A Spectacular Air Display

On 25th April, Atlantic Conveyor was guided out of Devonport Dockyard and then proceeded under her own steam into nearby Plymouth Sound. 

There, she anchored in full view of the shore where media had gathered to witness a rather special demonstration of naval air power.

The press and TV cameras were acting on tip-offs (including one passed to a tipsy journalist in the Brown Bear by the author) that the MoD had converted the Cunard ship into the modern equivalent of a World War II merchant aircraft carrier. Now they were here to see what this new class of vessel could actually do.

They weren’t to be disappointed. Soon, huge Chinook helicopters arrived to circle and land for the first time on the container ship’s two specially strengthened decks. It had certainly turned out to be a spectacular air display, but the best was yet to come. 

After the helicopters had been moved out of the way, a military jet arrived overhead. It was a new Harrier aircraft which hovered above Conveyor like a hummingbird before dropping gently onto her forward flight deck. Later, the fighter took off vertically, realigned its thrusters and headed off towards the horizon.

Unseen by the cameras, a naval party aircraft engineering officer and civilian members of Conveyor's crew were working out how to cut pieces out of the aft deck so the ship's modified stern ramp would close properly.

Safety at sea aside, it was later discovered that the stern ramp had to be left slightly ajar when flying helicopters off the aft flight deck where a wrapped Chinook was taking up some of the room.

Nevertheless, with the Conveyor now having demonstrated an ability to transport, refuel, launch and recover the latest fighter aircraft, on the face of it, it appeared the Royal Navy had just demonstrated a step-change in its capabilities. Although very far from the truth, this was certainly the message the MoD hoped the media would report in order to add to the pressure for Argentina to withdraw its occupying forces from the Falkland Islands. If Britain had secretly been able to convert one merchant ship into an aircraft carrier in two weeks, how many more such ships would the Argentines have to face in the coming months? 

When the air display in Plymouth Sound was over, the militarily blind and defenceless floating bomb that was Conveyor left Plymouth disguised as an aircraft carrier. 

South to Freetown (25th April - 2nd May)

When Captain Ian North headed Conveyor out of Plymouth en route for the Falklands, he had a merchant crew of 30 merchant navy volunteers under his command to sail the ship. 

A further 90 military personnel were on board to assist with the running of the ship and operation of her aircraft. These were either part of Naval Party 1840 under the leadership of the experienced aviator, Captain Mike Layard or embarked squadron aircrew.  NP 1840 included a MARTSU aircraft repair team, a medical team of two and aircraft handlers from the three services.

The first aircraft to join Conveyor were five huge Chinooks of 18 Squadron and 6 Wessex V helicopters of 848 Squadron.  These were flown on in Plymouth and sailed with her.  The Chinooks subsequently had their blades removed for storage inside their airframes and were wrapped up against the elements. One Chinook ended up tucked away aft of the accommodation block leaving just enough room for Wessex helicopters to use the adjacent flight deck providing the stern ramp was slightly lowered.

Although Conveyor's crew had been assembled from various units and ships and had very different ways of doing things, they worked well together in good spirits to tackle the not inconsiderable challenges thrown up by the improvisations inherent in the ship's rapidly conversion. 

Ian North showed off his skill when bringing Conveyor alongside the tanker Grey Rover to refuel at sea for the first time.  In Biscay, the naval maintainers had to find a quick way of stabilising the huge aviation fuel bag in one of the deck containers that was spewing aviation fuel over the helicopters and threatening to rupture.  It was drained and then shored up with wooden supports before being refilled from a tanker. 

In the scratch-built hospital, Gordon Brooks, the ship's doctor and Ken Dunn, his assistant were sorting through medical stores they'd haggled for, training up first aiders and trying to work out crewmembers' blood groups in case the combination of new aircraft using a new flight deck went badly wrong. 

Up to Conveyor's arrival at Freetown on 2nd May, many on board thought the crisis to be a phoney-war that would probably end in a standoff.  Attitudes changed on hearing about the large loss of life when the Argentine cruiser Belgrano was sunk by HMS Conqueror.  

The British blow provoked a swift response.  When, on the 4th, crewmembers were informed about the destruction of the modern destroyer HMS Sheffield by a single French-built Exocet missile, this convinced many sceptics that Conveyor was heading into a real war after all.

Despite this, there was considerable optimism on board as the damage control and first aid teams hoped for the best whilst preparing for the worst.  Everyone had been issued with a once-only immersion suit (a plastic oversuit) and a demonstration was given about how to put it on.

Ascension Island (5th May)

On 5th May, after a fast passage south, Conveyor arrived at Ascension Island to join other ships gathering to travel southwest for the Total Exclusion Zone around the Falklands.  Here, one chinook was landed ashore and victualling stores were flown over to RFA Stromness.

With most of her helicopters debladed, wrapped up and stashed out of the way, Conveyor now had room on her deck for her most important cargo. 

One by one, eight Sea Harriers and six  RAF GR3 Harriers landed on the forward flight deck and were then moved back to make way for the next arrival. 

Once shut down, each aircraft was allocated a place on the increasingly crowded main deck and lashed with chains to stop it moving when Conveyor was underway. Things didn’t quite go to plan when it was discovered that the RAF versions of the Harrier didn’t have fixing points for tying down the plane’s nose. After hunting around, the deck crew found Cunard strops designed for securing cars in the vehicle hold that did the trick. 

Although landing all these planes on Conveyor’s deck and squeezing them in was an exceedingly hazardous business and there were a few wobbles, the loading passed off without incident. The newly arrived Harrier aircrew and aircraft maintainers all had to be squeezed into the ship's accommodation, and the ship suddenly seemed very crowded. 

Conveyor was amongst a convoy of warships, Fleet Auxiliaries, troopships and other requisitioned civilian ships of the amphibious landing group that set off from Ascension for the Falklands on the 7th May. 

Links

Part I:    From Conversion to Ascension  <This page>

Part II:   Ascension to Falklands Exclusion Zone 

Part III: The Argentine Exocet Attack of 25th May

Part IV:  The Return Home

Analysis of the Exocet Attack