Lieutenant-Commander Roger Bryant RN

This booklet was edited by the Flight Commander (helicopter pilot) of HMS Hydra in late 1982 so as to provide the ship's company with a record of the ship's involvement in Operation Corporate that year - what is better known now as the Falklands Conflict or Falklands War. The ship's company numbered 129, the number of patients carried (in four 'lifts') from ss Uganda to Montevideo was 251 along with a number of passengers including representatives of the ICRC and, after the Argentine surrender, the former Governor, Rex Hunt. Profusely illustrated with black and white photographs and two charts, the booklet has a foreword by the ship's captain, Commander Richard Campbell RN (1933-2023, he was awarded the OBE in the New Year's Honours List 1983).

It's a pity that the list of the ship's company of this hydrographic survey ship, converted in Portsmouth in just over a week to a hospital ship for war, gives rank or rating and surnames and initials but not first names; the latter would rather help the memory of old sailors (although, of course, many were better known among themselves by their nicknames!).

Intended as a memento for 129 officers and ratings, perhaps no more than 150 copies were produced. With the passage of time, of course, this little booklet has become a useful historical document too, as well as part of family history.… (meer)