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Warspite (S 103)

Warspite was the third of Britain's nuclear-powered submarines, and the second (and final) of the Valiant class. She was launched on September 25, 1965 by Mary Wilson, the wife of the then British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, and entered service on April 18, 1967.

In October 1968, Warspite is thought to have collided with a Russian Echo 2 submarine it had been shadowing in the Barents Sea, causing serious damage to its large central fin. The government cover story claimed that Warspite had hit an iceberg. She made her way first to Lerwick, where a carpentry team overnight hastily erected a scaffold over the central fin and covered it with a black tarpaulin, so that on the following day, any spotter planes flying overhead would not see any apparent damage to the vessel.

Warspite was then towed to Faslane and later to Barrow, to have her fin replaced with that from her sister ship, HMS Churchill.

Warspite also suffered a serious fire whilst in Liverpool on May 2 in 1976, caused by a broken coupling spraying oil. Repairs and refitting took two years.

She was finishing her refit just as the Falklands War started. After the war ended she carried out a long patrol around the island and the Argentine coast.

The 20m pound submarine was decommissioned in 1991 following the discovery of hairline cracks in the primary coolant circuit during a refit.

Warspite chiefly operated out of HMNB Clyde, at Faslane (the former Clyde Submarine Base) with the Third Submarine Squadron (SM3).

Notable commanders of this vessel include the Falklands Conflict Battle Group Commander, Rear Admiral Sir John 'Sandy' Woodward. He went on to become the Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command and rose to the rank of Admiral.

Events

00-00-0000
29-07-1588 English fleet defeats the Spanish Armada
01-12-1588 The first attempt to organize welfare provision for Royal Navy seamen was established - the Chatham Chest.
Contributions were deducted from sailors pay and placed in the chest, which had five different locks, the keys being held by five officers, in a (not very successful) attempt to avoid corruption, with sums disbursed to seamen in distressed circumstances
24-03-1603 Elizabeth I died aged 69, after nearly 45 years as Queen.
07-09-1766 During the Revolutionary War, the American submersible craft Turtle attempts to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship Eagle in New York Harbor. It was the first use of a submarine in warfare.
04-07-1776 American colonies declare their independence from Great Britain
21-02-1779 The remains of Captain James Cook (1728-1779) buried at sea.
15-04-1797 Royal Navy crews mutiny at Spithead, near Portsmouth, over poor pay and conditions
09-01-1806 Vice Admiral Lord Nelson was buried at St Paul's Cathedral
04-03-1824 The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is founded
07-09-1838 Grace Darling, the daughter of a lighthouse keeper, made her famous rescue of the crew of the Forfarshire, which was shipwrecked, near the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast
04-07-1842 First test of electrically operated underwater torpedo sinks gunboat Boxer
29-01-1856 Queen Victoria institutes Britain's highest military decoration, the Victoria Cross.
17-02-1864 The first successful submarine torpedo attack took place when the USS Housatonic was sunk by the Confederate submarine Hunley in Charleston harbour however, the force of the explosion was so great that the submarine itself was also blown up, killing all on board.
18-02-1871 On the 18th February 1871, the Barrow Shipbuilding Company was registered as a company and began trading.
12-05-1873 The first ship to be launched from the current Barrow shipyard was the steam yacht Aries, which went down the slip on the 12th May 1873 for the founder Sir James Ramsden, launched by Lady Ramsden

She was followed by more than a hundred ships built in the next ten years, and these included large passenger liners, warships and its subsequent success primarily in building submarines.
25-02-1880 The world's first mechanically-driven submarine the 30-ton Resurgam, built by the Rev.George Garrett, an English clergyman, sank in a heavy swell 20 miles off Great Ormes Head near Llandudno north Wales, whilst being towed to Portsmouth.
14-04-1886 Barrow's first Submarine 'Nordenfelt' was launched, 14 April 1886.
04-08-1903 HM King Edward VII opened the RN College, Osborne: 'a cross between a workhouse and stable'
15-10-1905 John Wallace Linton was born in Malpas, Monmouthshire
06-07-1906 The French submarine Farfadet submerged with a hatch improperly shut. Its bow flooded, it sank off Sidi Abdallah, Tunisia. All attempts to raise her and save the crew failed.
10-07-1911 Royal Australian Navy was formed. Australia had previously maintained an assortment of minor warships for local maritime defence since the 1850s
14-04-1912 Titanic hits an iceberg and sinks around midnight
28-07-1914 Britain declares war on Germany and Austro-Hungary after Austria declares war on Serbia, beginning the First World War. Britain's declaration automatically includes Canada, as part of the British Empire
04-08-1914 Germany declares war on Belgium. Britain declares war on Germany. Canada, as a self-governing Dominion, is thus committed to the conflict that "will be over by Christmas"
07-08-1914 Depot ship HMCS Shearwater (ex HMS Shearwater) commissioned at Esquimalt BC as submarine tender
15-08-1914 Panama Canal opens
05-09-1914 HMS Pathfinder was sunk by U-21, the first Royal Navy warship lost to submarine attack
14-09-1914 HMAS AE1 struck an uncharted reef and sank 14 September 1914
24-06-1915 The King was Graciously pleased to approve of the grant of the Victoria Cross to Lieutenant Commander Martin Eric Nasmith, Royal Navy
01-02-1917 German 'unrestricted' submarine warfare begins.
17-05-1917 Second experiment using Sea Lions to detect submarines begins
12-08-1917 Submarines HMCS CC 1 and CC 2 along with depot ship HMCS Shearwater become first ships flying the White Ensign to transit the Panama Canal
23-11-1917 Dame Katharine Furse appointed first director of Women's Royal Naval Service
10-12-1917 UB-75 mined and sunk off Flamborough Head
19-12-1917 German submarine UB-57 was sunk in the Dover Barrage. There was just one survivor who was picked up by HMS Gypsy.
31-01-1918 A tragic series of accidents during a night exercise in the First World War cost the lives of over 100 Royal Navy submariners. The tragedy centred on the K-class of submarines.

The First World War had quickly proved the potential of the submarine as a weapon of war, with both Royal Navy submarines and German U-boats enjoying particular success. But the early submarines were very slow compared to surface warships. Admirals were keen to have their battle fleets supported by the new weapon; it seemed logical to have submarines accompany the fleet on the surface, diving to attack the enemy fleet when it was spotted. But diesel engines of the period simply could not provide enough speed on the surface for a submarine to keep up even with battleships. The K-class was the Royal Navy's answer - huge (for the time) submarines, with powerful steam-driven propulsion on the surface, normal electric motors whilst submerged.

From the start, the K-boats were plagued with misfortune. Built with great haste during wartime, and pushing submarine technology to the limits, they had a poor reputation for mechanical reliability. The steam-propulsion, complete with funnels, took a long time to prepare for a dive. One, K-13, fulfilled the worst fears of the superstitious by sinking on her maiden dive on 29 January 1917 with the loss of thirty lives. But they were fast on the surface, and the Royal Navy determined to use them for Fleet work, including K-13, salvaged and renamed K-22.

On 31 January, Admiral Beatty took to sea the Grand Fleet for an intensive exercise - EC1 - to ensure the fleet remained at full efficiency whilst waiting for the German High Seas Fleet to risk battle again, after its experience at Jutland in 1916. Nine K-boats sailed from Rosyth that evening, along with the battlecruiser squadrons. A U-boat was thought to be in the area, so all ships increased speed as they approached May Island, to offer a more difficult target.

In the dark, two small patrol boats wandered into the path of the K-boats of 13th Flotilla. Turning to avoid them, the rudder of K-14 jammed. She ended up broadside on to the unlucky K-22, which saw her too late in the dark to avoid her and a serious collision left both submarines dead in the water, with lights only showing dimly and their very silhouettes almost impossible to spot. They were nearly run over and sunk by the huge battlecruiser HMS Australia, but were narrowly missed. It seemed as if a disaster had been averted.

However, the light cruiser Ithuriel and the other three K-boats of 13th Flotilla had turned back to help. Unfortunately, the 12th Flotilla K-boats, led by the light cruiser HMS Fearless, were unaware of the accident ahead and ran straight into their sister Flotilla. HMS Fearless rammed K-17, and the submarine sank with all hands in a matter of minutes. K-6 hit K-4, and nearly cut her in half. The two submarines sat locked together, but K-7 was approaching fast astern. Spotting K-6, she just managed to avoid her, but was totally unaware of K-4 lying across her path, and a further collision ensued. The second hit proved fatal for K-4, and she sank. Only nine men were pulled from the water, and one of these died before he could receive medical treatment.

Over 100 men were lost that night. Two submarines had been sunk, and four damaged, along with a light cruiser. 84 years on, a cairn has been erected in their memory at Anstruther on the Forth shore opposite May Island, and was unveiled on 31 January 2002 by members of Fife Council and representatives of the Royal Navy Submarine Service.
21-10-1918 The final German torpedo of World War I was fired in the Irish Sea sinking a small British merchant ship the Saint Barcham and drowning its eight crewmen.
04-12-1918 HMCS CC-1 paid off Halifax NS.
14-12-1918 HMCS CC-2 paid off
12-01-1922 HMS Victory was taken out of service afloat, entering Number 2 Dock in Portsmouth, the world's oldest drydock
05-05-1938 Submarine depot ship HMS Maidstone commissioned
24-03-1940 A British submarine sinks the German cargo ship Hugo Stinnes IV off the Danish Coast in the North Sea
13-05-1940 AMC HMS Salopian was sunk by U-98, which was damaged by the explosion
26-05-1940 Start of the evacuation of allied troops from Dunkirk
31-05-1940 68,014 men were evacuated from Dunkirk today. This will be the most successful day of Operation Dynamo.
01-06-1940 64,429 men are evacuated from Dunkirk, in spite of increasing Luftwaffe attacks. 4 British and 1 French destroyers - HMS Keith, HMS Basilisk and HMS Havant and the French 'Le Foudroyant' - are lost and 5 more damaged.
02-06-1940 Dunkirk town is held despite the shrinking of the perimeter. Evacuation at night results in 26,256 men evacuated. The last of the British troops are evacuated.

There remain plenty of ships, but the 60,000 French troops have no evacuation orders.
04-06-1940 Dunkirk evacuation completed. The nine-day evacuation, the largest of its kind in history and an unexpected success, saved 338,000 Allied troops from capture by the Nazis
17-06-1940 Great Britain suffered its worst maritime disaster when German Do. 17 tactical bombers sank the troopship LANCASTRIA, Captain Rudophe Sharpe, Master, during Operation AERIAL, the evacuation of troops from Saint Nazaire, France.

LANCASTRIA was a converted Cunard liner. She arrived off St. Nazaire at 0400 on 17 Jun and anchored in the Charpentier Roads. Destroyers and other craft were used to ferry people out to the troopship.

An estimated 6,000 servicemen and a number of civilian women and children when onboard, although some reports indicate that as many as 9,000 people may have been in the ship when it was hit by four bombs at approximately 16:00.

One bomb was a direct hit, which went down the ship's large single funnel and exploded in the engine room. The ship capsized at 16-15 and sank soon afterwards. The bomb explosion in the engine room ruptured one of the ship's bunkers and flooded the sea with heavy fuel oil, making rescue operations extremely difficult.

Fewer than 2,500 people survived.

The large liner ORONSAY was also bombed but she remained afloat and reached port safely.

News of the disaster was suppressed by the British Government because of the impact it might have had on the country's morale. It was announced over a month later.

Captain Sharpe survived the sinking and went on to become the master of the liner LACONIA. He was with her when she was sunk on 12 Sep 42 by U-156, KptLt Werner Hartenstein, CO, off the coast of West Africa. Captain Sharpe was among the more than 2,000 lost in this event, making it the second worst British maritime disaster.
10-07-1940 In addition to raids on shipping over the channel, the Germans raid dock targets in South Wales. This date becomes the first day of the Battle of Britain.
14-12-1940 Italian submarine Naiade is sunk off Bardia by HMS Hereward and HMS Hyperion
03-03-1941 Submarine depot ship HMS Forth arrived Halifax NS for service
27-05-1941 The Home Fleet caught the German battleship Bismarck, damaged the previous day by Ark Royal's Swordfish torpedo-bombers,and avenged the loss of HMS Hood.

The cruiser Norfolk relocated Bismarck, and the battleships Rodney and King George V engaged Bismarck for over two hours, leaving her wrecked from stem to stern without suffering a single hit in return. HMS Dorsetshire's torpedoes delivered the coup de grace.
15-09-1941 Submarine depot ship HMS Forth commences refit in USA
18-09-1941 Four Royal Navy U class submarines attacked a heavily escorted Italian convoy off the North African coast, sinking two large transports and damaging the third
31-10-1941 U-552 sinks USS Reuben James (DD-245) escorting Convoy HX 156, loss of 115 lives. First US ship lost to enemy action in WWII.
13-11-1941 U-81 torpedoed and sank HMS Ark Royal off Gibraltar.
16-11-1941 Corvette Marigold sank U-433 off Gibraltar
07-12-1941 On the morning of 7th December 1941, the US Fleet suffered more damage in one hour than during the whole of the First World War, when Japanese aircraft bombed Pearl Harbour - the United States' largest naval base - and the airfields which were an essential part of its defences. The attack lasted from 7.55 am to 9.15 am, and initiated the Pacific Ocean as one of the war's major battlegrounds.
08-12-1941 Britain declared war against Japan.
11-12-1941 Germany and Italy declare war on the US. The US Congress declares war on Germany and Italy
23-12-1941 German submarine U-79 was sunk by HMS Hasty and HMS Hotspur south of Crete.
27-01-1942 USS Gudgeon (SS-211) became 1st US Navy sub to sink enemy submarine in WWII
01-03-1942 U-656 sunk by Patrol Wing (VP) 82 aircraft, the US Navys first submarine kill of WW2
28-03-1942 A British sub near Antipaxo sunk the Italian ocean liner, which was being used to transport troops from North Africa back to Italy. The loss of the liner entailed the loss of 768 Italian soldiers and crewmen
30-07-1942 The USS Indianapolis is torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in shark infested waters. Out of a crew of 1,196 only 316 survived. The Captain (Charles Butler McVay III) was court-martialed and convicted for failing to evade the sub which sank his ship. Since then however, the Navy has exonerated him.
18-11-1942 Already damaged and unable to dive, U-331 was sunk west of Algiers by torpedo from an Albacore from HMS Formidable. There were seventeen survivors, of which five were wounded.
13-12-1942 The U-boat Enigma cipher has been cracked.

Shark had baffled the codebreakers from the beginning of this year because of the additional rotor, which it uses. Now the Admiralty's submarine tracking room will once more be able to route convoys round the Wolfpacks
18-12-1942 German submarine U-535 sinks HMS Partridge 50 miles west of Oran.
03-01-1943 A two-man submersible Chariot, based on a modified torpedo, succeeded in penetrating Palermo & sank the light cruiser Ulpio Traiano - the first such use of the device by the Royal Navy, which had copied it from the Italian Navy's Maiale that had been used to considerable effect against British shipping earlier in the war
02-03-1943 U-581 sunk by HMS Westcott Southwest of the Azores.
09-09-1943 Midget submarine "Welman 10" sank alongside depot ship HMS Forth. The commander (Lt B Pedersen of the Norwegian Army) makes an unaided escape to the surface. There are no casualties
22-09-1943 Battleship Tirpitz in Altenfjord, is attacked by British midget submarines.

These two man subs have been towed behind conventional fleet submarines from Loch Cairnbawn in Scotland to a point 150 miles from Altenfjord. They are code-named "X-craft" and are powered by engines from London buses. Their only weapons are two detachable charges with clockwork detonators, dropped below the target. They have a crew of four. Six set out - two (X-8 and X-9) are lost in transit and one has to be scuttled, but three get through the mines and approach the target.

Attacks on Tirpitz had been allocated to X5, X6 and X7, with X8 to make an attack on Lutzow, and X9 and X10 to attack Scharnhorst. Since X8 and X9 were lost before reaching the Norwegian coast, the attacks intended to be made against Scharnhorst and Lutzow were abandoned, and X10 reallocated to make an attack on Tirpitz.

Lt. Cameron in X-6 lost his periscope and attacked blind. He was sighted, but was too close to the Tirpitz to be engaged by other than small arms and laid his charges before scuttling his boat.

Lt. Place in X-7 was caught in nets, escaped, laid his charges under the ship, was caught in nets again, and then was blown free by the explosion, but X-7 was damaged and had to be abandoned.

All of the X-6 crew were captured and brought aboard the Tirpitz, only the commander and one of the crew of X7 were able to abandon their craft (the other two men lacking sufficient oxygen for their (DSEA) escape equipment) and taken prisoner, where they had the rather unusual experience of being able to witness their success at first hand. At 8.12 am, a blast lifts the ship several feet out of the water, disabling her three main engines and leaving her with a 15 degree list. Repair will disable Tirpitz until March 1944.

Submarine X-10 commanded by an Australian, Lt. Hudspethm was to attack after X-6. X-10 had suffered from a number of faults, which made her close to unnavigable underwater. When the crew heard the others' charges explode, on the morning of 22 Sept, they decided to abandon their part in the operation and made a successful rendezvous six days later with towing HMS Stubborn. However, it was then decided to scuttle X-10, rather than risk the lives of a passage crew to bring the craft back to the UK under tow.

The third midget submarine X5 was last seen in close proximity to the Tirpitz but its precise fate was not known, but recent underwater discoveries at Kaafjord (at the head of the Altenfjord) now suggest that it too, may have been successful in reaching its target.

The 6 survivors of the operation remained POW's until the end of the war; both commanders were awarded the Victoria Cross.
30-03-1944 Destroyer Laforey was torpedoed and sunk by U-223 at the end of a 5 hour hunt. Last RN vessel to be sunk by a submarine in the Med.
11-08-1944 The Italian steamship Giuseppe Dormio was torpedoed and sunk by a British submarine on between Pola and Fiume in the Adriatic.
25-10-1944 The USS Tang (SS-306) under Richard O'Kane (a top US submarine captain of World War II) is sunk by the ship's own torpedo.

The torpedo was fired. It broached and curved to the left in a circular run. Tang fishtailed under emergency power to clear the turning circle of the torpedo, but it struck her abreast the aft torpedo room approximately 20 seconds after it was fired. Tang sank by the stern. Nine survivors, including the commanding officer, were picked up the next morning by a Japanese destroyer escort. They spent the remainder of the war in prisoner of war camps.
09-12-1944 HMS Bamborough Castle sinks U-387 off Murmansk
25-12-1944 HMS Trenchant and HMS Terrapin sink the Japanese auxiliary minesweeper Reisui Maru. They also claim a fishing vessel and three coasters.
24-02-1945 While operating together HMS Terrapin and HMS Trenchant sink 4 coasters with gunfire in the Strait of Malacca.
28-02-1945 U-327 sunk by HMS Labuan, HMS Loch Fada, HMS Wild Goose and USS Liberator off the Scilly Isles.
04-03-1945 While operating together HMS Terrapin and HMS Trenchant sink the Japanese submarine chaser Ch 8 with gunfire in the Strait of Malacca about 85 nautical miles south of Penang.
26-04-1945 The British submarines HMS Sleuth and HMS Solent sink the Japanese auxilary minesweeper Wa 3 with gunfire in the Java Sea west of Kalambau Island
10-05-1945 First U-Boat surrendered (U-1009). 156 received in all, of which 110 were sunk: 221 were scuttled to avoid surrender.
02-08-1945 While operating together HMS Seadog and HMS Shalimar sink a Japanese tug and a barge with gunfire in the southern part of the Strait of Malacca.
09-08-1945 Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.
09-08-1945 HMS Tiptoe and HMS Trump together sink an unidentified Japanese oiler with gunfire in the northern part of the Sunda Strait
02-09-1945 Japan signs surrender documents on board USS Missouri at anchor in Tokyo Bay.
30-07-1951 Admiral Sir Max Horton dies. First sub commander to sink an enemy warship.
06-02-1952 King George VI died; he was succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth II
01-11-1952 United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb, in a test at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands
21-01-1954 The first nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus (SSN-571) was launched.

After shattering the traditional bottle of champagne across the bow of the USS Nautilus, First Lady Mamie Eisenhower and others gathered at the Electric Boat Yard of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut and watched as the world's first nuclear-powered submarine slipped into the Thames River.
30-09-1954 The worlds first nuclear reactor powered vessel USS Nautilus is commissioned.
15-03-1955 The 6th Submarine Flotilla was formed and was based at Halifax, Nova Scotia.
03-08-1958 USS Nautilus is first ship to reach the geographic North Pole submerged.
15-11-1959 The Submarine War Memorial on the Thames Embankment which includes losses from both World Wars was unveiled by Rear Admiral B W Taylor.
07-01-1960 Launch of first fully-guided flight of Polaris missile at Cape Canaveral (flew 900 miles)
23-01-1960 Bathyscaph Trieste descends to deepest part of the ocean, Marianas Trench
10-05-1960 USS Triton completes submerged circumnavigation of world in 84 days
20-07-1960 In first launch of Polaris missile, USS George Washington successfully fires 2 operational Polaris missiles while submerged off Florida
11-05-1961 HMCS Grilse (ex-USS Burrfish) commissioned
10-04-1963 The US submarine USS Thresher sinks off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass., claiming 129 lives
26-09-1963 First steam-eject launch of Polaris missile at sea off Cape Canaveral, FL (now Cape Kennedy) from USS Observation Island
25-01-1964 45 Royal Marine Commando land at Dar-es-Salaam to suppress the mutiny in Tanganyika Rifles.
18-06-1964 HMCS Onondaga laid down HM Dockyard Chatham
24-01-1965 Winston Churchill died in London
25-03-1965 HMCS Okanagan laid down Chatham UK
27-09-1965 HMCS Onondaga launched Chatham UK
17-09-1966 HMCS Okanagan launched Chatham UK
22-06-1967 HMCS Onondaga commissioned
21-05-1968 The nuclear-powered US submarine Scorpion, with 99 men aboard, was last heard from. (The remains of the sub were later found on the ocean floor 400 miles SW of the Azores)
22-06-1968 HMCS Okanagan commissioned
02-12-1968 HMCS Rainbow (ex-USS Argonaut) commissioned New London CT. Built by Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth NH.
02-10-1969 HMCS Grilse paid off & returned to USN
17-11-1969 Official opening of the Suez Canal
19-11-1969 HMCS Grilse (ex-USS Burrfish) sunk as a target off San Clemente, California by USN
15-07-1971 Submarine Dolphin badges first issued.
30-03-1972 Canadian Navy - 'Up Spirits' piped for last time, followed by last issue of rum.

Admiral Edward Vernon (1684-1757), victor of the Battle of Porto Bello on 21 November 1739 initiated the issue of watered-down rum (one part run to two parts water) in a letter written at Port Royal, Jamaica, dated 30 August 1740. In it, he directed the daily allowance of one pint of rum per man to be mixed with a quart of water

The rum was to be mixed with water and issued from a 'scuttled butt' (a barrel with one end removed) kept for that purpose, and to be done upon deck, in the presence of the Lieutenant of the Watch, who is to see that no man is cheated of his proper allowance.

The rum was issued in two parts - the first part at the end of the Forenoon Watch before the mid-day meal and the second in the evening. Admiral Vernon was known as 'Old Grog' for a cloak he wore that was made of a taffeta material called Grogram. The rum issue soon came to be known as 'Grog' after Admiral Vernon. Grog Money was issued to men who did not draw their daily ration of rum.

The evening issue was stopped in 1824 and the ration of rum was reduced to an eight of a pint per man per day in 1850. The mixture of water to rum was reduced to one-to-one in 1937. Officers were not entitled to the daily rum issue.

In the RCN at sea, the Coxswain, Supply Officer, and Victualling Storesman would draw the day's ration for the ship's company from the Spirit Room at 1100. In port, the Officer of the Day would attend the issue instead of the Supply Officer.

The rum was 160 Proof (80% alcohol), which was twice the strength normally available for purchase in Canada.

Afternoon Watchmen would be piped for 'Up Spirits' at 11:30 and the issue was made in a convenient location, often dictated by the weather. Enlisted men had the choice of drinking their rum 'neaters' on the spot or mixing it with water or soda and drinking it elsewhere. Chiefs and Petty Officers were given more latitude about how and where to drink their rum. All others who were not afternoon watchmen were piped to 'Up Spirits' at 12:00.

Members who did not show up for their rum ration had their rum placed in an 'Ullage Jar', which was kept in the Wardroom Store. It was saved for 'special issues' after strenuous duty, such as boat work in harsh weather
31-12-1974 HMCS Rainbow paid off Esquimalt BC. Last Canadian Pacific Fleet submarine until 2003
02-04-1982 Argentina invades the Falkland Islands
05-04-1982 The first ships of the Royal Navy task force sailed for the South Atlantic, only three days after the Argentine invasion of the Falklands
03-09-1986 Mrs Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister, officially opened Devonshire Dock Hall.
07-04-1989 42 crew members died when the Soviet Komosomolets submarine sank in the Norwegian Sea following a fire.

The submarine, called the "Golden Fish" among the Northern fleet's officers, was the only of the Mike-class, a unique titanium-hulled submarine commissioned in 1984. Komsomolets could go deep, very deep. Able to dive down to 1,000 meter (3,000 feet) under the surface she was impossible to spot from any American satellites or underwater sound-detections systems.
21-05-1998 HMCS Ojibwa was paid off to alongside training
12-09-1998 HMCS Okanagan paid off
30-07-2000 HMCS Onondaga paid off at Halifax
12-08-2000 The Russian nuclear submarine Kursk and its 118-man crew were lost during naval exercises in the Barents Sea
11-09-2001 Terrorist attacks on the United States result in the destruction of the two largest towers of the World Trade Center in New York by civilian airliners. A third plane crashes into the Pentagon in Arlington VA; a fourth plane crashes when the passengers overpower the hijackers
23-07-2003 Queen's Colours Presentation to Devonport at Plymouth Sound included the following ships - Walney, Albion, Wave Knight, Sir Bedivere, Newcastle, Exeter, Gleaner, Ocean, Norfolk, Grafton, Portland, Severn, Puncher, Raider, Blazer, Tracker, Express, Explorer
31-05-2004 Landing ship HMS Bulwark commences sea trials at Barrow
12-07-2004 Amphibious ship HMS Bulwark arrived homeport of Devonport for first time
08-09-2022 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II died at 15:10 BST at Balmoral Castle at the age of 96.
06-05-2023 King Charles III was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London. The coronation was the first in almost 70 years.
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Valiant (S 102)