QE2 Falklands War / Falklands Conflict

[Rob Lightbody]

https://twitter.com/curatorian/status/1528633284208492546

[Rod]

The anti aircraft gun mounting got a lot more sophisticated than that sketch shows. They built a full raised deck underneath them both.
They were on both bridge wings.
Side note: Someone asked me about 3 weeks ago "What brought it home to you that QE2 wa really going to war?"
I had to tell him: When they started putting racks of huge pieces of timber ( 6" x 6") and piled mattresses in strategic places in the working alleyway.

[Lynda Bradford]

Malcolm Scanlan who was a Senior 1st Officer on QE2 when she sailed to the Falklands has sent us a copy of his diary notes.  It is fantastic to have this firsthand information from a QE2 crew member. 

He has also sent his photos to be uploaded to the Gallery for us all to enjoy:

https://www.theqe2story.com/forum/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=219

[cunardqueen]

  Malcolm Scanlan who was a Senior 1st Officer on QE2 when she sailed to the Falklands has sent us a copy of his diary notes.  It is fantastic to have this firsthand information from a QE2 crew member.

He has also sent his photos to be uploaded to the Gallery for us all to enjoy:
 

Gosh, Imagine if he could be persuaded to give a talk about his experiences. Some amazing photos there. Thanks for sharing them .

[Lynda Bradford]

Gosh, Imagine if he could be persuaded to give a talk about his experiences. Some amazing photos there. Thanks for sharing them .

If there were enough people interested in a Zoom session later in the year, we could ask Malcolm. Rupert Ballantyne was also there and he has good photos and diary memories as well.

[Rob Lightbody]

If there were enough people interested in a Zoom session later in the year, we could ask Malcolm. Rupert Ballantyne was also there and he has good photos and diary memories as well.

Sounds like a great idea

[colint]

i was on her during this time

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

i was on her during this time

Thank you for telling us. I am sure you have a lot of memories of that amazing time, and if you would like to share at some of them here, it would make for very interesting reading.

[Lynda Bradford]

Brilliant picture Colint. is that the ship refuelling QE2 that can be seen in the background?

[Rod]

Lynda, I was wondering that my self.
Judging by its nearness to QE2, it has to be going for a "RAS" of going for the newspaper headlines "Passenger liner rammed by out of control naval vessel!!!
Comparing pics with the internet, it does look like one of  "The Leaf" ships.

[Thomas Hypher]

If there were enough people interested in a Zoom session later in the year, we could ask Malcolm. Rupert Ballantyne was also there and he has good photos and diary memories as well.

This would be great!

[Twynkle]

Yes Lynda - Thank you for Suggesting, I'll try and join from another broadband connection!

About the Falklands Campaign there are a significant number of video clips now on YouTube.
I also heard the Ship's Doctor reporting about being on board at that time on the radio the other day.
I'm sorry I cant find it at the moment....

[Rod]

Being cynical, after the football match they have just had, maybe they would like a rematch on grass?

https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/22/football/saudi-arabia-argentina-world-cup-upsets-spt-intl/index.html

[Lynda Bradford]

Rod had sent these photos with permission to post from his friend Keith Douglas. 

Keith has added this information about the pictures

While going through some boxes I haven't opened in 20+ years, when I emigrated to the US, I came across these photos of the ship that took me home from the Falklands. The small color photos were taken by my late dad in Southampton on 11th June 1982, the b&w photo taken from HMY Britannia was given to all survivors who came home on QE2 and was taken by the RN photographer onboard HMY at the time. There's a smaller photo of HMY and QE2 taken a few years later, also in Southampton. I was serving onboard HMY at this time. The large colour photo with Canberra and HMY was taken at the Battle of the Atlantic review off the North Wales coast in 1993.

A big thank-you to Keith and Rod for these pictures, which are part of QE2's history.

[Rob Lightbody]

Some memories from John Chillingworth's LinkedIn Page - posted with permission - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/chiefchilly_cruiseships-shipsandshipping-covid-activity-7205834938871414785-t1PU?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

42 Years ago QE2 returns from the Falklands

A key event in the ship’s history 12 May 1982 she leaves Southampton after having two helicopter decks installed forward and aft, loading 3500 troops and a multitude of stores ammunition and boxes of blood.

When we left, we had to be towed out and anchor off the Isle of Wight for 20 hours as we only had one boiler on line because of a fault with the feed water system, someone had shut a secret valve!

We were in South Georgia for 40 hours transferring stores and troops to SS Canberra and a multitude of various vessels . We had to leave early, with over 350 survivors from the sunken RN ships Ardent, Coventry and Antelope, as the weather was deteriorating and we had to get through the ice field with hundreds of icebergs without radar.

In South Georgia a few of us got ashore to explore the whaling stations and the sunken submarine Sante Fe, that evening around 01.00 the engineers alarm went , the ship was about to black out as the fuel valves were shutting on the boilers , I managed to get them hand jacked open  in addition to the force draught fan vanes, I then saw the automation compressed air was low and found the compressors had tripped. The 12 /4 watch were too busy in the workshop polishing the whale harpoons they had found ashore, to see the alarm in the control room.

On the way back we had to be refueled at sea, the first time a commercial vessel had been RAS ‘d.
The medical team had to look after the injured sailors and troops.

The ship arrived back in Southampton 11 June 1982

Lasting 74 days the Falkland conflict was the first military action that utilised all elements of the British Armed Forces and commercial requisitioning since World War 2.

I doubt we have the capability to be able to do such a response today, which is very concerning considering the global geopolitics.