12 NAVY NEWS, AUGUST 2007
621
All-‘sea’ing
Argus
Groix Island .................. 1795
P
ROVEN in the theatre of that have served with the Royal
Ashantee .................1873-74
the Falklands War, the
Navy, the present RFA stands
Arctic ............................ 1941
container ship Contend-
proudly alongside her antecedents
Atlantic ....................1941-42
er Bezant became the Royal
– as well as her induction into
Malta Convoys ............. 1942
Fleet Auxiliary Argus in 1988
the Fleet at the Falklands, she
served in the 1991 Gulf War, sup-
North Africa.................. 1942
– and after a £12 million pack-
ported UN operations as conflict
Kuwait .......................... 1991
age of work the UK’s Primary
(Falkland Islands.......... 1982
raged in the former Yugoslavia,
Casualty Receiving Ship has a
as Contender Bezant) Battle Honours
and became informally known as
bright future that extends to BUPA Baghdad during the 2003
Class: Aviation Training
2020.
invasion of Iraq.
Ship and Primary Casualty
RFA Argus has two roles – prin-
The name Argus first appeared
Receiving Ship
cipally she is an aviation training
in the RN on a French priva-
Pennant Number: A135
ship that can work with any of the
teer captured in 1799, then ran Builder: Cantiere Navale,
Navy’s helicopters, but she also
through a series of ships of differ- Breda, Italy as the Contender
holds within her capacious frame
ing size and shape until the pre- Bezant.
a hospital with 100 beds and sur-
cursor to the modern RFA Argus Converted by: Harland and
gical theatres with four operating
set a new example to the world Wolff, Belfast
tables.
– she was the world’s first aircraft In service: 1988
Recent months have brought carrier to have a full-length flight Displacement: 28,081
es
the Lynx helicopters of 702 NAS deck for wheeled aircraft. tonnes
on board the auxiliary ship, where Reminiscent of the present Length: 175.1 metres
the trainee pilots were put through Argus, she began life under build Breadth: 30.4 metres
their paces before moving on to as the passenger liner Conte
Draught: 8.1 metres
the front-line Flights of 815 NAS. Rosso in Glasgow, but halted by
Speed: 18 knots
Her recent upgrade with A&P the onset of World War 1 she was
Complement: 80 Royal Fleet
in Falmouth has seen the opera- bought unfinished by the Royal
Auxiliary and 50 Royal Navy
tional life of the auxiliary ship Navy and converted into the car-
personnel
extended out to 2020; and has rier HMS Argus in 1918.
Aviation: Five spots for
secured a ‘through-life’ partner- Argus was also primarily an
Chinook, Merlin, Sea King,
ship deal with the ship-repair firm aviation training ship, initially as
Lynx or Apache
that will keep Argus at her prime. pilots learnt to operate from such a
Armament: Four 20mm
It is hoped that the ‘through-life’ ship for the first time, then later in
GAMBO, four 7.62mm
approach will produce a dedicated training the pilots for their front-
machine gun
team at A&P Falmouth who know line roles as better war-designed
Facts and figur
the ship well and as the ship will carriers came into service.
be homeported in Falmouth it will This ship ended her service
allow a ‘little and often’ approach life in 1946, with a Naval career
to the ship’s maintenance. that spanned almost 30 years – a
● RFA Argus at the Fleet Review
As the tenth in a long line record that the current RFA Argus
for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee
of ships with the name Argus looks set to beat. Picture: PO(Phot) ‘Stevo’ Russell-Stevenson
HEROES OF THE ROYAL NAVY No.40
Lt Edmund Geoffrey Abbott AM
IN the murk of a January afternoon less than George VI. He died in Berkshire in
Reporting fr
two months after the guns of the Western 1974.
On sale at your
om
Front had fallen silent, the grey lines of Kaiser As for the Baden, her con-
Wilhelm’s flagship SMS Baden emerged from version into a gunnery target
the Orkney mist. continued. She was pummeled
the
local
Fleet…
newsagent
She was the seventy-fourth – and final – ship by the guns of the monitors
of the once great Hochseeflotte (High Seas Erebus and Terror, by bombs
Fleet) to be interned at the Royal Navy’s most dropped by aircraft, and
and selected
northerly base, Scapa Flow. by the main guns of the
And there she lay at anchor for more than five Atlantic Fleet.
months until 10.30am on Saturday June 21 1919 She succumbed to
supermarkets
when Vizeadmiral Ludwig von Reuter issued the the pounding south-
order: “Paragraph 11. Confirm.” west of Portsmouth
The signal sparked the greatest act of self- on August 16 1921.
destruction in naval history – ‘the grand scuttle’
A
Or subscribe with us
– as the Kaiser’s fleet destroyed itself to prevent
vailable a
to receive your c
t y
o
our
py
it falling into the victors’ hands.
Baden was among the last to respond to the
local
‘hot off the pr
ne
ess
w
’
sagent
signal. With the Scapa waters gushing through
her scuttles, she was taken in tow by the tender
Flying Kestrel and hauled towards the shore.
and selec
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er Baden was the only capital ship not to sink
exclusively for new subscribers
that Saturday. She was refloated and eventually
towed to Invergordon for refitting.
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And it was there, six weeks after the grand
One Year’s Subscription
ets
scuttle that the battleship was rocked by an
explosion as she sat in dry dock.
As smoke billowed from a ladder leading to
a cooling plant, Lt Edmund Geoffrey Abbott
rushed to investigate.
To re
£17.50
ceive a c
UK
opy
The fumes and smoke on the port side of the
Baden proved impenetrable, but the starboard
side was relatively smoke-free. Abbott round-
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£21.50
to
O
da
verseas
y
ed up several workers and sailors and led
them through a tunnel to the cooling plant
(Normal price £20.50 UK & £24.50 Overseas)
compartment where they found one man
using the f
unconscious.
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orm
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The body was carried to the upper
deck but the worker was already
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dead.
Not so a second shipwright in the
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heard by the rescue party on their first
foray. Abbott led them back and although
the officer was badly affected by the acrid
When ordering please quote ‘RUS06’
smoke and caustic fumes, he managed to haul
the injured worker to safety.
It was an act which earned the 24-year-old
torpedo warfare specialist the Albert Medal in
gold for lifesaving – forerunner of the George
Cross.
Edmund Abbott joined the RN in 1915
and continued to serve under the White
Ensign until 1948, chiefly in torpedo-
related postings. His final duty, however,
was to serve as the Naval Aide de Camp to
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