14 NAVY NEWS, SEPTEMBER 2007
622
First and last knight
O
F THE Knights of
smaller vessels: typically in a six-
the Round Table
mile radius of the auxiliary you’ll
● The last patrol... RFA Sir Bedivere on her fi nal deployment in the
northern Arabian Gulf
which have been
find in excess of 100 other craft.
And just to add to the ‘fun’,
Picture: LA(Phot) Jannine Hartmann, FRPU Whale Island
the backbone of there’s normally at least one VIP
amphibious operations
calling in every week: “an admiral
by this land since the
or two, a few commodores and the
mid-1960s, only one great
odd major-general to keep us on
our toes,” says CO Capt Duncan
warrior is still in service. Lamb.
And although amphibious The Iraqis disembark each
warfare is now past for RFA Sir Friday, giving the RFA chaps and
Bedivere with the arrival of the chapesses two days to themselves
Bay class, she still has one final, – although there’s little chance for
vital duty to perform. a breather with dhows trying to go
Since April 1 the venerable where they shouldn’t or oil spills
landing ship (logistic) has been to contend with.
Falkland Islands........... 1982 the ‘mother ship’ to the Iraqi Navy And then, come Sunday, a
Kuwait .......................... 1991
Battle Honours
in the northern Arabian Gulf, fresh batch of Iraqis and mentors
Class: Landing Ship
serving as the base for training arrive...
(Logistic)
Iraq’s marines and sailors in the It’s a routine which will continue
Pennant Number: L3004
arts of seamanship and defence until the ship returns to Britain
Builder: Hawthorn Leslie,
of sovereign waters and the oil in February to pay off, before
Hebburn-on-Tyne
platforms which are crucial to the being put on the disposal list the
Laid down: October 1965
country’s economic success. following month.
– originally for service with
Each Sunday, around 50 Iraqi That will bring to an end 41
the Ministry of Transport
Navy personnel arrive aboard the years of service for her country.
Launched: July 20 1966
ship, plus six mentors from the Sir Bedivere – named for King
Commissioned: May 18
RN-led Naval Transition Team at Arthur’s first and most trusted
1967
Umm Qasr. knight – began life on the Tyne in
Lloyds Classification: +100
The ship’s vehicle deck is home the mid-1960s and entered service
A1 +LMC Class 1 Ro-Ro
to three FABs – Fast Aluminium with the Army initially, until she
passenger
Boats – which are launched and was transferred to the RFA in
Displacement: 6,700 tonnes
recovered daily by the RFA’s crew, 1970.
GRT: 7,729 tonnes
es
while the Iraqis prowl around in All the knights were designed
Deadweight: 2,404 tonnes
them in the northern Gulf. to support the second wave of
Length: 137.5 metres
Once recovered, the FABs need an amphibious operation, ferry
Breadth: 17.7 metres
refuelling – a demanding task as troops and kit ashore via landing
Draught: 4 metres
temperatures in Sir Bedivere’s craft or using Mexeflote rafts, or
Speed: 17 knots
vehicle deck nudge 40˚C by simply opening her bow door
Propulsion: Two Stork
(considerably cooler, however, and disgorging her cargo on to a among other alterations. assault at San Carlos on May 21 And as for her current ‘mother
Wartsila SW280 V12 diesels
than the 55˚C in the ship’s engine beach directly. Sir Bedivere earned her battle 1982. ship’ role in the Gulf, well, that’s
Designed power: 7,096 kw
room). Today’s Sir Bedivere is 12 honours in the first Gulf War in She was glanced by a bomb something she’s an old hand at.
Armament: Two 20mm
The week is devoured by patrols metres (39ft) longer than the one 1991 and, more notably, in the from an Argentine jet three days During the second Gulf War the
GAMBO, eight general
around the two oil terminals and which took shape at Hawthorn Falklands nine years earlier. later; it passed through her yard auxiliary served as the command
purpose machine guns, two
overseeing the daily boarding Leslie four decades ago. The ship had been in Vancouver arm, bounced into the sea and ship for British and American
Mk44 mini-guns
exercises which the Iraqi Marines The ship spent three years but hot-footed it back to exploded. minehunting forces dealing with
Landing platforms: Aft: Sea
conduct on the many tankers out of action in the mid-90s Marchwood, where she took on A generation on, Sir Bedivere underwater explosives which
King, Lynx, Merlin; Forward:
waiting to fill their holds. undergoing an overhaul which stores and personnel in a single was at the heart of operations Saddam Hussein had tried to
Chinook, Sea King, Lynx
The ship and the trainee Iraqis saw her extended, her bridge day, before sailing to reach the off Sierra Leone when Britain scatter in the northern Gulf and
Facts and figur
also have to contend with scores of raised and her flight deck lowered, Falklands in time for the main intervened to prevent civil war. approaches to Umm Qasr.
HEROES OF THE ROYAL NAVY No.41
N Rath RNR, R J Knowlton RN,
G F P Abbott RNR – AM
SEPTEMBER 14 was a foggy morning in the over the front of a wing where he had been
Solent, but Flt Cdr Edward Albert de Lossy de thrown in the collision.
Ville shrugged off the bad weather, predicting that De Ville had been hurled from the cockpit on
the sea mist would clear as he left Southampton impact, hitting the upper wing of the biplane
Water in his Sopwith Baby seaplane. then falling senseless to the wing beneath.
Five minutes later he was over Horsea Island With Knowlton and Abbott in the mast above
and the fog had not cleared – but in 1917, him, Rath looked out at the perilous platform of
Horsea Island was littered with wooden aerial the plane’s body.
masts, including three towering masts which at Inch by tortuous inch the sailor edged forward,
446ft dominated the Portsmouth skyline. tightly clutching the rope, anchored by the two
Down on the ground the men at the wireless men in the rigging above him.
telegraphy station heard the sound of the plane He tied the rope around the pilot and the three
circling above; they glanced up through the murk dragged de Ville from the plane, then placed him
to look at the three tall masts and their web of in the bosun’s chair which had finally completed
supporting steel-wire stays which promised its long slow journey up the side of the tower.
disaster for aircraft. Still unconscious the airman was strapped
The engine noise ended abruptly with a loud into the seat and he was winched slowly down ■ First to see the latest Navy News from around the world
crash and the men on the ground rushed away to the men below, where he was carried to one
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from the bases of the masts, fearing that the of the huts and treated.
crashed plane would plummet earthwards and Once back in the sickbay at Calshot, de Ville
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up the lattice of 6ft X-frames that stacked up to All three men received the Albert Medal for
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make the tower’s height. their bravery, but only Rath – one of the ground
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As Rath climbed skywards the mist cleared staff who was utterly unused to scaling the vast
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The Sopwith Baby had smashed face-first Although it may seem that de Ville was
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Ordinary Seaman Richard Knowlton grabbed landing and engine failures were a day-to-day
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Faucett Pitts Abbott RNR began to scale the And as for the mast, it became known as
tower in Rath’s wake. ‘Ville’s mast’, and bore as a memorial for the
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The men on the ground started to haul the next year a jaunty angle in its upper reaches.
Name Visa Mastercard Delta Switch/Solo bosun’s chair up towards the stricken plane
suspended delicately in the framework above ● A Sopwith Baby similar to the one which
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their heads. crashed into the masts at Horsea
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Card Number Rath, who later admitted that he had never
climbed higher than 73ft on the mast, reached
the crash site some 360ft above Horsea Island.
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