HMS Endurance (1967)
| HMS Endurance (formerly Anita Dan) | |
| Career (Denmark) | File:Flag of Denmark.svg |
|---|---|
| Name: | Anita Dan |
| Owner: | Lauritzen Lines |
| Builder: | Krogerwerft |
| Launched: | 1956 |
| Fate: | Sold to the Royal Navy, 1967 |
| Career (UK) |  |
| Name: | HMS Endurance |
| Acquired: | 1967 |
| Out of service: | 1991 |
| Homeport: | Chatham, Medway and Portsmouth, Hants |
| Nickname: | The Red Plum |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Icebreaker |
| Displacement: | 3,600 long tons (3,658 t) |
| Length: | 93 m (305 ft) |
| Beam: | 14 m (46 ft) |
| Draught: | 5.5 m (18 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 1 × Burmeister & Wain diesel engine |
| Speed: | 14.5 knots (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph) |
| Complement: | 119 |
| Armament: | 2 × 20 mm Oerlikons |
| Aircraft carried: | 2 × Wasp helicopters (2 Lynx helicopters after 1987 refit) |
| Service record | |
|---|---|
| Operations: | Falklands War |
HMS Endurance was a Royal Navy ice patrol vessel that served from 1967 to 1991. She came to public notice when she was involved in the Falklands War of 1982.
Contents
Service history
Formerly a Danish vessel, the Anita Dan, built in 1956 by Grogerwerft for the Lauritzen Lines, she was the first Royal Navy vessel named Endurance. Acquired by the Royal Navy in 1967, she was converted by Harland & Wolff and renamed.
The vessel maintained a British presence in Antarctica and the Falkland Islands during the summer months. She also supported the British Antarctic Survey. Due to her bright red hull she was nicknamed The Red Plum. The Royal Navy intended to decommission the vessel in 1982, following the defence review of John Nott, but the Falklands War intervened.
The battle for the Falklands
It was withdrawn from the navy on 15 April 1982 under the 1981 defence review.[1]
On 19 March 1982, while the ship was at Stanley, South Georgia was occupied by Argentinian civilians. The Endurance, commanded by Captain Nick Barker, was sent to order the Argentinians off the island. Endurance had a small Royal Marines detachment and took further Marines from NP (Naval Party) 8901, and sailed on 21 March for South Georgia. Arriving on 25 March, she encountered the Argentinian transport Bahía Buen Suceso, which had landed 100 troops, and Endurance landed her marines before returning to the Falklands on 30 March. She joined up with the British task force in April and landed SBS soldiers at Hound Bay on South Georgia on 22 April. With the threat of a submarine presence, other vessels moved into deeper waters but Endurance moved into sea ice near the shore. On 25 April, two Wasp ASW helicopters flying from Endurance assisted in attacks on the submarine Santa Fe, which was later abandoned by her crew. When the Argentinian forces surrendered on the 26th, the Endurance remained in the vicinity of the island as a guard.
Endurance also participated in the rescue of Cindy Buxton and Annie Price, wildlife film-makers who were caught up in the war while working on South Georgia.[2]
Afterwards
Toward the end of her life she acquired the nickname HMS Encumbrance due to reliability problems.
In 1989 she struck an iceberg and although she was repaired, a survey in 1991 declared that the hull was not sound enough for a return to Antarctica and she was finally decommissioned. She was replaced by the MV Polar Circle, later renamed HMS Endurance.
References
- ↑ Daniel K. Gibran (1998). The Falklands War: Britain versus the past in the South Atlantic. McFarland & Co Inc. p. 49. ISBN 9780786404063.
- ↑ Buxton, Cindy; Annie Price (1983). Survival South Atlantic. London: Granada. pp. xiii, 237p., [64]p. of plates : ill(some col.), maps,col.ports. ; 26cm.. ISBN 0246120878.
External links
| HMS Endurance (A171) (1967)
]]de:HMS Endurance (1967) it:HMS Endurance (1967) no:HMS «Endurance» (1967)
