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HEAL NAVY
Hospital ships in the South Atlantic
● HMHS Hydra (left) and HMHS Uganda undertake a replenishment
at sea with RFA tanker Olmeda in early June 1982
THE PYRAMIDS, camel
requisitioned by the Government. Less than three weeks later – on mile Total Exclusion Zone (TEZ)
rides – the very essence
Dockyard workers in Gibraltar the day Uganda received her first were quickly abandoned, partly
of Egypt, and at the heart
pulled out all the stops to kick- casualties in the Falklands – the because the dangers of transferring
start the conversion process, made crew was told that he had died. casualties from ship to ship in
of the philosophy of easier by the dormitory-style
Despite the hard work, there rough seas were judged too great.
educational cruises.
accommodation on board.
were advantages to sailing in a
Uganda subsequently spent
Nothing compares to being
Hundreds of men swarmed on
converted liner; the ship’s pools
a considerable amount of her
there to swamp the senses in
her as soon as Uganda arrived, and
proved popular as the weather
time close to the life-and-death
a new and different culture,
the most obvious sign of change was
became warmer.
struggles of San Carlos Water.
the fitting of a 40-ton helicopter Within days of arrival Uganda
stamping strong impressions
Uganda arrived off Ascension
flight deck and link ramp. was given authority to co-ordinate
on the memory.
on April 28, where she topped
Uganda’s new paint job the movement of all seven
However, more than 1,000
up supplies, and continued south
presented problems – the Rock hospital ships, both British and
tourists, the vast majority British
again on May 1, the mood quickly
was scoured for reserves of red
HMHS, unofficially as a NOSH the new ‘flight deck’.
Argentinian.
schoolchildren and their teachers,
turning more sombre as the days
paint to complete the crosses
– Naval Ocean-going Surgical Stores were unpacked and
Converted RN survey ships
were glad to be heading back to
following departure brought news
when official supplies ran out.
Hospital. shortfalls made good by ordering
Hecla, Herald and Hydra acted as
the comfort of their ship after a
of the sinking of the General
But there was a great deal of
long day of heat and dust.
Among the other components items from the UK, to be picked up Belgrano and HMS Sheffield.
seaborne ‘ambulances’ while the
work inside which was not so
As they climbed from their hot
of the Task Force converging on at Ascension Island. Lectures on The latter prompted Uganda
Argentinians deployed the Bahia
obvious; decks were cut for new
coaches, events thousands of miles
the Falklands were fellow BI Line casualty treatment were attended
Paraiso, Almirante Irizar and the
access points, pipes routed to allow
to steam at her best speed to
away were conspiring to curtail
veterans – the Knights of the by both RN and P&O staff, keen
Puerto Deseado.
replenishments at sea, and major
the Falklands, some 1,000 miles
their cruise, and their next port of
pieces of medical equipment,
Round Table class, including Sir to help where they could. distant, and staff on board prepared
Uganda also hosted a party of
call was not to be the Turkish city
shipped out from Portsmouth by
Galahad and Sir Tristram, had The ship’s first medical an intensive care burns unit in the
humanitarian officials from the
of Antalya, but Naples in Italy.
sea, were installed.
been managed by the shipping emergency involved her captain, liner’s hot, humid sick bay.
International Committee of the
On arrival, the passengers were
One aspect which caused
line when they were first built for Brian Biddick, a BI Line veteran, On arrival in the South Atlantic
Red Cross.
cleared in an hour, and later
concern was the supply of fresh
the Army in the 1960s. who was taken seriously ill shortly
For many on board Uganda,
the ship was pitched straight into
receiving the Sheffield victims on
that day the ship sailed west for
water needed by a hospital
On the voyage south the after sailing. the maelstrom.
board – they had waited patiently
Gibraltar, with workmen already
– Uganda could carry well over
tempo of preparatory work An emergency operation was She received her first patients
in HMS Hermes’ sick bay for
aboard to begin effecting a
2,000 tons of water, but that
continued unabated, with the carried out in the ship’s own sick on May 12, from HMS Sheffield.
a week – was their first sight of
remarkable transformation in the
would come nowhere near the
first replenishment at sea (RAS) bay, then Uganda diverted to She was soon operating just
seriously-burned flesh.
30-year-old steamship.
amount needed.
carried out within hours of her Sierra Leone to allow him to be off the coast, as original plans
On April 16, 1982, she The solution? Fit her out with
departure and a helicopter testing airlifted back to the UK. to remain far outside the 200-
(Continued on page II)marina
entered Gibraltar as the popular desalination plants – but just to
educational cruise ship SS Uganda, make it more interesting, the
● QARNNS nurses on board SS Uganda
sporting the white hull and black machinery would have to be
funnel with two white bands of her delivered to her and fitted at sea.
original owners, the British India Naval Party 1830, the surgical
Steam Navigation Company (BI). support teams earmarked to meet
Three days later she left Number every medical eventuality in a war,
2 Dry Dock as Her Majesty’s was flown out by Hercules the day
Hospital Ship Uganda, red before the ship reached Gibraltar.
crosses proclaiming her rights and Senior Naval Officer was Cdr
responsibilities under the Geneva Andrew Gough, who brought
Convention, and her destination communicators and flight deck
was the South Atlantic. crew with him, while Surg Capt
Uganda had been launched on Andrew Rintoul, the Medical
the Clyde in January 1952, not Officer in Charge, had the task of
long before another Clyde-built creating a floating hospital.
ship which was designed to act as The students’ common room
a Royal Navy hospital ship if the in Uganda became the main
need arose. ward, the Verandah housed the
As it happened, when that need operating theatre suite, the shop
did arise, the younger ship – HM became an X-ray department
Yacht Britannia – was judged to be (film developing was done in
too small for the job. the hair salon), the cocktail bar
In any case, Britannia burned turned into a pathology laboratory
an uncommon type of fuel oil (with drinks cabinets proving ideal
which would have led to logistical blood storage space), while the
complications, and Uganda had intensive therapy unit was built in
been designed to cope with all the Smoking Room.
weather conditions on her original Also joining in Gib were almost
UK to East Africa passenger/cargo two dozen young Royal Marines
runs, so would certainly manage bandsmen from Portsmouth, who
the worst of the South Atlantic. not only carried out the vital tasks
So in the days following the of medical orderlies and stretcher
Argentine invasion of the Falkland bearers, but also provided music
Islands on April 2 1982, as to support morale.
Operation Corporate cranked into Just 65 hours were needed to
gear, it was the Uganda, now transform Uganda, and with stores
part of the P&O fleet, which was in place she sailed officially as an
0XUganda_NN_OCT.indd 1 18/9/07 16:36:17
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