Falklands war

[Eugene Griessel]

A couple of interesting photographs here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2151136/Britains-bravest-photographer-Incredible-picture-shows-moment-Argentine-fighter-jets-swooped-HMS-Coventry-Falklands-War.html

Eugene L Griessel

Never test for an error condition you don't know how to handle.

[Paul J. Adam]

On 28/05/2012 19:12, Eugene Griessel wrote:
> A couple of interesting photographs here:
>
> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2151136/Britains-bravest-photographer-Incredible-picture-shows-moment-Argentine-fighter-jets-swooped-HMS-Coventry-Falklands-War.html

They're not new pictures (Brown's "The Royal Navy in the Falklands War"
has them) but they're the best scans of them I've come across,
especially the Skyhawks inbound.

A colleague was in COVENTRY that day... it's given him a certain
determination to avoid others from having to abandon ship. (And he says
his was easy: deck to water, water to liferaft, just like at Horsea Lake)


--
He thinks too much, such men are dangerous.

[Eugene Griessel]

Op Sun, 03 Jun 2012 12:09:07 +0100, "Paul J. Adam"

I used to loathe lifeboat drill - that damned leap from the flight
deck of a Type 12 while clutching ones lifebelt to ones chest (to
avoid breaking the neck when hitting the hoggin), feet slightly apart,
without being able to see where the hell you were falling. Mentally
determined if I ever had to do it for real I'd wait to walk off the
deck when the water got there. A colleague who had to abandon ship
for real went one better - he merely walked out of the hole in the
ship's side where the collision had occurred ....

Eugene L Griessel

Before I criticize a man, I walk a mile in his shoes. That
way, if he gets angry, he's a mile away and barefoot.

[Paul J. Adam]

On 03/06/2012 12:18, Eugene Griessel wrote:
> I used to loathe lifeboat drill - that damned leap from the flight
> deck of a Type 12 while clutching ones lifebelt to ones chest (to
> avoid breaking the neck when hitting the hoggin), feet slightly apart,
> without being able to see where the hell you were falling.

I don't like heights and I was beginning to balk a little at the
five-metre drop off the platform into the lake, when I did my own Sea
Survival Course.

In best RN tradition, the CPO marshalling the queue put half-a-dozen
baby ABs behind the greybeard officer (okay, only a bit of grey, and
only one stripe, but still...) with a friendly, smiling "You'll show
them how to do it, won't you, sir?"

> Mentally
> determined if I ever had to do it for real I'd wait to walk off the
> deck when the water got there. A colleague who had to abandon ship
> for real went one better - he merely walked out of the hole in the
> ship's side where the collision had occurred ....

I think it's CB8877 that covers weapons effects on ships; there's a
comment in there about a couple of sailors from the STARK who fell out
of the missile impact hole. (No attempt to abandon, just badly smoked
out and searching for breathable air...)

[Eugene Griessel]

Op Sun, 03 Jun 2012 12:09:07 +0100, "Paul J. Adam"
<paul....@gmail.com> wrote:

>A colleague was in COVENTRY that day... it's given him a certain
>determination to avoid others from having to abandon ship. (And he says
>his was easy: deck to water, water to liferaft, just like at Horsea Lake)

According to the BOI report the water was colder than a polar bear's
nose and the liferafts, generally, horribly overcrowded - in one case
something like 45 bods in a 20 man raft. IIRC they lost a number of
rafts to punctures on jagged bits of ship..

Eugene L Griessel

'We've alway done it this way' is the most damaging phrase in the
language. - Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper

[Paul J. Adam]

On 03/06/2012 14:18, Eugene Griessel wrote:
> Op Sun, 03 Jun 2012 12:09:07 +0100, "Paul J. Adam"
> <paul....@gmail.com> wrote:
>> A colleague was in COVENTRY that day... it's given him a certain
>> determination to avoid others from having to abandon ship. (And he says
>> his was easy: deck to water, water to liferaft, just like at Horsea Lake)
>
> According to the BOI report the water was colder than a polar bear's
> nose and the liferafts, generally, horribly overcrowded - in one case
> something like 45 bods in a 20 man raft. IIRC they lost a number of
> rafts to punctures on jagged bits of ship..

Including Captain Hart-Dyke, whose raft was punctured by the Sea Dart
still on the launcher (they'd fired one with no 909 lock, the other was
still on the beam).

At least one man died when he went over the side and hit a stabiliser on
the way into the water... and they were fortunate that many spent only
minutes in the water before being picked up.

[Harry Bennett]

On 03/06/2012 13:20, Paul J. Adam wrote:
> On 03/06/2012 12:18, Eugene Griessel wrote:
>> I used to loathe lifeboat drill - that damned leap from the flight
>> deck of a Type 12 while clutching ones lifebelt to ones chest (to
>> avoid breaking the neck when hitting the hoggin), feet slightly apart,
>> without being able to see where the hell you were falling.
>
> I don't like heights and I was beginning to balk a little at the
> five-metre drop off the platform into the lake, when I did my own Sea
> Survival Course.
>
> In best RN tradition, the CPO marshalling the queue put half-a-dozen
> baby ABs behind the greybeard officer (okay, only a bit of grey, and
> only one stripe, but still...) with a friendly, smiling "You'll show
> them how to do it, won't you, sir?"
>
>

Thats where being a submariner was good, the tank had heated water !