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12 NAVY NEWS, DECEMBER 2008
635
Talent to the fore
REGULAR Navy News
terrorists – a mission more visibly Talent is the fourth British
Class:ass: TTrafalgarrafalgar-class Fleet -class Fleet
readers know that we’re
performed by surface vessels. submarine to bear the name – but
submarine
fond of ‘gee whizz’ facts
Then it was across the Pond, only the second to ever hoist the Pennant number: S92
to Florida initially and some White Ensign. Builder: Vickers, Barrow-in-
and fi gures. southern hospitality, and then Confused? Furness
The sort of things which make some southern hostility as Talent Talent I (pennant number Laid down: May 13, 1986
you blurt out: “Well, I never knew pretended to be the foe of US P322) was a T-class submarine
Launched: April 15, 1988
that.” warships and, finally, HMS built by Vickers at Barrow and
Commissioned: May 12,
And hunter-killer submarine Richmond at the AUTEC test John Brown on the Clyde in 1942-
1990
HMS Talent is no exception in the ranges in the Bahamas.
43.
Displacement: 4,740 tons
gee whizz stakes. Talent could most recently be
Before she was launched,
(surfaced), 5,200 tons
Now we could tell you that she seen not in the Bahamas, or even
however, she was transferred to the
steamed 225,000 miles in her first Devonport, but Portland on a
Dutch as HNLMS Zwaardvisch
(submerged)
commission.
(swordfish).
Length: 280ft (85m) es
five-day visit to raise the profile of
Or that her crew have gobbled the Silent Service – and the RN
The name Talent was too good
Beam: 32ft (10m)
up 180,000 sausages – enough as a whole – in this former naval
to let go, however, and an order
Draught: 31ft (9.5m)
bangers to circle the globe stronghold.
was promptly placed with Vickers
Speed: c.32 knots
apparently. Beyond the usual official
for a new Talent... until the order
Complement: 130
Or that in keeping their rig functions, a day hosting potential
was cancelled.
Propulsion: 1 x Rolls
clean, they’ve used 4,500kg submariners and young engineers,
As the axe fell on that Talent, Royce PWR nuclear
(almost 10,000lb) of washing and a football match against
another T-boat, HMS Tasman, was reactor; 2 x GEC turbines;
powder. Weymouth FC Academy, the
launched – and quickly renamed 2 x WH Allen turbo
All very interesting. deeps paid tribute to 29 men from
Talent. generators; 2 x Paxman
But not as interesting as the fact the previous HMS Illustrious who
She arrived too late to take part
diesel alternators
that they’ve sucked 9,000 Chupa died when their tender sank as it
in WW2 (hence the reason for her
Armament: Tomahawk
Chup lollipops in the past seven returned to the carrier.
lack of battle honours), but led a
Block IV cruise missiles;
years. The 60th anniversary of the
mixed career.
Spearfish torpedoes
And perhaps a sizeable tragedy was marked with a service
She played a vital role in
Facts and figur
proportion of those lollies were of remembrance in All Saints’
developing the Ship’s Inertial
devoured during the boat’s Church in Easton on Portland.
Navigation System, was used for
six-month deployment at the Away from the south
a month-long publicity tour of the
beginning of the year.
UK which saw more than 33,000
coast, Talent is affiliated with
people visit her (not all at once...)
That began (as January tends Shrewsbury and apart from fund-
and, in 1954, she was swept out
to begin) with ice and snow and raising for good causes in the
of dry dock at Chatham when
ended in the heat of the Bahamas Shropshire town and enjoying all
the gate lifted, taking four souls
(and the not-so-hot waters of the hospitality this historic place
with her.
the Hamoaze once Talent finally can offer, the submariners can
She spent the final years of her
returned home). be found sporadically above the
career in the Med before being
The boat sailed initially in water – taking part in dragon boat
paid off in 1966.
support of Armatura Borealis, the races on the Severn.
RN’s winter exercises in northern The affiliation with Shrewsbury
● Talent arrives back in
Norway. is one which has been nurtured
Plymouth after her Norwegian-
Next stop was the Mediterranean for the past 20 years, since the
Mediterranean-Atlantic deploy-
and Active Endeavour, the NATO submarine was launched at
ment earlier this year
mission to deny the use of the Barrow by the Princess Royal in
Picture: PO(Phot) Sean Clee,
Middle Sea to criminals and the spring of 1988. RN Photographer of the Year (again)
photographic
AS BEFITS the month of December, a seasonal image from the archives of
the Imperial War Museum. This is Olga the Reindeer, a Christmas 1943 gift
HEROES OF THE ROYAL NAVY No.56
from Admiral Golovko, Commander-in-Chief, Soviet Northern Fleet, to
Admiral Sir Lionel Wells, Commanding Offi cer Shetland and Orkneys.
The three-month-old animal made the journey from Russia aboard
the cruiser HMS Kent during a return Arctic convoy and eventually
set foot on dry land at Scapa Flow via a landing craft. She is LS George Patrick McDowell
helped ashore here by PO A E Dowdeswell, of Westminster,
London. (Neg A20916).
and Cyril Hambly, Albert Medal■ THIS image – and 9,999,999 others from a century of war and
peace – can be purchased from www.iwmcollections.org.uk,
by emailing photos@IWM.org.uk, or phoning 0207 416 5333.
THERE have been few darker hours in the recent after four days in a liferaft when he watched 15
history of the Royal Navy than the bitter autumn comrades die one by one.
of 1941. Fate did not smile kindly on HMS Kandahar
A litany of great names had succumbed to either. For over a day she rolled around in the
enemy action: Ark Royal, Barham, Prince of Mediterranean, minus her stern, waiting for a
Wales, Repulse. saviour.
The Japanese were rampaging seemingly at It came in the form of HMS Jaguar, but the
will in the Far East. sea was too rough for the destroyer to come
The U-boat was still untamed in the Atlantic alongside the Kandahar. The only choice was for
– and was about to devastate shipping off the the crew to swim to safety.
eastern seaboard of the USA with seeming Nets were thrown over the side of Jaguar to
impunity. help Kandahar’s men scramble off their Carley
And Italian frogmen had ‘Tarantoed’ the capital floats or directly out of the Med.
ships of the Mediterranean Fleet, slipping into Leading Seaman Cyril Hambly, a 28-year-old
the harbour at Alexandria to cripple HM Ships Cornishman, and 22-year-old Yeoman of Signals
Queen Elizabeth and Valiant. George McDowell were among the Kandahar
There were few beacons of hope in the Senior sailors who struck out into the Mediterranean in
Service in the Middle Sea, but one shone brightly: the hope of salvation.
Malta, the constant thorn in the Axis side. Both made the nets slung over Jaguar’s side –
And it was from Malta that British submarines and both possessed the strength to climb them.
plus a small task group of cruisers and destroyers Neither man did.
(Force K) struck repeatedly at convoys to North Instead, the two leading g
Africa – Rommel’s lifeline. seamen remained in the e
Their finest hour had come in the small hours water, rising and falling
of November 9 when the British ships mauled a as the destroyer rose
heavily-escorted convoy bound for Tripoli. and fell with the heavy
All seven merchantmen of Convoy Beta were swell, helping their
sent to the bottom of the Mediterranean, joined weaker shipmates up
by one escorting Italian destroyer. the net.
Six weeks later, Force K sortied once more In doing so, “they
from Malta, intent upon destroying another saved many men”
Tripoli-bound convoy. It proved to be a black – in all eight of
night for the Royal Navy. Kandahar’s officers
Cruiser HMS Neptune was the first victim, and 157 ratings
running into a minefield. A first mine crippled were picked up by
her propellers and rudder, a second detonated Jaguar.
midships and caused her to list heavily. A third Hambly and
and final mine did for the ship, blowing up McDowell did not possess ss
beneath the bridge. the strength to save their their
As Neptune foundered, the rest of Force K own lives, however.
either tried to help the stricken ship – or tried to Their strength
extricate itself from the minefield. exhausted by assisting
HMS Aurora was severely damaged, light- their comrades they
cruiser Penelope less so, and destroyer HMS disappeared into
Kandahar lost her stern as she tried to take the grey wastes.
Neptune under tow. Six months later,
As Neptune’s sailors clambered over the side both men were
of their doomed vessel, some tried to swim to posthumously
Kandahar, but the heavy seas thwarted their gazetted, earning
efforts. Of more than 750 men, only one would the Albert Medal for
survive the loss, Norman Walton – and only saving life at sea.
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