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HMS Reclaim was a deep diving and submarine rescue vessel and was the last British warship to have sails in the Royal Navy. (Photos)

 

HMS Reclaim in Portsmouth Harbour, Portsmouth, Hampshire, for Portsmouth Navy Day 1980.

HMS Reclaim a deep diving and submarine rescue vessel was the last British warship to have sails. Although rarely used, they could add half a knot to her speed. HMS Reclaim also served as a filming location for the Doctor Who serial “The Sea Devils” in 1971

She was originally intended to be the King Salvor-class ocean salvage vessel Salverdant[2] and was fitted with specialised equipment including underwater television cameras and sonar and echosounding apparatus. She was also equipped for submarine rescue work.

At the time of her commissioning in 1949, Reclaim was the Royal Navy’s only vessel capable of carrying out deep diving operations. Upon completion Reclaim was attached to HMS Vernon, Portsmouth as a diving tender.

OPERATIONAL SERVICE[EDIT]

  • 1948: diving from Reclaim, Petty Officer Wilfred Bollard set a world deep diving record of 535 ft (163 m).
  • 1951: on 14 June 1951 Reclaim found the submerged wreck of the submarine HMS Affray, missing since 17 April, during which operation her new underwater television apparatus was used. One of the divers from Reclaim working on the Affray was Lionel “Buster” Crabb, who later became famous when in 1956 he disappeared in Portsmouth harbour.
  • 1953: Attended the Coronation Fleet Review at Spithead.[3]
  • 1956: Lt. George Wookey of the Royal Navy’s Clearance Diving Branch dived from HMS Reclaim to set a new deep diving record of 600 ft (180 m) in Sor Fjord, Norway on 12 October 1956.
  • 1960: Reclaim was assigned to HMS Lochinvar, Port Edgar for service as a Mine Counter Measures Support Ship and Diving Trials Ship. From January and May 1961 she carried out diving trials in the Canary Isles. She was later relieved as Mine Counter Measures Support Ship by the minelayer HMS Abdiel, which enabled her to concentrate on her roles as deep diving support vessel.
  • 1962: Deep Diving Trials programme begun, culminating in ten dives off Toulon in 1965 to 600 ft (180 m).
  • 1968: Reclaim took part in the salvage operation on the Air Lingus Viscount 803 Aircraft EI-AOM, the “Saint Phelim”, which had crashed into the Irish Sea off Tuskar Rock on 24 March 1968. Over a period of 26 days, divers working from the Reclaim performed 91 dives in depths of 250 ft (76 m), managing to salvage a third of the aircraft’s wreckage. Unfortunately, when Reclaim attempted to raise the fuselage to the surface using straps instead of nets, the wreckage broke apart upon reaching the surface and sank.
  • 1974: Reclaim despatched to Harstad in Norway in May to recover a ditched Wessex helicopter from HMS Hermes. The Wessex was only located when Reclaim, using its underwater camera capability snagged the helicopter with the camera. A largely successful operation was spoiled when the gearbox and engine pulled out of the body of the aircraft.
  • 1977: Reclaim attended the 1977 Silver Jubilee Fleet Review off Spithead. Reclaim was the only ship to attend both the Coronation and Silver Jubilee reviews.[3]
  • 1979: Reclaim (at that time the oldest ship in the Navy), was paid off, to be replaced by the new Seabed Operations Vessel Challenger.
  • 15 May 1982 arrived at Bruges, Belgium for demolition.[1]

TRIVIA[EDIT]

HMS Reclaim served as a filming location for the Doctor Who serial “The Sea Devils” in 1971.[4]

It was the last British warship to have sails. Although rarely used, they could add half a knot to her speed

https://www.mcdoa.org.uk/HMS_Reclaim_A_World_Record_Breaker.htm

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German media reports frigate FGS Hessen to be deployed to the Red Sea to protect merchant shipping.

German frigate Hessen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other ships with the same name, see German ship Hessen.

Hessen in 2013
History
Germany
Name Hessen
Builder Nordseewerke, Emden
Laid down 14 September 2001
Launched 26 July 2003
Commissioned 21 April 2006
Identification
Status Active
General characteristics
Class and type Sachsen-class frigate
Displacement 5,800 tonnes
Length 143 m (469 ft)
Beam 17.44 m (57.2 ft)
Draught 6 m (20 ft)
Propulsion
Speed 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph)
Range 4,000 nmi (7,400 km; 4,600 mi)+ at 18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement 230 crew + 13 aircrew
Sensors and
processing systems
Electronic warfare
& decoys
  • 1 FL 1800 S II ECM suite
  • 6 Sippican Hycor SRBOC launcher
Armament
Aircraft carried 2 Sea Lynx Mk.88A or 2 NH90 helicopters equipped with torpedoes, air-to-surface missiles Sea Skua, and/or heavy machine gun.

Hessen is a Sachsen-class frigate of the German Navy.

Construction and commissioning[edit]

Built by Nordseewerke, Emden, Hessen was the third and final ship of the Sachsen class to be launched and then commissioned into the German Navy. She is based at Wilhelmshaven with the other ships of the Sachsen class as part of 2. Fregattengeschwader, which itself forms part of the Einsatzflottille 2.[1]

Service[edit]

Shortly after her commissioning in 2006, Hessen was deployed with other ships of the German Navy to guard the Mecklenburg coastline during the 33rd G8 summit in 2007, which was being held in the region. In 2008 she was part of the Maritime Task Force deployed in support of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.[2] In late 2009 Hessen was involved in a Composite Training Unit Exercise off the east coast of the US, in company with the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.[3] In March the following year she was part of the USS Harry S. Truman combat group.[4] In June the Hessen transited the Suez Canal with the US force and deployed with the US Fifth Fleet.[5]

From January to June 2013 Hessen was part of Standing NATO Maritime Group 1, as the flagship of Flotilla Admiral Georg von Maltzan. She also participated in Operation Active Endeavour during this period.[6] From December 2013 to April 2014, Hessen was deployed with EUNAVFOR in Operation Atalanta, tackling piracy off the coast of Somalia.[7] From May to June 2015, Hessen deployed in the Mediterranean alongside the replenishment ship Berlin. Together the two vessels saved several hundred migrants from shipwrecks and other incidents.[8]

In 2017 Hessen was responsible for securing the airspace at the G20 summit in Hamburg. On 28 January 2018 Hessen arrived at Naval Station Norfolk.[9] She and the Norwegian frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen took part in Composite Training Unit Exercises with the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, after which Hessen accompanied the combat group on the first half of its deployment to the Mediterranean.[10][11] In October 2022, Hessen was assigned to the Carrier Strike Group of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) for the carrier’s maiden deployment.[12] In 2023, “Hessen” took part in the UK NATO exercise “Joint Warrior 23-2”, which started from King George V dock, Glasgow.

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Some photos – USS Wisconsin (BB-64) is an Iowa-class battleship built for the United States Navy (USN) in the 1940s and is currently a museum ship. Completed in 1944, the ship was assigned to the Pacific Theater during World War II, where she participated in the Philippines campaign and the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

 

USS WISCONSIN 1958

The U.S. Navy battleship USS Wisconsin (BB-64) underway at sea, circa 1988-91.

The U.S. Navy battleship USS Wisconsin (BB-64) at anchor on 30 May 1944, during her Atlantic coast shakedown period.

Wisconsin escorting Essex-class aircraft carriers in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. The tail crane was used to recover reconnaissance planes

Tied up outboard of the hulk of USS Oklahoma (BB-37), at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, 11 November 1944. Note: anti-torpedo netting outboard of the ships; great difference in lengths of these two battleships. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

The U.S. Navy battleship USS Wisconsin (BB-64), the heavy cruiser USS Saint Paul (CA-73) and the destroyer USS Buck (DD-761) steaming in close formation during operations off the Korean coast on 22 February 1952.

 The battleship shelled the Japanese home islands shortly before the end of the war in September 1945. During the Korean War, Wisconsin shelled North Korean targets in support of United Nations and South Korean ground operations, after which she was decommissioned. She was reactivated in 1986; after a modernization program, she participated in Operation Desert Storm in January – February 1991.

Wisconsin was last decommissioned in September 1991 after spending a total of 14 years in active service. In that time, the ship earned six battle stars for service in World War II and Korea, as well as a Navy Unit Commendation for service during the January/February 1991 Gulf War. Wisconsin was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 17 March 2006, and was later donated for permanent use as a museum ship. As of 2023, Wisconsin is a museum ship operated by Nauticus in Norfolk, Virginia.

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