HMS Yarmouth Rounds The Needles
HMS Yarmouth was the first modified Type 12 frigate of the Rothesay class to enter service with the Royal Navy. From her commissioning in 1960, she performed in numerous roles, including the Third Cod War and the Falklands War.
On 13 July 1965, Yarmouth collided with the submarine Tiptoe, 10 miles South East of Portland Bill. Tiptoe survived, but had to be repaired at the yards of Cammell Laird. In May 1966 she began a long refit and modernisation at Portsmouth Dockyard. The main alterations were to build a hangar and flight deck for a Wasp Helicopter and to fit Seacat anti-aircraft missiles. She re-commissioned on 1 October 1968 for service in the Western Fleet and then in the Far East Fleet. In 1971 she was present at Portsmouth Navy Days.
In April 1970 whilst on the Beira Patrol she was diverted to be a long stop for the rescue of Apollo 13. Communications in the Indian Ocean were very poor. The recovery instructions were sent from Houston to Halifax, Nova Scotia where the Royal Canadian Navy sent them by morse code to the ship. Recovery manual was taken down by communications ratings, two at a time, in pencil and paper. Luckily the space craft came down amongst a US Navy task force with two aircraft carriers and television cameras in the Pacific Ocean.
In March 1976, in the course of the Third Cod War, Yarmouth was rammed and heavy damaged in her bow by the Icelandic gunboat Baldur. She had to limp away from the patrol area assisted by the Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service tug Rollicker. Yarmouth undergone repairs at Chatham, where she was fitted with a new bow section.
During the Falklands War she carried out a variety of tasks including shore bombardment, anti-submarine patrols, covert operations and escorting merchant ships to and from the landing area. On the early hours of 23 May 1982, along with Brilliant, she intercepted and shelled the Argentine coaster Monsunen west of Lively Island; the coaster evaded capture by running aground at Seal Cove. After the San Carlos Landings (Operation Sutton) she provided air defence during the Battle of San Carlos for the landing ships in San Carlos Water. On 25 May she shot down an A4C Skyhawk (C-319), flown by Teniente Tomás Lucero, with her Sea Cat missile system. Lucero ejected and was recovered by Fearless. On 13–14 June, she and Active fired on Argentine positions during the Battle of Mount Tumbledown. During the war she fired over 1,000 shells from her 4.5" guns, mostly during shore bombardment, and 58 anti-submarine Limbo mortar rounds.
She was decommissioned in 1986, and in 1987 towed out to the North Atlantic and sunk by weapons from Manchester in that year's SinkEx on 16 June 1987.
The Rothesay class, or Type 12M frigates were a class of frigates serving with the Royal Navy, South African Navy (where they were called President-class frigates) and the New Zealand Navy.
The original Type 12 frigates, the Whitby class, were designed as first-rate ocean-going convoy escorts in light of experience gained during World War II. However, such were the capabilities and potential of the design that it was deemed suitable for use as a fast fleet anti-submarine warfare escort. As such, a repeat and improved Type 12 design was prepared, known as the Type 12M (M for "modified"), and known as the Rothesay class after the lead ship. A total of twelve vessels were constructed, with the lead ship being laid down in 1956, two years after the last Whitby. The design was successful and popular, serving the Royal Navy and South African Navy well into the 1980s and serving with distinction in the Falklands war.
The Needles is a row of three distinctive stacks of chalk that rise out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight, UK, close to Alum Bay. The Needles Lighthouse stands at the end of the formation. Built in 1859, it has been automated since 1994.
The formation takes its name from a fourth needle-shaped pillar called Lot's Wife that collapsed in a storm in 1764.] The remaining rocks are not at all needle-like, but the name has stuck.
The Needles were featured on the 2005 TV programme Seven Natural Wonders as one of the wonders of Southern England.
The Needles' pointed shape is a result of their unusual geology. The strata have been so heavily folded during the Alpine Orogeny that the chalk is near vertical. This chalk outcrop runs through the centre of the Island from Culver Cliff in the east to the Needles in the west, and then continues under the sea to the Isle of Purbeck, forming Ballard Cliff (near Swanage), Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door. It is also believed that The Needles were once connected to Old Harry Rocks (east of Studland and north of Swanage) where these strata lines moving from horizontal to near vertical can be seen from the sea.
Just off the end of the Needles formation is the Shingles, a shifting shoal of pebbles just beneath the waves. The Shingles is approximately three miles in length. Many ships have been wrecked on the Shingles.
HMS Yarmouth Rounds The Needles
HMS Yarmouth was the first modified Type 12 frigate of the Rothesay class to enter service with the Royal Navy. From her commissioning in 1960, she performed in numerous roles, including the Third Cod War and the Falklands War.
On 13 July 1965, Yarmouth collided with the submarine Tiptoe, 10 miles South East of Portland Bill. Tiptoe survived, but had to be repaired at the yards of Cammell Laird. In May 1966 she began a long refit and modernisation at Portsmouth Dockyard. The main alterations were to build a hangar and flight deck for a Wasp Helicopter and to fit Seacat anti-aircraft missiles. She re-commissioned on 1 October 1968 for service in the Western Fleet and then in the Far East Fleet. In 1971 she was present at Portsmouth Navy Days.
In April 1970 whilst on the Beira Patrol she was diverted to be a long stop for the rescue of Apollo 13. Communications in the Indian Ocean were very poor. The recovery instructions were sent from Houston to Halifax, Nova Scotia where the Royal Canadian Navy sent them by morse code to the ship. Recovery manual was taken down by communications ratings, two at a time, in pencil and paper. Luckily the space craft came down amongst a US Navy task force with two aircraft carriers and television cameras in the Pacific Ocean.
In March 1976, in the course of the Third Cod War, Yarmouth was rammed and heavy damaged in her bow by the Icelandic gunboat Baldur. She had to limp away from the patrol area assisted by the Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service tug Rollicker. Yarmouth undergone repairs at Chatham, where she was fitted with a new bow section.
During the Falklands War she carried out a variety of tasks including shore bombardment, anti-submarine patrols, covert operations and escorting merchant ships to and from the landing area. On the early hours of 23 May 1982, along with Brilliant, she intercepted and shelled the Argentine coaster Monsunen west of Lively Island; the coaster evaded capture by running aground at Seal Cove. After the San Carlos Landings (Operation Sutton) she provided air defence during the Battle of San Carlos for the landing ships in San Carlos Water. On 25 May she shot down an A4C Skyhawk (C-319), flown by Teniente Tomás Lucero, with her Sea Cat missile system. Lucero ejected and was recovered by Fearless. On 13–14 June, she and Active fired on Argentine positions during the Battle of Mount Tumbledown. During the war she fired over 1,000 shells from her 4.5" guns, mostly during shore bombardment, and 58 anti-submarine Limbo mortar rounds.
She was decommissioned in 1986, and in 1987 towed out to the North Atlantic and sunk by weapons from Manchester in that year's SinkEx on 16 June 1987.
The Rothesay class, or Type 12M frigates were a class of frigates serving with the Royal Navy, South African Navy (where they were called President-class frigates) and the New Zealand Navy.
The original Type 12 frigates, the Whitby class, were designed as first-rate ocean-going convoy escorts in light of experience gained during World War II. However, such were the capabilities and potential of the design that it was deemed suitable for use as a fast fleet anti-submarine warfare escort. As such, a repeat and improved Type 12 design was prepared, known as the Type 12M (M for "modified"), and known as the Rothesay class after the lead ship. A total of twelve vessels were constructed, with the lead ship being laid down in 1956, two years after the last Whitby. The design was successful and popular, serving the Royal Navy and South African Navy well into the 1980s and serving with distinction in the Falklands war.
The Needles is a row of three distinctive stacks of chalk that rise out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight, UK, close to Alum Bay. The Needles Lighthouse stands at the end of the formation. Built in 1859, it has been automated since 1994.
The formation takes its name from a fourth needle-shaped pillar called Lot's Wife that collapsed in a storm in 1764.] The remaining rocks are not at all needle-like, but the name has stuck.
The Needles were featured on the 2005 TV programme Seven Natural Wonders as one of the wonders of Southern England.
The Needles' pointed shape is a result of their unusual geology. The strata have been so heavily folded during the Alpine Orogeny that the chalk is near vertical. This chalk outcrop runs through the centre of the Island from Culver Cliff in the east to the Needles in the west, and then continues under the sea to the Isle of Purbeck, forming Ballard Cliff (near Swanage), Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door. It is also believed that The Needles were once connected to Old Harry Rocks (east of Studland and north of Swanage) where these strata lines moving from horizontal to near vertical can be seen from the sea.
Just off the end of the Needles formation is the Shingles, a shifting shoal of pebbles just beneath the waves. The Shingles is approximately three miles in length. Many ships have been wrecked on the Shingles.