HMS Nottingham home from deployment 07.04.05 15:38 -Navy News...
Type 42 destroyer HMS Nottingham has returned to Portsmouth after an eventful deployment to the Middle East.
Although she was part of the Marstrike 05 task group, led by HMS Invincible, the ships of the group have also had their own furrows to plough.
It is Nottingham’s first major deployment since she emerged from refit following her grounding on Wolf Rock off the coast of Australia in 2002.
Only three people remained on board who were with her at the time of the incident, and 70 per cent of the ship’s company are in their first draft in their current rate.
Their enthusiasm for the job was sorely tested by the rescue mission flown by the ship’s Lynx helicopter before Nottingham sailed through the Suez Canal on the way out.
The warship received a Mayday from the mv Vigla, saying the ship had exploded following a fire and was sinking off the coast of Malta in severe weather conditions.
As Nottingham ploughed through very rough seas towards the stricken ship at 24 knots, her Lynx flew ahead to see what could be done.
On arrival at the scene the helicopter found two large cargo vessels attempting to shelter a number of people in the water, the stricken ship having disappeared.
The Lynx, piloted by Lt Phil Richardson, battled 100 miles in difficult conditions to try to rescue the men, but their cumbersome cork lifejackets made it difficult to pluck them from the sea, and they were already in poor condition.
The Lynx, dubbed Strongbow, was forced to return to the destroyer as she had reached the limit if her endurance, so a liferaft was dropped in the hope the sailors could clamber aboard.
But by the time the destroyer reached the scene, around daybreak, there were still four men to be seen in the water.
Nottingham’s sea boat was launched, requiring great skill in the rough conditions, but all they could do was recover the four bodies.
“In some respects the guys who brought them back on board were glad they could do it,” said the ship’s Logistics Officer, Lt Cdr Gillian Russell.
“We went into Limassol, where the bodies were sent out from the ship.
“We had the colours at half-mast, piped them off the ship and everybody who could be spared was there on the flight deck to pay their respects.
“It brings it home to everybody on board that it a hostile environment we operate in.”
That sentiment was reinforced early last month when Nottingham’s Lynx made an emergency landing on the sea while carrying out a surveillance sweep in the Indian Ocean; the aircraft quickly sank but the three-strong crew escaped unhurt and were picked up by another helicopter and returned to the ship.