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News FEBRUARY 1991
20p
RN destroyers guard the Tomahawk batteries
-. . . • *-"— . *«• Picture: CPOjWiot) Ric' Burch •
Quick answers to ease anxiety FASTER communications and casualty evacuation facilities available from the Gulf mean the Navy's welfare services must also have the ability to move more quickly than they could during the Falklands war. But, with a wide range of support facilities closely linked — and a casualty co-ordination centre now able to make use of HMS Centurion's computer data base — the organisation is confident of a speed-up in flow of information aimed to do as much as possible to relieve anxiety at home. The long-planned transfer of the Casualty Co-ordination Centre from the Old Naval Academy building in Portsmouth Naval Base to HMS Centurion took place last October. "Gulf gatherings" for wives have been taking place for several years and their number and regularity has increased as the Iraqi threat developed. And the Family Link system, which brings families of personnel serving in any particular ship together, has been tested during transits through the Mediterranean. Telephone help lines publicised in the media brought an immediate response. Though they were intended to deal primarily with casualty inquiries there has been a surge of widelyvaried requests for information — from families concerned that ships might be redeployed, • Turn to back page
WHILE the focus of the first phase of the Gulf War has fallen on the efforts of the Allied air forces, the naval presence has been ever-vigilant and achieved some early successes. Royal Navy units — battle ensigns hoisted for the first time since the Falklands campaign — may become involved in any amphibious assault on occupied Kuwait by providing air defence and minesweeping cover for the huge American Marine force. They have been closely monitoring the air assault from their ops rooms — so many aircraft are involved that they often appear as a single, slow-moving mass of yellow on the radar screens. Lynx helicopters from HMS Cardiff and HMS Gloucester played a vital role in an operation to put a group of Iraqi anti-aircraft batteries out of action. These had been set up on
°'' P'atfbrms off Kuwait and were taken out in a joint operation with US forces. Twelve Iraqis were taken prisoner — the first to be captured by the Allies. The Cardiff's flight was joined by HMS London's in a US-led operation to try and c a p t u r e an Iraqi inshore minesweeper. After first spotting it — Cardiff s aircraft locked on its Sea • Turn to page 15
ROYAL SUPPORT SOME 1,000 naval family members with people serving in the Gulf attended a morale-boosting Royal event in HMS Nelson where the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh mingled with guests at a buffet tea, offering their comfort and support in worrying times. Here the Queen chats to one group after enjoying a spell with the younger children, whose afternoon included an entertainment programme. Earlier the Princess Royal visited Rosyth to meet families of Gulf personnel. Picture: LA(Phot) Fez Parker