Farewell to a warrior: Falklands veteran broken up (and you can buy a piece on eBay).

[Connaught Ranger]

Enough to bring tears to a sailors eyes, the odd soldier too:-(




http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1126951/Farewell-warrior-Falklands-veteran-broken-claim-piece-eBay.html

Farewell to a warrior: Falklands veteran broken up (and you can claim a piece on eBay)


By Daily Mail Reporter (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Daily+Mail+Reporter)
Last updated at 6:54 PM on 23rd January 2009


Comments (11) (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1126951/Farewell-warrior-Falklands-veteran-broken-claim-piece-eBay.html#comments)
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In her finest hour, she survived the threat of Argentine attack and became host to the historic signing of the surrender when Britain reclaimed the Falklands in 1982.

But now HMS Intrepid has come to the end of her distinguished career serving the nation.

In what will be a poignant sight for those who served on the assault ship, she is being taken apart in Britain's biggest recycling project.


Enlarge http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/23/article-1126951-0327660C000005DC-914_468x265.jpg (http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/23/article-1126951-0327660C000005DC-914_468x265_popup.jpg) Torn apart: The HMS Intrepid is demolished in Britain's biggest recycling operation to date

The specialist team dismantling the 520ft-long vessel aims to save almost 96 per cent of her materials. As a result, up to 11,000 tons of steel, iron and copper will be melted down and reused.

Half the aft section has already been removed after recycling work started last month at the dockyard in Liverpool.

Intrepid, along with her sister ship Fearless, was at the centre of the amphibious assault on the Falklands which ultimately led to the defeat of the islands' Argentine invaders.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/23/article-1126951-03276625000005DC-898_468x698.jpg Almost 96 per cent of the ship will be converted into reusable steel, iron and copper. Half of the aft section has already been removed

Enlarge http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/23/article-1126951-03276618000005DC-961_468x286.jpg (http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/23/article-1126951-03276618000005DC-961_468x286_popup.jpg) A bulldozer gets to work dismantling the vessel

As command HQ for Royal Navy commandos, she was home to almost 1,000 troops, 15 tanks and up to four Lynx attack helicopters. Many veterans wanted such a symbolic ship to be converted into a floating museum of the conflict.
More than 300 former crew members signed an online petition on the official No 10 website urging Gordon Brown to save the vessel.

They have been left disappointed and angry that work has already started while the petition still has until February 7 to run.

Enlarge http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/23/article-1126951-032765EC000005DC-579_468x386.jpg (http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/23/article-1126951-032765EC000005DC-579_468x386_popup.jpg) As one of the mainstays of the Falklands Task Force of 1982, HMS Intrepid played its part in one of the most important military chapters in recent UK history

Enlarge http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/23/article-1126951-0328F183000005DC-443_468x199.jpg (http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/23/article-1126951-0328F183000005DC-443_468x199_popup.jpg) 'It just goes to show that the Government had no intentions of keeping her afloat in the first place,' said one member of the Armed Forces on the official Intrepid veterans' website.

However, the 30 workers from Technical Demolition Services dismantling the 46-year-old vessel will save some parts.
'Some important items will be purchased by ship veterans as mementos and others purchased on eBay,' said managing director Tony Taperell.
Enlarge http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/23/article-1126951-0327B303000005DC-95_468x286.jpg (http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/23/article-1126951-0327B303000005DC-95_468x286_popup.jpg)
Shipwreck: HMS Intrepid sitting at anchor in Portsmouth Harbour waiting to be scrapped in 2007
'The majority of materials are totally recyclable, such as anchor chains, the engines and winches.

'Plastic chairs from the mess room are sent to our recycling agents. Even the metal toilets will be used as they were designed or sold on as scrap.'

Enlarge http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/23/article-1126951-0327B28C000005DC-437_468x667.jpg (http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/23/article-1126951-0327B28C000005DC-437_468x667_popup.jpg) HMS Intrepid and her crew in 1981 before serving in the Falklands war

After HMS Intrepid arrived at the TDS yard last September, she had to be cleared of hazardous materials such as asbestos before recycling began.

The MoD is carrying out the task in Britain after controversy in 2000 when two Navy vessels were sold to a German shipbreaker which sent them to India.
Enlarge http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/23/article-1126951-0327B394000005DC-764_468x620.jpg (http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/23/article-1126951-0327B394000005DC-764_468x620_popup.jpg)
Former glory: The assault ship left Plymouth to join its sister ship, HMS Fearless, as part of the Falkland Islands Task Force



http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/23/article-1126951-0328F161000005DC-647_468x406.jpg Still intact: The bow of the docked warship


Connaught Ranger.

[wotsnext]

I would love an old spotlight off the old girl.

[Ordie]

I hope they save the mast as a memorial.

[Fallap]

They should make a museum ship out of it, like the HMS belfast :)

[Mofreaka]

They should make a museum ship out of it, like the HMS belfast :)
They should, that's disappointing to see the back of the ship torn up like that.

[Shadowstorm]

I was reading that her sister ship the HMS Fearless faced the same fate Belgium a year and half ago.

[the39steps]

I work in Liverpool just up the road from where they are breaking her up. I can see it from the window at work. Saw all the smoke from her when she was on fire a couple of weeks ago.

[Royal]

Horrible bloody things both of them.

I was too young for Op Corporate, but I understand the feelings there. My memories of both are in the North Sea and I would love to forget them.

[James]

They should make a museum ship out of it, like the HMS belfast :)

Bit late for that.

[Eoin666]

They should make a museum ship out of it, like the HMS belfast :)

Why, it was a amphibious ship that saw one operation.........the most decorated ship in RN history was HMS Warspite (the battleship not the sub') and they still broke her up, but even then she wouldn't go quietly, Warspite should've been moored as a museum, not the Belfast or Intrepid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Warspite_(03)

[Eztyga]

They should make a museum ship out of it, like the HMS belfast :)

The upkeep on ships costs a mint, even decommisioned ones, so unfortunately it is difficult to put all historic ships into maritime museums.

[DPM_Sheep]

Sadly there's no provisio for the military or the goverment to maintain decomissioned warships, even ones of historic value. HMS Stalker (not the aux carrier -LCT3515) is the last survivng WWII Type 3 LCT in existence anywhere in the world, the very last one. It's sat in a scrapyard in Portsmouth waiting to be turned into razor blades. :cantbeli:

It's the same story with City of Adelaide, Even HMS Cavalier looked like it was going to the breakers at one point.

[Stainless Steel Rat]

Never understood why Europe (especially Britain) didn't preseve at least some of the WWI/WWII ships as museum pieces. IIRC, the only 'big gun" ship left intact in Europe is the HMS Belfast, and it's only a 6" gun Light Cruiser.

The US has, in comparison, a veritable WWII task force scattered about, including 4-5 battleships (New Jersey, Missouri, Alabama, Texas off the top of my head) and 3 carriers (Intrepid, Yorktown, Lexington) along with various and sundry lesser ships and submarines.

Guess we're ready if we have to do 1940 all over again....

[James]

Many of those U.S. ships are funded by private donations, and with our population. We have more people and more wealth.

[DPM_Sheep]

Many of those U.S. ships are funded by private donations, and with our population. We have more people and more wealth.


Well it's not so much that there's a lack of money as there is an abundance of history.

When it comes to historic preservation, places like Stone Henge or Edinburgh Castle tend to win out over what many see as a fairly modern bits of hardware. It might take another 50 or so years before some 20th century items really start to be seen as "historically important" and usually for big items like ships, it's too late.

[marktigger]

Is HMS Plymouth still about or has she been scrapped yet following the Debacle in Liverpool maybe she should have been saved as the Memorial to the Falklands and the cold war. The Museum ship for the Falklands should have been Endurance but she was quietly disposed of to india because of the embarassment she was to Early tory defence policy

[Ordie]

Ecuador just retired the former HMS Penelope (F127).
I'm sure a UK non-profit could purchase her and preserve her as a Falkland War memorial.