Former servicemen from HMS Antrim attend reunion
Veterans of a Royal Navy ship met up in Portsmouth for the first time since their days in service.
More than 125 former servicemen from HMS Antrim gathered for their 15th annual reunion at Southsea's Royal Beach Hotel last weekend.
Many of those who turned up were from the ship's first deployment in 1970-72.
But the majority were veterans who served between 1980-83, which included the Falklands War.
Stuart Pennock, secretary of the ship's association, said: 'We get together because many of us made lasting friendships through our time aboard, as well as between those who first served on her and those who served in the Falklands.
'We came back to Portsmouth because it was our base and we remember it with fondness.'
HMS Antrim is best known for two incidents in which she was involved during the Falklands conflict.
In the first, helicopter pilots flew through blizzards to save a stricken team of SAS members, after previous attempts to lift them off a glacier had ended with two other helicopters crashing.
The second, referred to as 'our D-Day' by former weapons engineer Mr Pennock, came on May 21, 1982, when a 1,000lb Argentine bomb flew into the ship's magazine.
Mr Pennock said: 'We counted ourselves lucky that day.
'We were moving into Falkland Sound, to prepare the way for the army to land.
'We had just fired a sea slug missile and, as the doors were closing, one of the Argentine pilots unleashed a missile which went through the doors, into the magazine and smashed a massive dent in the ship's deck.
'It was an incredible noise, and we were at action stations, but amazingly the missile didn't explode.
'If it had, with a bomb like that in the magazine, the ship could've been torn apart.
'Instead, we cut a hole in the deck, winched the bomb up and then turned the ship as we dropped it overboard.
'We later discovered the reason it didn't explode was the bombs had a spinning fuse mechanism which had to be in the air for eight seconds to fuse correctly. At the time, we didn't know that.
'Looking back, we're very lucky still to be here. We proved we could all react swiftly and given the bomb didn't have eight seconds in the air, the Argentine pilots were very skilful.
'We didn't feel it at the time, but looking back I think we all have some respect for their ability today.'
SO YOUNG HE NEVER EXPECTED ANYTHING TO HAPPEN
One of HMS Antrim's youngest crew members in the Falklands War turned out for the reunion.
Craig McDermott was just 17 when he began his two-and-a-half year tour on Antrim in 1981.
He served as junior gunner, which meant he was on board when the Argentine missile flew into the ship's magazine.
He said: 'It's not as if I treated it as a joke, but I was so young that I never really expected anything could happen.
'When it did, we just got on and did what we were asked to do.
'I think it's fair to say that the senior officers really showed what made a senior officer that day, as they acted calmly and officially, but to be honest, throughout my time aboard I have to say all the older people with more experience than me were what got me and the other young lads through it.
'We got through it because we trusted what we were told.
'We're here today because they were right and we were right to trust them.'
Brian Young, now 74, was Antrim's captain during the Falklands War.
He said: 'Of course, the bomb entering the ship was the most memorable thing of a memorable period for us.
'It is a worry when something like that happens, but part of the officers' training is to make sure you hold your own nerve, and that of those around you, so you can assess the situation and do what must be done.
'Because of that, there was the slightly surreal situation of us all knowing there was a large bomb in the ship, very close to all our weapons, yet the officers were exchanging quips and even coming close to telling jokes.'
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Friday 25 May 2012
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