BRITISH AND ARGENTINE UNITS TAKING PART (Parts 7-16) Part 12. After her last journey to Uruguay, she returned south and went to anchor in Port William (see ), Falkland Islands, on 17 July. to support the medical staff as temporary nurses - many were called on for that assistance. When he called at Gibraltar, he learnt that the Ministry of Defence had requisitioned Canberra for use as a troopship. She was built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland at a cost of £17,000,000. Media. The ship arrived in the River Plate on 6 June, disembarking her patients in the full glare of the world's media, eager for news and photographs. [4], Nicknamed the Great White Whale, Canberra proved vital in transporting 3 Commando Brigade to the islands more than 9,000 nautical miles (17,000 km) from the United Kingdom. Planning to upgrade the navy's amphibious fleet began in 2000, based on Australian experiences leading the International Force for East Timor peacekeeping operation. SS Canberra was an ocean liner, which later operated on cruises, in the P&O fleet from 1961 to 1997. Below is a list of the six British ships that went down in … ... As the largest ship in the Task Force, Canberra had one last duty to perform: to take home as many troops as she could muster. MERCHANT NAVY SHIPS . The only vessel in the Royal Navy earmarked as a potential hospital ship was the Queen’s Royal Yacht Britannia, but, because she required special furnace oil upon which to operate, and only had a 200 bed capacity, planners deemed her unsuitable to support the task force. G.P. [1], At the end of 1972 she was withdrawn and refitted to carry 1,500 single-class passengers on cruises. Canberra had a bulbous bow, two sets of stabilizers, and two funnels side-by-side. She was built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland at a cost of £17 million. On 19 March 1982, Argentine scrap metal workers illegally arrived at Leith Harbour, South Georgia, on board the transport ship ARA Bahía Buen Suceso and raised the Argentine flag. A BBC News report on that day described the ship as "... converted to a casualty ferry ... job will be to ferry wounded troops from the Falklands' beachhead to the hospital ship Uganda; at this stage it was not at all certain quite how the ship would be used. However, the liner was not badly hit in the landings as the Argentine pilots tended to attack the Royal Navy frigates and destroyers instead of the supply and troop ships. Routledge 2005, Vol. With 1963 having been a rather poor year for Canberra with her massive electrical breakdown followed with her lengthy repairs, together with a refit that took a good four months, which was obviously very costly for P&O, considering the ship was just two years old. The next day, her captain Dennis Scott-Masson received a message asking his time of arrival at Gibraltar, which was not on his itinerary. Updated: 17:01 EST, … McDougall 7. On 2 April 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, which initiated the Falklands War. There are two larger islands – East and West Falklands – and lots of smaller ones. She was at position 35°S 35°W / 35°S 35°W / -35; -35 on 15 May and 45°S 47°W / 45°S 47°W / -45; -47 on 18 May. Similarly, women on other ships (nurses and admin workers), such as the Uganda and Canberra, had very different experiences – the Uganda because it was a hospital ship and the Canberra because it was attacked. M.S.J. Captain Dennis Scott-Masson was in charge of Canberra and the ship's overall safety. The lifeboats, which were made from glass fibre, were placed three decks lower than usual for ships of her type, and were recessed into the hull to allow improved view from the passenger decks. P&O: Into The War Zone After refueling in Sierra Leone, CANBERRA … Thirty of the ship's company had been trained, during the passage south. Canberra was withdrawn from P&O service in September 1997 and sold to ship breakers for scrapping on 10 October 1997, leaving for Gadani ship-breaking yard, Pakistan on 31 October 1997. The hospital ships Canberra and Uganda, were initially redundant due to their vulnerability to air attacks, and this inability to backload casualties constrained tempo. After the war, Argentine pilots claimed they were told not to hit Canberra, as they mistook her for a hospital ship. The ship was re-chartered on the 1 September as a diving support vessel for recovery work on the wrecks around the Falkland Islands, she was returned to her owners in February 1983. It was a war, and veterans like a war to be a war. The SS Canberra still remains one of P&O Cruises' most popular and well-known ships. Extracted from "Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service" volume 69, Spring 1983. Overbury 3. See more ideas about canberra, cruise ship, falklands war. This list may not reflect recent changes . Her first voyage set out on 2 June 1961 through the Suez Canal and called at Colombo, Fremantle, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, Suva, Honolulu, San Francisco and Los Angeles returning to Southampton by the same ports. She also had a bow propeller for manoeuvring in port and docking manoeuvres. P&O commissioned Canberra to operate the combined P&O–Orient Line service between the United Kingdom and Australasia and designed her to carry 548 first-class passengers and 1,650 tourist class. SS Canberra is the liner where, in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd try to kill Bond. Every so often ships would come by and drop off casualties but for a long time we were just going around in a big box of water." Tankers 1. [7] The singer/songwriter Gerard Kenny released "Farewell Canberra" in 1997, which was written especially for the last voyage and a tribute to SS Canberra.The song mentions the ship giving a home and comfort to the Falklands soldiers who were "so brave and … Her Falklands Experience to her Concluding Days! Her first voyage set out on 2 June 1961 through the Suez Canal and called at Colombo, Fremantle, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, Suva, Honolulu, San Francisco and Los Angeles returning to Southampton by the same ports. Port Stanley, the Falklands’ capital and only town, is considerably further from London than Tokyo is. RFA Appleleaf (A79) 40,870 t 6.1. Falklands Task Force Ship used mail - 3 x 1970 used S.S. Canberra envelopes. A quarter of a century ago, British forces re-claimed the Falkland Islands following the invasion by Argentina. The next day she weighed anchor and sailed into Stanley, to anchor near the damaged RFA Sir Tristam, spending a week in the harbour, undergoing self-maintenance. E-mail this story to a friend: Petty Officer Kevin Casey is missing after a Sea King like this one crashed . Although Premier Cruise Line had made a bid for the old ship, P&O had already decided that they did not want Canberra to operate under a different flag. Captain Chris Burne was the Senior Naval Officer (SNO) and had overall military control. The Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas) was a 10-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial dependency, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.The result of the war was a British victory. Approximately 30% of the casualties treated were Argentine (source: ‘Official History of the Falklands Campaign’ by Sir Lawrence Freedman, pub. Description: SS Canberra and HMS Andromeda (F57) outside Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, just after the surrender of Argentine forces on 14 June 1982. The Canberra was steaming homeward through the Mediterranean when she on April 2nd 1982 received a message from head office informing the crew that the ship was to be taken in as a STUFT (Ship Taken In From Trade). Canberra the Cruise Ship. [citation needed], Part of the TV mini-series Melissa by Alan Bleasdale starring Tim Dutton, Jennifer Ehle, and Julie Walters was filmed on board during the ship's last voyage from Madeira. Allocating small health assets to Units, and having a land-based R2E as an interim surgical facility, could provide manoeuvre elements greater flexibility regarding health support and add to operational force … This would give her a speed of about 27.25 knots (50.47 km/h). During the period of hostilities the MSV Stena Seaspread carried out damage and other repairs in mid-ocean to more than 50 ships, including 10 … Falklands Task Force Ship used mail - 3 x 1970 used S.S. Canberra envelopes Falklands Task Force Ship used mail x 2 One of two envelopes I have posted from onbaord the S.S. Uganda, which was the hospital ship for the British forces. [citation needed], "Ship Fact Sheet: William Fawcett (1828)", https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jun/15/captain-christopher-burne, http://www.poheritage.com/the-collection/galleries/Posters/Cruising/CANBERRA---The-James-Bond-Ship, IWM Interview with Captain Dennis Scott-Masson, British Naval Forces of the Falklands War, Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1973, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SS_Canberra&oldid=1004853493, Falklands War naval ships of the United Kingdom, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2016, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, 1961–73: 548 first class, 1,690 tourist class, 1973–97: 1,737 one class, Launched by Dame Pattie Menzies 16 March 1960, Sailed from Belfast to Southampton 28 April 1961, Fuel consumption; about 250–300 tonnes/day at sea, Water consumption, engines; 200 tonnes/day, Water consumption, domestic; 600 tonnes/day, Water production capacity; 450 tonnes/day, The top section of her radar mast was designed to, This page was last edited on 4 February 2021, at 18:48. The Mount Pleasant Centre is a tri-service base and as such is staffed by personnel from all three services (Picture: Donald Morrison). The task force was rapidly assembled following the decision to go to war and comprised 127 ships in total. She was a short time in the anchorage off Ascension Island for replenishment on 8 May. Her journey south took four weeks, crossing the line on 6 May (although the traditional ceremony was held the previous day, for operational reasons). Yet the ship saw several transformations - from carrying migrants to Australia, changing to a cruiser and then into a troop carrier and hospital ship during the Falklands War. [1] Unusually, this transition from an early life as a purpose-built ocean liner to a long and successful career in cruising, occurred without any major external alterations, and with only minimal internal and mechanical changes over the years. Six British ships (and one LCU craft) were sunk during the Falklands War that was fought between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the Falklands Islands and South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands in 1982. They went on to play a key part in the land campaign that helped secure victory in the war. RFA Crew Full to the gunwales with Royal Marines she left the Falklands for the last time on the 25th June and … Roll-on-Roll-off ferries. later Hospital ship: Finland: c.1978 ARA Bahía Paraíso photo: Polar vessel, later Hospital ship ARA Puerto Deseado: Survey ship, later Hospital ship ARA Comodoro Rivadavia: Survey ship, later Hospital ship ARA Intrepida: TNC 45 Fast Attack Craft ARA Indomita: TNC 45 Fast Attack Craft ARA Alakush: Higgins Class MTB ARA Towora: Higgins Class MTB When Uganda docked in Naples, reporters turned up their microphones to hear a ship full of school children singing … hospital ships on the classic treatment principles of proximity and expectancy. [2], Like RMS Strathnaver and RMS Strathaird that she replaced on the Tilbury–Brisbane route, Canberra had turbo-electric transmission. Captain Scott-Masson, who had started his apprenticeship on the Shaw, Savill & Albion Line troopship Empire Deben in the late 1940s, was awarded a CBE and made an aide-de-camp to Her Majesty the Queen.[4]. During the ten week battle a total of 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military … The pattern of casualty evacuation was thus established, HMS Hydra worked with her two sister ships, HMS Hecla (see ) and HMS Herald, to take casualties from the main hospital ship Uganda (see ), operating in the declared "Red Cross Box", to Montevideo, Uruguay (see ), where they were disembarked by a fleet of Uruguayan ambulances and flown by RAF VC10 aircraft to the UK for transfer to the Princess Alexandra Royal Air Force Hospital at RAF Wroughton, near Swindon. [6], Canberra then sailed to South Georgia, where 3,000 troops were transferred from Queen Elizabeth 2. The QE2 had also been requisitioned as a troop ship and was heading south to rendezvous with Canberra at Grytviken in the South Georgia/Sandwich Islands to cross-deck 3,000 of her troops. MERCHANT NAVY SHIPS . This move led to a brief, but bitter conflict on the Falkland Islands, a remote UK colony in the South Atlantic. SS Uganda was a passenger liner, then cruise ship, hospital ship and troop ship between 1952 and 1986. Without them, the war would not have been won as the … Dec 9, 2016 - Explore Phil Hancock's board "TEV Canberra" on Pinterest. hospital ships on the classic treatment principles of proximity and expectancy. The SS Uganda Trust, which has a close association with the former liner and the people associated with her, was created to advance public … Uganda was converted to a hospital/red cross ship. The SS Canberra, an ocean liner in the P&O fleet which later operates on cruises, is launched in Belfast, Northern Ireland on March 16, 1960. With a new climate for growing Australian Navy spending, a desire existed for forward defence … 1913), “If we were doing this in the Falklands they would love it. Bailey 2. The British won chiefly because of their ability, in an improvised military campaign for which they had no prior planning, to project and sustain a Task Force consisting of a Carrier Task Group and an Amphibious … Object details Category Books Creator BEELEY, J.M. By Adam Luck for MailOnline. Five days later she arrived in Southampton, and as soon as her passengers had been offloaded, work began on preparing the Canberra for wartime use. [1024 x 826] [1024 x 826] P&o Cruises Falklands War White Whale Merchant Navy The Great White Cruise Ships Southampton Battleship Sailing Ships After a lengthy refit, Canberra returned to civilian service as a cruise ship. Canberra provided extended and courageous service at the conflict’s heart (companion troop transport Queen Elizabeth 2 was deemed to valuable to expose to direct danger and was kept far away from the main war zone). 2,744 t, used as casualty ferries (hospital ships) HMS ... Georgia, the men of 2nd Battalion Scots Guards, 1st Battalion Welsh Guards and 1/7 Gurkha Rifles were transferred to Canberra, Norland and RFA Stromness on 27 May for transport to San Carlos. When viewed in light of American experience in recent wars, this low rate represents a concentration of optimal factors leading … HMS Hydra was the last unit of the original Operation Corporate Task Force to return to the UK, arriving to an extraordinary welcome in Portsmouth on 24 September 1982; the Hydrographer of the Navy, Rear-Admiral David Haslam, embarked for the passage from Spithead, his flag flying from the ship's HiFix mast so as not to displace the Red Cross flag from the mainmast, and also notable was the salute paid to HMS Hydra by the NATO Commander, COMSTRIKFLTLANT, Vice-Admiral James A Lyons Jr USN, and the ship's company of his flagship, USS Mount Whitney (see ), lining the deck (the ship was on a routine visit to Portsmouth): his flagship saluting the junior ship in a signal tribute to her war service, rather than HMS Hydra saluting his senior flag as would be the normal maritime custom (both salutes being made using a Boatswain's call). 6 pages are in this category, out of 6 total was slightly over 19 knots and... ) and had overall military control the ship was named on 17 March 1958, after the federal of! 2 April 1982, Argentina invaded the canberra hospital ship falklands Islands, a remote UK colony in the year and well-known.. 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