OPERATIONHUSKYVETERANSUCCUMBSTOVANDALS
A FORMER ROYAL NAVY MOTOR LAUNCHWHICH TOOK PART IN OPERATION HUSKY, THE ALLIED LANDINGS IN SICILY, HAS BEEN SCRAPPED
Unlike the majority of coastal forces craft ML1301 was retained in Royal Navy service after the end of hostilities, being converted to a survey motor launch and taking the name Meda. She and her sister ship HMS Medusa (ex-ML1387)were the last twoHDMLs in RoyalNavy servicewhen they were retired in 1965.
Meda, which was sold into private ownership at which point she was renamed Gibel Tarik, was based in Gibraltar until 2007 when she sailed north to her new home in the Netherlands.Much work had been carried out on the boat since her arrival; a fact whichmakes her loss all themore disappointing. However, some parts ofML1301 have been saved to help keep her preserved sister shipMedusa, recently re-launched after a four year refit and based at Southampton, operational.
LEFT: The Royal Navy veteran, the formerML1301, at sea. (Courtesy of Nick Hall) BELOW: The Gibel Tarik pictured in the Netherlands during the winter of 2008-9. (Courtesy of D. Carter, via Nick Hall)
THE former launch ML1301, renamed the Gibel Tarik, sank at her moorings in Goudswaard, south of Rotterdam, in the Netherlands in April, writes Nick Hall. It is believed that this was the result of vandalism. Although the Gibel Tarik was subsequently salvaged, her owner said the 67-year-old vessel was too badly damaged to be worth repairing.
ML1301 was a 72ft Harbour DefenceMotor Launch (HDML) built by W. Blackmore in Bideford, Devon. Commissioned in April 1943, on completion she was despatched to theMediterranean where, after taking part in the Sicilian landings, she went on to support further amphibious operations at Salerno (Operation Avalanche) and Elba (Operation Brassard).
BOMBERCOMMANDMEMORIAL INFUNDINGJEOPARDY
THE PLANNED MEMORIAL TO HONOUR THE 55,573 MEN OF BOMBER COMMAND WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN THE SECONDWORLDWAR URGENTLY NEEDS TO RAISE £2 MILLION BY THE END OF THIS YEAR.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force, Sir Michael Beetham, President of the Bomber Command Association, commented: “We have been striving for many years to have a memorial in central London to recognise the contribution of Bomber Command to victory in World War Two, and in particular, the huge sacrifice of the lives of so many of our comrades in achieving it. The memorial has been designed and we now need to go ahead with all speed.”
The Prime Minister, David Cameron, said: “It is time the nation finally showed its gratitude by building a permanent memorial. I fully support this important campaign to domore to remember those bravemen from Bomber Command who died doing their duty. Their deeds have not been recognised in the way the heroes from the Battle of Britain have been, but their sacrifices were just as great.”
Donations can be made at:
www.theygaveeverything.com AS we reported in Issue 38, planning permission for the Bomber Command Memorial
was granted in May 2010, with the completed structure due to be unveiled in late 2011. Thanks to tireless campaigning by the RAF Bomber Command Association and the Bee Gees member Robin Gibb, £1.5m has already been raised. But another £4mis needed to build andmaintain thememorial. In order to comply with building and planning regulations, the fund must have at least another £2m in place by the end of 2010.
JimDooley,Chairman of the BomberCommand Association, said: “There is amisconception that because we have planning permission we already have the funding in place. But that isn’t the case, and we urgently need help.”
AUGUST 2010 7
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