepower in Gosport, opens an exhibition on the conflict on May 4. Exocet!: Naval Action in the Falklands War will feature signed documents from leading players, as well as many of the missiles used during the conflict, including the much-feared Exocet, the Seawolf and the Sea Dart. Reminiscences of workers at the RN Armaments Depot at Priddy's Hard who prepared many of the ships involved in the conflict are also included. The site is now partly occupied by the museum. Supporting events such as a talk on ship damage control and a reunion of Priddy's Hard workers are also planned. For further details, contact the museum on 023 9250 5600 or visit www.explosion .org Jik The exhibition runs until the end of October. • Admiral Sir Michael Layard, who was the Senior Naval Officer on board Atlantic Conveyor when it was hit by an Argentine Exocet, has officially opened the Falklands exhibition at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton. The FAA provided the majority of aircraft in the campaign, including Sea Harriers and Wessex, Lynx and Sea King helicopters. Centrepiece of the exhibition is HMS Antrim's Wessex helicopter 'Humphrey', which was involved in the attacks on the Argentine submarine Santa Fe and in rescuing British forces stranded in blizzards on a glacier in South Georgia. The FAA lost 23 men in the Falklands campaign, 12 from Yeovilton squadrons, and they are commemorated by a dozen beech trees on the Yeovilton sports field. A short memorial service was held at the line of trees after the exhibition was formally opened. For more details of the museum or exhibition, telephone 01935 840565 or see www.fleetairarm.com • Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has confirmed that the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire should be the location of the proposed memorial to Service personnel killed since World War II. In a written answer to Parliament, Mr Hoon said extensive research into buildings in and outside London had resulted in the decision to site the Armed Forces Memorial in the Midlands. "The names of those commemorated will either be engraved on the memorial or in Rolls of Honour that will be kept close by in the Millennium Chapel at the Arboretum," wrote Mr Hoon. "The design of the memorial will be decided following an architectural competition that will be held later this year." Members of the RFA and the Merchant Navy who were killed in conflict zones while in direct support of the Armed Forces will also be included on the memorial.
Timeship call A NEW initiative to record memories of the Falklands has been launched by the Royal Star and Garter Home. The home launched its Odyssey Timeship project on June 6, 2001, and it closes on June 6, 2002. Before then, Service men and women who served in the South Atlantic, and friends and relatives of those who died, can record their accounts on a historic archive which will chart Service life over the past century. Entries cost £10, raising funds for the Home, while the Timeship will be stored at the Imperial War Museum until 2101. See www.odysseytimeship.com for details, or write to the Home at Richmond, Surrey, TW10 6RR, tel 02089401351.