6 NAVY NEWS, JULY 2007
Trumpeter
Deeds to Echo
Ark assumes
and Exeter
on ceremony
fl agship role
HMS Ark Royal has taken over
THE guns of HMS Exeter
the duties as Britain’s fl agship
echoed across Cardiff Bay as the
down the years
after successfully leading huge
ship marked the state opening of
NATO war games in the Baltic.
the Welsh Assembly.
The fl at-top served as the
One sixth of the destroyer’s
command centre for Rear
ship’s company lined the stairs to
Admiral Neil Morisetti and
the parliamentary building and
raised the Royal Standard as the
his staff as they directed
Queen arrived to perform the
operations by fi ve different task
state ceremony.
groups composed of ships from
And as she did, the ship fired a
ten Allied nations during the
21-gun salute.
climax of Noble Mariner (see
Exeter has been the RN’s
pages 25-27).
roving ambassador around the
With the exercise over, Ark
UK this month.
put into the Polish port of
She visited London (see pages
Gdynia in the Bay of Gdansk,
15-17) in support of Falklands
where she assumed the mantle
25th anniversary events, hosting
of Fleet Flagship, bringing
veterans of that conflict of which
an end to a seven-month
she herself is a survivor, and
‘regeneration’ following a refi t
joined a flotilla of three warships
in Rosyth.
– HMS Lancaster, Charger and
“After seven months of
Biter – in Barrow to mark the
extremely hard work, I and my
launch of HMS Astute (see our ship’s company are extremely
pull-out supplement). proud to be assuming the
Patrol boat HMS Trumpeter duties of Fleet Flagship,” said
has also been on ceremonial Capt Mike Mansergh, Ark’s
duties. Commanding Offi cer.
The small P2000 vessel is “Ark Royal is ready to be
normally home to students from deployed anywhere in the
Bristol University. world.”
She swapped youth for She was handed the ‘baton’
experience, however, as she
by HMS Illustrious, also
sailed into Torquay for the town’s
deployed on Noble Mariner,
commemorations marking the
where she hosted the recently-
63rd anniversary of D-Day.
formed Naval Strike Wing, the
Trumpeter’s CO Lt Will King
Fleet Air Arm half of Joint Force
took eight Devon Normandy
Harrier.
veterans to sea in his craft before
The visit to Gdynia offered a
heading back into port to take
chance to take on a local Polish
part in a parade and service of
football side (Ark went down 7-
remembrance.
ONE year and six days after last
island against Luftwaffe attack.
3, watched by 500 spectators),
The Air Force provided jets
head for the fairways to decide
from its base at RAF Valley, while
seeing Plymouth Hoe, HMS Echo
The wartime links persisted upon Echo’s
the title of Ark’s best golfer and
suitable musical accompaniment
was supplied by the Band of HM
spied Smeaton’s Tower again at
return to UK waters.
Barely had the ship berthed in Devonport
some sightseeing.
Royal Marines, Lympstone.
the end of a mammoth deployment than she was off surveying again, this time
Numerous sailors headed
to the Middle and Far East.
around the Firth of Clyde.
up the Vistula valley to
Malbork and the red-brick
HMS Glamorgan
The hydrographic survey vessel has ended
There she produced vivid 3D images of the
her 371-day deployment with her computer
wreck of wartime escort carrier HMS Dasher.
former fortress of the Teutonic
systems brimming with data for the UK
Dasher blew up in March 1943, possibly as
Knights, Marienburg Castle. A
IN THE fi nal part of our Hydrographic Office to update Admiralty
the result of her aviation fuel tanks catching
more sobering experience was
Falklands 25th trilogy last month Charts.
fire, and sank off the Cumbraes with the loss
a visit to Stutthof Concentration
we erroneously stated that HMS The bulk of Echo’s survey work was
of 379 men.
Camp, today a memorial to
Glamorgan fi red a Sea Slug to conducted in the Far East, with time too in the
Echo’s work continued up the Clyde as far the 85,000 people who died
prevent an Exocet hitting her... Gulf and Indian Ocean (pictured, above).
as Govan, before she berthed at King George there under the Nazis and ● A colourful sonar image produced by Echo
instead of the Sea Cat she actually In doing so, she visited Vladivostok in of the wreck of HMS Dasher
V Dock to give her crew a chance to enjoy the the countless more who were
fi red. Russia, Yokosuka in Japan, Ho Chi Minh City
sights of Glasgow. sadistically abused by them.
We also neglected to mention in Vietnam and Singapore inter alia. She continued gathering data on her way
And having enjoyed Glasgow – sailors More upbeat was a tour of
in our bibliography Ian Inskip’s By rotating her crew – of the 72-strong ship’s home through the Mediterranean.
‘brushed up’ for their visit to the city by Gdansk, the historic Hanseatic
Ordeal by Exocet, the biography company only 48 are required aboard at any Working with the national hydrographer of
watching episodes of the Scottish comedy port and birthplace of the
of Glamorgan in the war and a one time – Echo was able to be operational Malta, the ship helped to identify the wreck
series Still Game – Echo was off surveying Solidarity movement in Poland,
constant companion at our side on 341 of the 371 days away from Devonport of legendary Gloster Gladiator ‘Hope’, used
again, this time in the Hebrides around the just around the bay from
when compiling the supplement. (that’s more than nine out of every ten days). by the RAF six decades earlier to defend the
island of Islay.
Gdynia.
A wave and a parade for the Red Plum
A WAVE for dad from Isobel
record data from nearly 6,000 square its highest civic honour, Freedom of
Tarrant as the Red Plum returns
miles of seabed. The ship also came Portsmouth, upon the Red Plum shortly
from a nine-month tour of duty
to the rescue of a stricken cruise liner after her return.
which ran aground, helped the Beeb The city’s mayor Cllr
in the southern ocean. record some stunning wildlife footage for Mike Blake presented the
Dad, as it happens, is Capt Bob a forthcoming documentary, collected freedom scroll before
Tarrant, HMS Endurance’s CO, bringing information on the fur seal population the sailors marched
the Antarctic survey ship home to of South Georgia, transported Princess through the city centre
Portsmouth. Anne to British Antarctic Survey sites, led by the Band of HM
815 Naval Air Squadron’s two assisted islanders in Tristan da Cunha Royal Marines.
Lynx which supported the icebreaker and villagers in Ghana (see page 18) and, This year’s spell
throughout the deployment finally, appeared on Sky Sports’ Soccer around Antarctica was
joined in the festivities as t h e AM show thanks to a rather amusing the longest deployment
ship returned, flying over the (and cold) game of football in the South in Endurance’s 16 years
gateway to Portsmouth Shetlands. under the White Ensign.
Harbour. ‘Dad’ said his team had “worked Next winter’s trip south will
The extended spell extremely hard and been a credit be even longer; Endurance
around the frozen to the Royal Navy”... something will not see Portsmouth
continent allowed the good folk of Pompey have again for 18 months when
Endurance’s acknowledged. she departs in the autumn.
sonars and Already affiliated with
sensors to the Red Plum, the
Picture: LA(Phot) Emz Tucker, FRPU
scan and city conferred
Whale Island
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