On May
16th the crew of York's adopted warship HMS York celebrated being
reunited with families after docking back in the UK.
The
Royal Navy destroyer spent four months at sea in the waters off
the coast of Iraq.
She
was welcomed by a crowd of thousands of families, friends and well-wishers
who lined the dockside at Portsmouth.
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Richard Powell, Commander of HMS York |
For
the families who remained in the UK, it is difficult to comprehend
how they coped with their loved ones being away from home for such
a long period of time.
However,
one thing is certain, they were always in the minds of all 280 sailors
on board.
HMS
York went out to the Gulf to provide air support for those ships
making amphibious landings for the ground assault in the south of
Iraq.
'Vital
role'
Although
not a single shot was fired during the York's time in the waters
in the Gulf, the ship played a vital role in military operations.
Commander
of the ship Richard Powell says because there was no specific date
set for the return trip back to the UK, keeping morale high on the
ship was of the utmost importance.
For
some on the ship, this trip to the Gulf was another deployment similar
to previous exercises, but there were many on board for whom this
was a first time.
A first
time in the Navy, first time on a destroyer, a first war.
Greg
Powell is the youngest serving officer on the ship - at only 20
years old he is senior to many of the other sailors on board.
But
regardless of his age, he commands respect and hopes one day to
be like the York's commander Richard Powell.
'Dangerous
waters'
HMS
York escorted the Royal Navy's Flagship aircraft carrier HMS Ark
Royal on her return to the UK. As they did so they passed through
some of the most dangerous waters where the ship was vulnerable
to attack.
The
ever-present threat of chemical and biological weapons meant that
chemical protection suits and gas masks were always kept close at
hand.
On
one occasion, a missile flew close to the ship with some of the
crew on deck.
Lee
Howell who works with the ships' machine guns, was called upon to
put his life in his hands and removed his gas mask to "sniff"
the air for his fellow crew.
A nerve-racking
task for even the most hard-nosed (no pun intended) sailor!
Read
about the 1,000 meals a day prepared on the ship!
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The Ship's motto 'Bon Espoir' means Good Hope
