12 NAVY NEWS, SEPTEMBER 2008
633
A fi rst for action
AS YOU read these words
Ushant .................................1781
Suez Canal...... ....................1915
the men and women of
Dardanelles ..........................1915
HMS Ocean will be casting
Korea ..............................1952-53
Al Faw ..................................2003
off the lines to take the
leviathan back to sea.
Class: Ocean Class Landing
Platform Helicopter
The helicopter carrier has spent
Pennant number: L12
the past 12 months out of action
Builder: Kvaerner, Govan
– but that doesn’t mean she’s not Laid down: May 30 1994
Battle honours
been a hive of activity. Launched: October 11 1995
In the first decade of her life,
Commissioned: September 30
the helicopter carrier (officially
1998
a ‘landing platform helicopter’)
Displacement: 21,750 tonnes
Length: 203m (667ft)
has been exceptionally busy at the
Beam: 34m (113ft)
forefront of RN operations around
Draught: 6.6m (21ft)
the globe, notably Sierra Leone Speed: 18kts
and Iraq. Complement: 370
That busy-ness left its mark and
Range: 8,000 miles at 15kt es
so last autumn she entered dry
Propulsion: 2 x Crossley
dock in Devonport for a £30m
Pielstick diesels
Embarked forces: 9 Assault
revamp at the hands of DML
Squadron Royal Marines, 4 x
(since renamed Babcock Marine).
LCVP landing craft
That work is now at an end: Capacity: Space for up to 800
Ocean boasts a new galley, much Royal Marines/Tailored Air Group
improved living spaces, overhauled
personnel, vehicle deck for up
machinery and weapons systems
to 40 x Land Rover, 34 x trailers
and, most noticeably to the outside
and 6 x 105mm guns
Armament: 3 x Phalanx close-
world, a fresh lick (or rather licks)
● Turning at in weapon systems, 2 x 20mm
of paint on her hull – above and
speed in the guns, passive decoys
below the waterline.
Caribbean before
Helicopters: flight deck can
Once trials and training are
entering refi t last year
accommodate helicopters up to
completed this autumn and winter,
Chinook size
Picture: LA(Phot) Ray Jones
Ocean will re-take her place at
Facts and figur
the hub of Britain’s amphibious
assault force. Jointly with HMS Theseus, land a jet aircraft (a De Havilland recalled home and spent the next abandon her. She sank in Morto herself in the Mediterranean as
The ship traces her heritage Ocean landed 425 men and 23 Vampire) on a carrier at sea. decade in either the UK or the Bay before the day was over. Collingwood’s flagship for three
back to 1761, but precedent for tons of supplies in Britain’s first The fifth Ocean finally ended Mediterranean. The Ocean story begins years; she ended her days as a coal
today’s Ocean was set in October helicopter assault. her days in the reserve fleet before And it was there that she met a century and a half before in hulk in Chatham.
1956. It was the fifth Ocean’s second being broken up in 1952. her demise on the evening of Chatham when the first bearer of Sail gave way to steam in HMS
With a dozen Whirlwind war of the decade. In 1952 she’d No such slow fate awaited Ocean March 18 1915. the name, a 90-gun second rate, Ocean III, a 50-gun ironclad
and Sycamores of the Joint broken light carrier records by IV, a pre-dreadnought which was The fleet was sent to was laid down in 1761. notable for her record distance
Experimental Helicopter Unit launching 123 operational sorties dogged by the tag ‘unlucky’ – bombard Turkish batteries in She served the Crown loyally achieved under sail (243 miles) en
aboard, the ship made good speed in a day off Korea. chiefly due to strikes and problems the Dardenelles. When HMS for three decades, most notably route to the China Station. Her
for Malta to embark the men of 45 But then records were nothing with her construction (including Irresistible struck a mine, Ocean at Ushant in 1781 when the RN career was brief – she was obsolete
Commando. new to Ocean V: Lt ‘Hoagy’ the collapse of 90ft of her hull). was sent in to tow her to safety... pounced on a French convoy of within five years.
They were promptly carried Carmichel became the first pilot of Finally finished, she sailed for but found it impossible. reinforcements bound for the With thanks to Joyce Knowlson,
ashore by the dozen helicopters a pistol-engined aircraft to down a the China Station (and received a Ocean then hit a mine and Caribbean – and seized all 15 author of HMS Ocean: Peacetime
as reinforcements for 40 and 42 jet, a MiG15, while the legendary battering from a typhoon). was soon out of control, leaving ships. Warrior, known as ‘Mother Ocean’ to
Commandos, already ashore in naval aviator Lt Cdr Eric ‘Winkle’ When Britain and Japan her crew with no choice but to The second Ocean distinguished a generation of the ship’s company.
Egypt during the Suez campaign. Brown became the first pilot to became allies in 1905, Ocean was
HEROES OF THE ROYAL NAVY No.53
SIX BOOKS TO BE WON
A must for all historians and naval enthusiasts!!
Lt Cdr Edgar Cookson VC
This month DK in association with the Royal Navy is publishing Battle at Sea.
GREAT cities have often seemed tantalising had earned the DSO for a rather courageous
prizes to armies. reconnaissance mission under the Turkish guns
Written by RG Grant this stunning visual encyclopaedia covers 3,000 years of naval warfare.
Napoleon and the Wehrmacht were both in the spring; the raid had also earned him a
bedazzled by Moscow. The former reached it… serious wound.
A visual feast, Battle at Sea is packed with photographs, illustrations, maps, photographic tours
and lost; the latter never did and also lost. Now recovered, after dark on September
of key vessels and 3D battle plans.
In 1915 the Commonwealth armies were 28 1915 he led Comet against the Turkish
mesmerised by two great cities of the Middle barricade.
In chronological order this defi nitive guide covers life on the high seas with vivid accounts of the
East: Constantinople and Baghdad. The Mesopotamian night proved no shield.
greatest naval battles as well as the development of weapons, technologies and tactics. By late summer, the drive on the capital of the As Comet bore down on the dhow at full speed,
Ottoman Empire had fi nally failed; the Allies were she summoned a hail of fi re and steel from both
To win one of these fascinating books worth £25 simply answer the question below and submit bogged down on the Dardanelles peninsula and banks of the Tigris.
your entry by twelve noon October 6 2008.
contemplating withdrawing. The dhow would not be moved. Cookson fell
Baghdad, on the other hand, was still within back and began blasting it with his guns, again
their grasp. A sizeable force, led by Charles to no avail. There was but one solution – to cut
On what date do we celebrate
Townshend and his 6th Indian Division, was the steel cable holding it in place.
Trafalgar Day?
making good progress along the Tigris. Edgar Cookson would send no man to do what
‘Lucky’ Townshend, whose ability was he was not prepared to do himself. He demanded
considerably surpassed by his self-importance, an axe, leaned over the side of his steamer and
Answer: ................................................................ had scored a decisive success at Al Amara in began hacking away at the hawser.
high summer, a success which spurred him on It was a courageous act – and a suicidal one,
– and spurred on his master in Basra, General for the full force of the Turkish fi re fell upon this
NAME: .................................................................. John Nixon, a commander of stupefying one man. Riddled with bullet holes – and with
incompetence. the cable still fi rmly holding the dhow in place
ADDRESS: ...........................................................
On to Baghdad was the slogan – and by the – Cookson was hauled back on board by his
...............................................................................
dying days of September the force had reached shipmates.
Kut al Amara, 120 miles further upstream. The “I am done,” he told them. “It is a failure. Return
...............................................................................
town itself fell to Townshend, but the shores of at full speed.” Minutes later he died.
the Tigris – and hence the river itself – were still In time, the Turks would fall back on Kut.
...............................................................................
in the hands of the Turks. Townshend would push on to the gates of
The Tigris is the vein of modern-day Iraq. It Baghdad, stall, then retreat to Kut where he
POST CODE: ........................................................ was the vein of Mesopotamia nine decades ago. chose to stand his ground. He was encircled,
And it was the lifeline of Townshend’s forces. endured a fi ve-month siege and capitulated
PHONE NUMBER: ...............................................
A rag-tag collection of steamers, launches, before enjoying a comfortable internment as a
E MAIL: ................................................................
tugs and barges accompanied Townshend’s prisoner, admirable treatment not afforded his
advance at every step – the Tigris Flotilla, far men.
grander in name than in appearance or reality. Edgar Cookson was
Post to Navy News/battle at Sea Competition, Appearances, of course, mattered little. laid to rest in Al Amara,
Navy News, HMS Nelson, Portsmouth,
The fl otilla was vital to Townshend’s march on alongside more than
Hants, PO1 3HH
Baghdad. Its guns could support the battle on 4,000 other victims of the
or e mail your answer to:
land, or they could dispatch Turkish gunboats bungled Mesopotamia
and steamers. campaign. He was
marketing@navynews.co.uk
But outside Kut, at Es Sinn, the fl otilla faced a gazetted in January
formidable obstacle. The Turks had hauled a huge 1916 for an act “of
Rules: No employees of Navy News or DK can enter the competition. All entries must arrive at the Navy News offi ce by Twelve
cable across the river, barring free passage. Just most conspicuous
noon on October 6 2008. The fi rst six correct entries drawn after that time will be the winners. The judge’s decision is fi nal and
there is no prize alternative.
for good measure, they sank a dhow midstream gallantry”.
and lined the banks with cannon and rifl e.
GREAT OFFER!
The plan to dislodge the Turks was less than
subtle: barge or blast the sunken dhow out of the
TREAT YOURSELF OR SOMEONE SPECIAL
way.
TO A FANTASTIC CHRISTMAS GIFT
The task fell to HMS Comet, a paddle-steamer
armed with single 12-pounder and 6-pounder
If you are not lucky enough to win one of these superb guns and a couple of 3-pounders. Command had
books you can purchase it at a 20% of the RRP of £25. To
fallen upon her CO, Lt Cdr Edgar Cookson, by
accident. Comet’s fi rst captain was recovering
claim your VIP discount go to www.dk.com and enter the
from the exertions of the Mesopotamian
code ‘VIPbonus’ at the checkout.
campaign. His successor had fallen ill. Cookson
fi lled the breach.
This offer is valid until December 2008 or while stocks last. He was no poor substitute. The 31-year-old
0012_NN_Sept.indd 112_NN_Sept.indd 1 119/8/08 16:55:199/8/08 16:55:19
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