22 NAVY NEWS, DECEMBER 2011 l Sailors rehearse at HMS Excellent in Portsmouth for Remembrance ceremonies


Picture: LA(Phot) Jason Ballard


WHETHER on familiar territory at home, or in some far-flung country or sea, the Naval Service united with the nation to reflect on sacrifices


Dr Rowan guest


to RNAS Yeovilton, where he was


past and present. The Archbishop of Canterbury Williams


that over the past decade, the men and women of our Armed Forces had been “sent to distant parts of the globe, to unfamiliar cultures locked in quarrels and conflicts about which we know very little. “And the Armed Forces have been asked to go to these places and take exactly the same risks that they would take for comrades, for family, or for country. “What has become one of the most complex but also one


serene setting of the churchyard of St Bartholomew’s Fleet Air Arm Memorial Church, the roll of honour was read out by Base Warrant Officer, WO1 Steve Uzzell, detailing all Royal Naval and Royal Marines personnel who have lost their lives in the past year. In his address, Dr Williams said


Somerset air station’s annual act of remembrance. During


the service in the of honour the


travelled for


Naval Service remembers


of the most extraordinary things about military service in our own generation is that our Forces have taken risks for the sake of strangers. “They have taken risks not because people are friends, but in order that they might become friends.


Officer Sea Training,


“Our Forces have been at work, not only in the great theatres of Iraq and Afghanistan, but in many other places too, in order to make friends – in order to build harmony and trust between peoples in an age of deep anxiety and instability.” A veteran Swordfish torpedo from the RN Historic


bomber


Flight flew past the churchyard as a Royal Marines bugler played the Last Post; November 11 is the anniversary of the Swordfish’s finest hour – the crippling of the Italian Fleet at Taranto in 1940. Eighty miles south-west, in the


shadow of the Naval memorial on Plymouth Hoe, hundreds of sailors and Royal Marines paid their respects with veterans, politicians and civic leaders. Representatives from HMS


Drake, the RFA, 3 Commando Brigade and 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, plus the Band of HM Royal Marines Plymouth


Admiral Clive Johnstone, Flag attended, with Rear


base’s masthead wreaths were laid by Capt Entwisle, the President of the WOs&SRs Mess, a junior rating, the Mayor of Helston, the Royal Naval Association, the Association of Wrens, the Royal British Legion, the Territorial Army,


the Cornwall Association of Reserve


Officers, Cornwall Council, and Porthleven Town Council. Along the South Coast in


service at


l HMS Montrose’s Remembrance service is held in the Atlantic


Picture: Lt Hamish Walker


wreath on behalf of the Senior Service.


“At this very special time of remembrance I find myself caught between two emotions,” said the admiral. “First and most powerful is the deepest respect and reverence of those who have served and have made the ultimate sacrifice. “Indeed, there is no word


laying a


that captures the impact of this recognition and the thanks for those who have laid their lives for their country and the endeavour that it is set upon. “I do have a second emotion, and this is the thanks for our current Servicemen and Servicewomen, especially those of the Naval Service who are working under such pressure across the world, looking after our security and our interests. “They stand very proudly in the


shadow of those who have gone before.”


RN Air Station Culdrose was led by CO Capt William Entwisle, and during the


The Remembrance parade at the


ago for Armistice Day – then she was deterring piracy in the Indian Ocean and paid her respects at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Twelve months on, and in a different


promoting British


the RAF Association, and


Retired Naval LA(Phot) Dave Sterratt Picture:


Portsmouth, there were services at its own Naval memorial, currently in the middle of a restoration project, on Southsea Common; in Guildhall Square, which was filled with hundreds of onlookers lining the steps and balconies; and at HMS Excellent in front of Leach Building, the headquarters of the Fleet and Royal Marines.


l Buglers from 40 Cdo RM at the Remembrance ceremony on Cothelstone Hill; (above left) the service at RN Air Station Culdrose


ocean,


the South Atlantic and providing reassurance to British citizens in the southern hemisphere, her ship’s company paid their respects to those whose only grave is the sea. In a service led by the ship’s


in


Montrose paid particular homage to her Scottish roots as her ship’s company fixed Scottish poppies to their caps for a memorial service. Unlike the Royal British Legion poppies, which feature two petals and a green leaf, Poppy Scotland poppies are distinguished by four petals; proceeds from their sale goes to veterans north of border, where one in five people is either a serving member of the Armed Forces, ex-Services or the spouse or dependant of someone who’s been in the military. Montrose was at sea 12 months


In the South Atlantic, HMS


HMS Pembroke.


ceremonies and found the Sandown-class ship alongside undergoing a spot of maintenance. The trio of former soldiers


kingdom


Pensioners – despite the heat, they were in their characteristic scarlet coats – who were visiting the


for November


charged with interests


it’s vitally important for my ship’s company to have the opportunity to join those back in the UK – and across


Remembrance Sunday,”


Montrose’s CO Cdr Jonathan Lett. “In fact, being deployed on


operations adds an element of poignancy, providing a direct link to those who have gone before us and allowing us to remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.” It was also hot for HMS St


the world – in marking said


padre, chaplain Andrew Allcock, sailors formed up on the flight deck in the stifling heat before a wreath was cast into the water. “Although we’re far from home,


marine engineer officer, said it had been “an absolute privilege” to host the veterans, and they hoped to take up the offer of a return visit to London in due course. HMS Echo’s Ship’s Company took part in Remembrance ceremonies at Mombasa in Kenya – the survey ship was on a break from duties in the Indian Ocean, and apart from the ceremonies she also hosted Kenyan naval officers and ratings. The first was at the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery, followed by a specific service in the chapel of the Mission to Seafarers for the nine sailors who died when HMS Brilliant’s Lynx crashed on May 14 1989. Back in Blighty, Rosyth-based


reserve unit HMS Scotia provided a Naval


Albans, coming to the end of a six-month patrol in the Gulf, as she held a flight deck service on her way home to Portsmouth, while the ship which has replaced her, HMS Argyll, was also at sea. Pausing her latest Gulf patrol,


Argyll’s sailors and Royal Marines listened as the roll of honour of the last 12 months’ fallen was read out. “I can think of no greater honour


– Lt Alastair Browne – for the guard commander


were shown round the ship, and although one of them, John McNaughton, had served for nearly two years in the region half a century ago as an Army diver, he declined the chance of a dip with Pembroke’s divers with a wry smile as he had “left his swimming costume behind in his hotel.” The visit to the ship ended with the pensioners being hosted in the senior rates’ mess for a spot of refreshments and a chinwag, and being presented with a bevvy of cap tallies and a ship’s badge for their new clubhouse. WO2 Mark Hinton, Pembroke’s


The ship hosted three Chelsea


Remembrance ceremony in Edinburgh for the first time – a role usually taken up by the Army. HMS Collingwood in Fareham held a service, and the Maritime Warfare School’s ceremonial team also had the honour of marching the RN contingent into position at the Cenotaph in London for the national act of Remembrance. Senior Naval officers also


attended the other major national service,


Forces Memorial in the National Memorial Arboretum. Sailors from HMS Raleigh in


held at the Armed


Cornwall took part in a service at Horson cemetery in Torpoint, at the graves of the 41 matelots and 21 Royal Engineers who died when a bomb hit their air raid shelter on April 28 1941. A service was also held at the training establishment itself on Armistice Day. Personnel from Clyde Naval


Base and the HMS Neptune Volunteer Band gathered for a service


Helensburgh; at Hermitage Park


was held on the frigate as she supported a specialist navigators course off the UK coast, and HMS Illustrious, at the buoy off Plymouth on a windy morning, took a break from Operational Sea Training to hold a service of remembrance on her flight deck. In typical bootneck fashion, some 400 members of 40 Cdo RM combined some ‘phys’ with their Remembrance


marching more than four miles from Norton Manor Camp to Cothelstone Hill then back again; the service ended with a fly-past by Lynx and Sea King helicopters.


l Personnel from HMS Raleigh parade to a service at Horson cemetery in Torpoint


Picture: Dave Sherfield service by speed


represented included the Sea Cadets, the RNA and the Submariners Association. HMS Iron Duke’s service


other groups in


than to lead a Remembrance Service and, being at sea, while on active operations, it added a poignant edge to what is an already solemn occasion,” said Cdr Paul Stroude, Argyll’s CO. “It


emotions for those serving in the Forces, it reminds us all of the sacrifice, not only of our brethren, but also of our loved ones back home.” In Bahrain, the hub of the


Picture: LA(Phot) Si Ethell


Royal Navy’s operations in the Gulf, there was a rather unusual ceremony aboard minehunter


always stirs powerful


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