12 NAVY NEWS, MARCH 2008
628
Quebec ......................... 1759
Havana ......................... 1762
Atlantic ....................1941-43
Arctic ............................ 1942
Battle Honours
Class: Type 23 frigate
Pennant number: F239
Motto: A deo et rege
Builder: Swan Hunters, Tyne
Laid down: February 16 1992
Launched: April 6 1993
Commissioned: June 22 1995
Displacement: 3,500 tonnes
Length: 133 metres
OOffff t to jjoin SSparttaacus
Beam: 16 metres
Draught: 7 metres
Speed: 28 knots
Complement: 200
Propulsion: CODLAG; two
Rolls Royce Spey SM1C; four
Paxman diesels
Sensors: Radar 996 – long-
● Type 23 frigate HMS Richmond arrives home in Portsmouth at the end of last year Picture: LA(Phot) Emz Tucker
range 3D surveillance; radar
N
O, frigate HMS
from the navies of Britain, France, ship which started this year in yacht that served between 1672 14-gun brig bore the name, and 1007 – high-definition
Richmond is not rush-
America, Canada and Norway. the midst of a busy maintenance and 1685. then a century’s gap until a brief navigation radar; radar
ing off to join a slave
Once she has crossed the period which brought enhance- It was not until 60 years appearance upon a trawler hired 1008 – ship safety; sonar
revolt, but to take part in an
Atlantic, Richmond will be busy ments to her sonar and steering later that the name re-surfaced in during World War I. 2050 – omnidirectional,
es
with Op Spartacus, a two-week system. upon the captured French frig- It was not until 1940 that the
hull-mounted active sonar;
anti-submarine warfare exer-
exercise that includes torpedo The latter part of this year will ate Dauphin, although this vessel name came into its own again,
sonar 2087 – variable depth
cise with the US Navy.
firings, Sonar 2087 optimisation be devoted to trials and deploy- only saw service with the Leeward upon the rechristened Fairfax, a
sonar; sonar 2170 – surface
Although before the Type 23
trials and war gaming exercises ment preparations as the Type 23 Island Squadron for another four US destroyer transferred into the
ship torpedo defence; UAT –
reaches her Operation Spartacus
with the American Submarine prepares herself for a longer trip years. Royal Navy under a lease agree-
passive surveillance; GPEOD
deep-water site off Andros in the
Command Course. east of Suez. Hence the name passed on ment.
– general purpose electro-
Bahamas, she will first be tak-
Her homeward journey will This particular frigate is to a 32-gun fifth rate of 1757, This warship saw service on
optical director used for the
ing part in multinational exercise
dally along sights and cities of the eighth generation of HMS which enjoyed various adventures escort duties in both the Atlantic
4.5in gun; AIS – automatic
Grampus 08. North America, seeing the British Richmond to have sailed the including the captures of Quebec and Arctic campaigns, before con-
identification system
The ship sets sail at the end of warship visit West Palm Beach, world’s oceans. and Havana, and the American tinuing her multinational charac-
Armament: Seawolf; Harpoon;
this month for an intensive trials
4.5in gun; 30mm cannon;
Nassau, New York and Quebec Wakefield of 1655 became War of Independence, before in a ter with a four-month loan to the
minigun; general purpose
package before journeying on to – where she will take part in the Richmond of 1660 and so the twist of karmic fate, she was cap- Canadian Navy in 1943, then on
machine gun; magazine
the ASW exercise in the Bay of Canadian city’s 400th anniversary name began, borne by a 26-gun tured by the French fleet in 1781 to the Soviet Navy in 1944 where
torpedo launch system
Biscay which will bring together celebrations. warship. off Chesapeake. she saw her name change once
Helicopter: Merlin HM1
ships, submarines and aircraft Not a bad deployment for a The next was an eight-gun For eight years from 1806 a more to Zhivuchi.
Facts and figur
CUTAWAY BOOK
Lt Dennis Copperwheat, GC
IN THE spring of 1942 British fortunes in the fleet and Axis bombers – and was severely
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Mediterranean were approaching their lowest mauled by the latter. The men aboard Talabot
ebb. took “a very pessimistic view of our prospects
In North Africa Rommel was preparing his of reaching Malta”.
© CROWN COPYRIGHT/MOD
capture of Tobruk and his thrust towards the So the sight of Grand Harbour was naturally
Reproduced with the permission of
Suez Canal. a relief. Maltese lined the shore to cheer the
the Controller HMSO
At sea, the Mediterranean Fleet had been ammunition ship’s arrival.
crippled by one disaster after another in 1941 But arrival in Grand Harbour offered no
– Crete, the sinking of the Barham, the loss of protection. Shortly after mid-day on March 26,
Ark Royal, the Italian human torpedo raid on the Stukas and Ju88s of the Luftwaffe turned
Alexandria. their attention against the newly-docked ships.
And then there was Malta, besieged by sea Despite the urgency of the hour, most of
and air; the lynchpin of Britain’s Mediterranean Talabot’s cargo had still to be unloaded. It would
position was attacked almost daily by the remain so. For at 12.30pm she was struck by
Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica. German bombs and set ablaze.
Sustaining Malta in the spring of 1942 Talabot’s companion on her journey from
demanded an effort from the Royal Navy sec- Alexandria had been cruiser HMS Penelope
ond only to safeguarding the mother country – nicknamed HMS Pepperpot by her men thanks
from the U-boat peril. to pasting she’d received at the Luftwaffe’s
That effort would reach its climax in high hands.
summer with Operation Pedestal, but there were Fire teams from the Penelope tried in vain
other, less celebrated operations, week in, week to extinguish the blaze aboard the Norwegian,
out, to ferry food, stores and ammunition to the while the merchantman’s crew hurriedly shifted
beleaguered isle. what cargo they could ashore.
The Norwegian steamer Talabot was just When the flames could be kept at bay no
one ship of dozens which ran the gauntlet to longer, a scuttling party was sent to Talabot to
Malta. She sailed from Alexandria in company prevent the ship exploding – and wrecking much
with other merchantmen, heavily protected by a of the harbour in an almighty explosion.
bodyguard of British cruisers and destroyers. Lt Dennis Copperwheat, Penelope’s torpedo
The passage from Alexandria was traumatic; and explosives officer, led the party, slinging
the convoy faced the guns of the Italian surface charges over the side while ammunition explod-
ed on deck about them.
With the charges set, the
27-year-old Northumbrian
£9.99
sent his men ashore while
he stayed to fire the scut-
tling explosives.
UK
He was exposed to the
full brunt of the blast, which
lifted him up in the air and
threw him into the harbour.
FREE POSTAGE
He survived, however, and
swam ashore.
Talabot settled in the
Eighteen stunning cutaway drawings of Royal Navy ships, submarines and aircraft,
water; she did not explode
past and present, by internationally renowned artist Mike Badrocke.
– and some of the ordnance
she had ferried to Malta was
Originally published in Navy News, the newspaper of the Royal Navy.
promptly dropped on Italian
soil.
As for Dennis
NON UK/BFPO POSTAGE – EU Postage £8.00 – Overseas Postage £5.00
Copperwheat, he remained
in the RN for another 15
To order simply phone 023 9282 6040 – or write to: years, attaining the rank of
The Business Manager, Navy News, Portsmouth PO1 3HH
lieutenant commander. He
died aged 78 in 1992.
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