NAVY NEWS, MARCH 2011


19


A farewell to arms R


W


● The last salute for HMS Chatham as the White Ensign is lowered for the fi nal time and (below) the public packs into Portsmouth’s Guildhall Square for a service of thanksgiving for HMS Ark Royal before the ship’s company marches past Lord Mayor Cllr Paula Riches (bottom)


Citadel for the final time. Tugs provide their traditional send-off as the youngest of Britain’s last four Type 22 frigates becomes the first to pay off in the wake of October’s defence cuts. It has been a month of


goodbyes for the men and women of the Royal Navy. Goodbye to Ark Royal. Goodbye to 800 Naval Air Squadron. Goodbye to Manchester.


Chatham. The history of each is proud and


But always the same respect and admiration from the public. HMS Chatham made her final


Different audiences. Different Goodbye to


varied, their final acts all different. Different locations. weather.


entry into Plymouth, watched by a few score well-wishers on the Devonshire city’s seafront who braved bitter conditions to witness the sad occasion. The last entry – which saw


the frigate uphold the RN custom of trailing a long, narrow decommissioning pennant – was the latest act in Chatham’s lengthy paying-off process.


goodbyes to the city of her birth, Newcastle – the frigate spent four days in North Shields, a few miles along the Tyne from the Swan Hunter yard where Chatham was


She had already said her


gun, HMS Chatham exchanges formalities with Plymouth’s Royal


ITH a flash of fire from her cer emonial


built from 1986-89, before joining the Fleet the following year. After the final entry came the


serving next, you can always be extremely proud of what you achieved.’


formal act of decommissioning in Devonport Naval Base. In suitably bleak weather (cold, rain) to mark the solemn occasion, more than 100 guests – friends, families, VIPS, affi liates and dignitaries from Kent – joined the ship’s company in bidding farewell. Among those saying their goodbyes was Admiral Sir Ian Forbes,


fi rst CO back in 1990 when the frigate was commissioned.


Chatham’s


told today’s Chathams that back then, the ship was regarded as the most advanced in the world. As for his fi nal successor in charge of F87, Cdr Simon Huntington, he said his men and women should take pride in Chatham’s accomplishments – most recently dealing with the pirate menace off the Horn of Africa. “Rather than lament the loss of a fi ne ship, I urge you to celebrate what she has achieved,” he stressed. “In the words of her sponsor Lady Roni Oswald, I know you will fi nd that what Chatham has achieved in the last 20 years is widely admired throughout the Royal Navy.


“She has been an enormously successful,


ship throughout this period and wherever you fi nd yourselves


happy and reliable He


special bond will remain long after the ship has gone.”


“HMS Chatham will be sadly missed – over the past 20 years she has had a very successful life. As her final commanding officer, she has a special place in my heart.” With the decommissioning cake cut (and devoured), the White Ensign was hauled down for the last time.


severed.


event” in her life came on the streets of her namesake town in Kent as bonds stretching back to the late ’80s were officially


herself paid a final visit to the Medway, more than 60 members of her company returned to exercise their right to the Freedom of the Borough of Medway for the final time.


with bayonets fixed and colours flying, all in time to the drum beat of the Royal Marines Band from HMS Collingwood – ended at the Medway Council buildings, where Mayor Cllr David Brake took the salute, then invited the ship’s company inside for an official reception for the sailors. It was an occasion,


Cdr Huntington, “tinged with sadness”.


said


But he added: “I’m certain that many happy memories of this


The freedom parade in Kent – Just three months after the ship


But it wasn’t quite time to close the book on the Chatham story. The “last significant


Ant and Dec, Laurel and Hardy, Morecambe and Wise. So it was probably apt that for


the fi nal appearance by the men and women of HMS Manchester in their namesake city that it was raining. A lot. Very heavily in fact. “Chucking it down” in Mancunian vernacular.


AIN. Manchester. The two go together like fi sh and chips, bread and butter,


took the


say farewell to the ship’s crew,” he told the damp sailors. “It is important to remember not only the sterling work the current crew have performed but also the achievements of all of HMS Manchester’s past crew members. I speak for the city when I say we are all very proud of our association with HMS Manchester.” Accompanied by Territorial


Army Bands of the Lancashire Artillery and the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment,


 Continued on page 20


pictures: la(phots) martin carney and jenny lodge, frpu west; la(phots) al macleod, nick crusham and chris mumby, frpu north; po(phot) ray jones and la(phot) abbie gadd, hms ark royal; la(phot) luis holden, 800 nas; and cpl alex scott, raf wittering


d i n g’ plus “It is with admiration that I


Being a hardy lot, locals braved the rain and applauded the sailors as they marched through the heart of the city from the Cathedral, where a service of celebration was held for all those who have served in the destroyer since her launch in 1980, to the City Hall, 700 yards away.


There the ship’s company paraded around Albert Square as the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Cllr Mark Hackett, salute.


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