12 NAVY NEWS, JUNE 2009
No.4
High fi delitydelity
ORDINARILY, the Royal
Afghanistan. Previous experience
Navy does not do things by
proved extremely useful for fl iers
halves.
and mechanics alike as they
maintained a punishing work rate
The Royal Marines especially do
to meet the operational tempo.
not do things by halves.
To prepare for the demands
But for 847 Naval Air Squadron,
of Afghanistan, the squadron
we’ll make an exception.
decamps to the French Alps for a
Such is the demand for the armed
taste of operations where it’s ‘hot
reconnaissance fliers and their six
and high’
Lynx Mk7s – distinguishable from
onours
The current incarnation of
naval Mk3s and 8s by (a) their green
847 is by far the longest in a
HH
livery and (b) skids instead of wheels
as an undercarriage – that while half
rather unusual career spanning
the Yeovilton-based squadron was
seven decades. The squadron has
riding shotgun above the Hindu Kush
invariably been formed to meet an
and steppe of Afghanistan, the other
urgent need – typically war or an
Falkland Islands........... 1982 attle
half was gearing up to head to the Far
international crisis.
Al Faw .......................... 2003
East to join the Taurus task force.
It began life as a torpedo Battle Honours
More than 70 squadron personnel
bomber/reconnaissance squadron
and their Lynx Mk7s – actually owned
in 1943, serving with HMS Motto: Ex alto concutimus –
by the Army Air Corps but loaned to
Illustrious in the Far East. We strike from on high
es
the Fleet Air Arm – have spent the past
Disbanded after just 12 months, Aircraft: Westland Lynx AH
seven months at Camp Bastion, the
it was another dozen years before Mk7
hub of British operations in Helmand,
it reappeared, flying Gannets out Engines: 2 x 900hp Rolls
working alongside Jungly Sea Kings
of Cyprus trying to spot arms Royce Gem turbines
of the Commando Helicopter Force,
being smuggled into the island at Rotor Span: 42ft (12.8m)
RAF Chinooks and other Allied
the height of unrest. It was a duty Length: 44ft (13.4m)
helicopters in theatre.
they performed for more than Speed: 180 knots
The 847 Lynxes clocked up nearly
three years before 847 was broken Weight: 4.8t (4,875kg)
2,000 hours in Afghan skies in a wide-
up again. Crew: 3 (2 x pilot,
ranging mission which covered acting
More unrest – this time in 1 x aircrewman)
as an umbrella for combat logistic
Indonesia – prompted its return in Range: 300 nautical miles or
patrols (aka convoys) moving between
May 1963, a reappearance which 2h 15m
far-fl ung Allied bases, to scouting and
lasted 18 months.
Weapons: General Purpose
reconnaissance sorties and escorting
Before the decade was out, 847
Machine Gun
Sea Kings and Chinooks carrying
was back, flying Wessex in the
Facts and figur
troops and supplies.
Far East and working with Royal
The squadron’s Lynxes were also
Marines assault ships.
The present incarnation was
heavily in demand for security missions
It vanished again in May 1971
born on September 1 1995 when
during the period of registration for
and would not return for 11 years,
3 Cdo Bde’s Air Squadron was
Helmand’s election – one step on
when it was hurriedly formed
stood down and 847 NAS stood
the long road to the region’s recovery
to support the liberation of the up, since when it has taken part
from Taleban rule.
Falklands. More than 20 Wessexes in every major operation which
For many 847 personnel this was
were sent south with 847. They the RN has been committed to
their second, even third tour of duty in
arrived in the South Atlantic in – the Balkans, Sierra Leone and,
time to support the later stages of especially, Afghanistan and Iraq.
the push on Stanley.● An 847 Lynx lifts off near Gap- In the latter, armed with anti-
Tallard in the French Alps during With the Falklands safe, 847 was tank missiles, its Lynx mauled
mountain fl ying training no longer needed and that autumn Saddam’s armour in fierce fighting
Picture: LA(Phot) Billy Bunting its brief renaissance ended. around Basra.
HEROES OF THE ROYAL NAVY No.62
photographic
Lt Cecil William Buckley and
Boatswain Henry Cooper VC
A PENINSULAR war bedevilled by deadlock. from complete, until Lt Cecil Buckley, Boatswain
Commanders famed more for their Henry Cooper and a handful of volunteers from
incompetence than skill. the steam-driven corvette HMS Miranda rowed
A daring naval armada dispatched to force the ashore in a gig.
strait and terrorise shipping in an inland sea. And there the two men caused havoc, setting
You are probably conjuring up images of several stores, warehouses and government
the Dardanelles and names such as Dunbar- buildings aflame – while the Russians did
Nasmith and Boyle. everything in their power to prevent them.
And you’d be right, of course. But two It was, in the words of the official despatch,
generations before, an almost identical campaign “dangerous, not to say desperate service”.
was waged for two months. And it succeeded. The fires took hold and a
The sea was not the Marmara, but the Azov. conflagration swept through Taganrog.
The foe not Johnny Turk but the Tsar’s Cossacks The fire-raising proved more successful than
and Hussars. the accompanying landings by troops which
By the spring of 1855, the war against Russia were driven back by Don Cossacks.
was 18 months old – and going nowhere. On the afternoon of June 3, the attackers
The Charge of the Light Brigade and, withdrew. They would twice more try to take
especially, the eponymous poem had already Taganrog – and twice fail. The Allies finally pulled
entered the public consciousness. out of the Sea of Azov that autumn – by which
The siege of Sevastopol was just that – a time Sevastopol had finally fallen.
siege and it had been dragging on now for eight Buckley and Cooper distinguished themselves
months. continuously in the Sea of Azov – the officer had
Perhaps, the Allies reasoned, the Russian hold already set fire to stores in the Kerch Strait and
on the Crimea might be loosened if they widened continued to raid enemy positions on the shore;
the war to encompass the inland sea on the Cooper carried the Union Flag ashore at Kerch
opposite side of the peninsula. during an assault on a Russian fortress.
And so in late May more than four dozen He retired to Torpoint, having received his
men o’war and 15,000 soldiers forced the Kerch Victoria Cross from Queen Victoria at the first
narrows – a remarkably successful operation in investiture of the medal.
a war dogged by incompetency. Cecil Buckley’l Buckley s later
Once in the Sea of Azov, the warships found career was rather anti-was rather anti-
little opposition, but plenty of plunder. They climactic – he rtic – he received
sank steamers, merchantmen, seized provisions a series of res of rebukesebukes
bound for the Crimea – corn, flour, gunpowder from the Admiraltyhe Admiralty
and coal. following variousng various
And once the waters were devoid of shipping, disagrreements
the Allied force turned its attention to the ports with theirtheir
of Azov, one in particular, Taganrog. Lordships. Hisips. His
In 1855, Taganrog was arguably the most health brbroken,
important port in the Azov, its warehouses filled he left theeft the
with food intended for the Crimean. Service in thee in the
Britons and Russians alike realised Taganrog’s autumn of 1872... n of 1872...
importance. The former were determined to raze and was deadwas dead
it, the latter, led by their tubthumping governor within two two
Yegor Tolstoy, were determined to hold it. months.s.
On June 2 1855, a lieutenant was sent ashore
to demand Taganrog’s capitulation. He was
rebuffed by the port’s governor. “Russians,”
OUR latest random dip into the photographic archive of the Imperial War Museum takes us to Lowes-
Tolstoy proclaimed, “never surrender their
toft around 1917 and two members of the Women’s Royal Naval Service testing the air pressure of
cities.”
a British Indicator Net Type Mine. These electrically-fi red mine nets were laid along the French and
And so the British laid siege to Taganrog,
Belgian Coast from 1916 as a way of countering operations by coastal U-Boats. (Q 19648)
subjecting it to rocket and howitzer fire.
■ THIS photograph – and 9,999,999 others from a century of war and peace – can be viewed or
The damage wrought was significant – but far
purchased at www.iwmcollections.org.uk, by emailing photos@IWM.org.uk or by phoning 0207
416 5333.
012_NN_June.indd 1 19/5/09 09:28:30
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