More
Collision dits...
Accounts posted on this page are personal recollections of the
sender and may differ from
official Court Martial records
Some Wake-up call !
We
had been operating in defence watches (six hours on/off) and were
in our beds having been in the Ops Room from 2 till 8 am.
I was half asleep when the "STAND BY FOR COLLISION FORWARD"
pipe came over the broadcast system. There was a brief silence and
then a juddering sensation followed by silence for about three seconds
which seemed like 3 minutes. Chaos suddenly reigned as everyone burst
out of their beds in the darkened messdeck. I remember the sound of
furniture knocked over and objects being broken
"HANDS TO EMERGENCY STATIONS" was piped and everyone charged
up the ladder. On the deck above our mess there were a large number
of men attempting to climb the next ladder up to the wardroom area.
I decided to run down the deserted main drag (corridor) to the after ladder
and emerged barefoot onto a red hot deck in beautiful sunshine. I then decided that it was
safe to put my shorts on!
Steve
Griffin
A
Std's view of the Collision in Gulf 83
So
there we were, having our stand-easy in the Wardroom galley, supping
a nice cup of 'Pussers black'. Normal sort of day. Lads were running
here and there, up and down ladders, but within the sanctuary of the
Wardroom all was normal.
The
reason for all the dashing about was the ship being closed up for
a day of exercises (Chefs and Stds excused of course!). To add to
the authenticity of the day the SAFEGUARD rule was in force.
I
knew that part of the day involved manoeuvring with our American friends
on the USS Dale. I had been on the bridge to see what was going on
but it was boring, all going to plan etc so I went below before someone
realised I was actually skiving and gave me a job shouting 'Clear
Port/Clear Stbd' or some sort of Seaman type stuff.
Whilst
we was supping our tea out goes a pipe "STAND BY COLLISION FORWARD,
STAND BY….." just then ship stopped dead and it felt as
if the ship had lifted several feet out of the water. Now, remember,
the SAFEGUARD rule was in force but this was very realistic. Now I
know how they did the stopping dead trick, clever them 21's, but how
did they manage the up-in-the-air stunt ?!
A
rather strained, panicky type voice then announces that the SAFEGUARD
rule is no longer in force and to close up for Emergency Stations.
Now I am even more hacked off, not only has something interesting
happened up front but now I have to go aft (Std's love to be in amongst
it so long as work is not involved of course!).
Whilst
we are busy gossiping down aft trying to think of a good wind up following
this 'incident' another pipe goes out 'Man overboard, Man overboard…….'
Now I did hear that the Joss had blown off but I thought they were
being polite about his nasty habit of farting ! But no, the Yanks
have sent over a helicopter that Phil had not experienced handling
before and the down draft just picked him up and took him for a swim.
No harm done and at least he got a free drink off the Jimmy !!
All
in all a very interesting day. No doubt everyone has a different
recall of this day but my everlasting memory is all the CSB tinnies
floating all over the Indian Ocean and a white front with a large
tea stain on the front.
Buck
Taylor
X L/Std
Lt Cochrane on the bridge; he seemed to be bothered by something.
Dick Tracey is the name and plate laying was my game lol, and Ambers, well the best ship I ever served on.
That famous day I had popped up to the bridge to collect the wine stores keys, as I did I saw Lt Cochrane on the bridge; he seemed to be bothered by something.
That something was the USS Dale approaching on our stbd side and damn she was close I thought (even as a steward)!!! Well then I hear him cry out ‘shall I pipe standby for collision fwd?’ as he said this Pete Mosse came out from his hideaway and shouted ‘I HAVE THE BRIDGE! FULL ASTERN FULL ASTERN ! PIPE STANDBY FOR COLLISION FWD - HANDS TO EMERGENCY STATIONS’.
I can see to this day the American sailors running like hell into their hangar, I mean how could we stop she just pulled out right across in front of our bows. It was so surreal we hit her and then a weird sort of silence followed by a horrible grating grinding noise, as we rolled stbd to port to stbd, on the third time I honestly thought we were turning turtle.
Obviously I went to go to my emergency stations in the Sickbay on 3 deck, but as I went to go down the ladder every man and his dog was coming up it! Then I heard a voice shouting ‘she’s going down, she’s going down!!’ Needless to say for some reason self preservation took over so I legged it with everyone else to the upper deck and then waited to see if we were to become HMSM Ambuscade.
Best ship I ever served on. Miss that ship and the lads on it, always talk about Ambers.
Mike (nee Dick) Tracey
Ex-Steward
At the time of the incident, I was on watch in the Ship Control Centre as Engineering PO of the Watch. The Chief of the Watch was Pete Copestick. As the ship was involved in manoeuvres for most of the forenoon, I was kept busy constantly altering the control levers in response to orders from the Bridge, thus increasing or decreasing the speed of both engines. With Half Ahead rung on both telegraphs for the duration of the evolution, it was just a case of acknowledging each order and matching both levers with whatever order was passed down from the Bridge, then recording it in the Engine Order book. Pretty monotonous considering the amount of small variations in lever settings in response to the manoeuvring required to position the ship where it was supposed to be. Then out of nowhere, Full Astern was rung on both main telegraphs. I lined up the telegraphs and pulled both control levers back as far as they would go and waited for the propulsion control system to do its stuff, namely reduce engine power to zero, take all forward pitch off both propellers, apply full reverse pitch and then reapply engine power, all the way to full power. “Stand by for collision forward……” came over on the Main Broadcast as I wrote down the engine order in the book. Then came the actual collision, followed by the Deputy Marine Engineering Officer, Taff Strawford, who came running through the door with his roll of sellotape, which he used to seal over the last entry in the book. As “Hands to Emergency Stations” was piped, I was then relieved by the Action EPOOW, and took up my post at the Main Switchboard.
Quite an eventful forenoon watch.
Yours Aye,
Steve Stockdale
Ex MEA3 / POMEA / CPOMEA, Ambuscade 1982 – 85.
