NAVY NEWS, DECEMBER 2010
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771 respond to fl ash fl oods
SEA Kings from RNAS Culdrose acted as vital ‘eyes in the sky’ when fl ash fl oods struck swaths of Cornwall. Helicopters from 771 NAS (plus their RAF counterparts from RMB Chivenor) were scrambled when upwards of 2in of rain were dumped on central Cornwall in one day. The St Austell area – including Lostwithiel, Mevagissey and Par – was particularly badly affected as streams and rivers burst their banks and cascaded down streets and into homes.
devastation caused by the flooding, no lives were threatened thankfully by the rising waters. That meant that neither the RN nor RAF helicopters were needed to winch people to safety (unlike during the flash floods at Boscastle in 2004). But the 771 fliers were called upon to search for people thought to have been washed away with their cars – one towards the sea, one towards Siblyback Lake on Bodmin Moor. For the most part, the helicopters used their bird’s-eye view to direct the emergency services on the ground to those in need of help. “What would normally be routine calls for ‘blue light’ services suddenly became more dangerous,” said 771 NAS CO Lt Cdr Chris Canning. “In incidents like this, our helicopters prove essential, pointing the other emergency vehicles in the right direction.” His senior observer, Lt Cdr Lee Kennington, added: “Although not specifically life threatening, I was able to see flooding of about two to five feet in places – there was obviously a lot of damage to the communities of eastern Cornwall.”
Despite the widespread
Lucky Gamble saves lives
THIS is the moment sailors from HMS Cornwall save the lives of fi ve men in
the middle of the Mediterranean. The fi ve have the eagle eyes of Lt Cdr Steve Gamble, the frigate’s fl ight commander, to thank for their salvation. He spied something fl oating in the Middle Sea as his Lynx carried out a routine patrol on maritime security operations. That something turned out to be a crippled
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infl atable boat, its transom broken during several days of bad weather in the Med, with fi ve men clinging to it. F99 made for the infl atable, some 60 miles off the Algerian coast, and put her sea boat in the water to recover the fi ve men, before ferrying them back to the Type 22 for treatment for cold and exhaustion from Cornwall’s medical team.
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turned to approach the ship and caught a quick fl ash of colour, which I fi rst thought was a fi shing fl oat,” said Lt Cdr Gamble. “However, not having seen any fi shing activity in the area we decided
to have a closer look and to our surprise it was fi ve people clinging to the remains of a dinghy. It was simply pure luck that we spotted them.” Cornwall’s crew learned from the fi ve sailors that the infl atable had
“I just happened to glance out of the port window of the aircraft as we
overturned several hours earlier and fi ve other people on it had been thrown into the sea. The frigate conducted a search for them but found no trace. The fi ve survivors were landed in Algiers when the frigate paid a short visit to the African port. The Fighting 99 (the old ‘ice cream frigate’ tag was dropped to give
Cornwall a more warry fee) is conducting her very last deployment. She decommissions next year after 23 years’ service as all four remaining 22s pass into history, axed under October’s Strategic Defence and Security Review. The frigate only came back from east of Suez in March after a punishing 226-day deployment putting the screws on pirates...
...And it is to the Gulf of Aden that she heads again... to put the screws on pirates.
In the six months the frigate’s been at home in Devonport she’s undergone some maintenance, her crew have enjoyed some leave, and then there were two months of operational sea training. Picture: LA(Phot) Dave Jenkins, FRPU East
“I can’t thank SSAFA enough. Your help really made a difference to my family when things were getting tough.”
When Dylan was born with a life-threatening liver problem he desperately needed a transplant. At a difficult and stressful time for his mum and dad, SSAFA Forces Help was at hand for the family. We provided a trained volunteer to look after the children while Dylan's parents visited him in hospital, and assisted them with the financial burden of regular hopsital visits.
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