2 THE CHAIRMAN’S DISPATCH “We must endeavour to follow his example…” I n 1943, during the evacuation of Crete, Admiral Cunningham famously remarked, “It takes three years to build a ship, 300 years to build a reputation – we’ll stay.” Reputation was the theme of my last Dispatch and it reaches out to this one. The Club exists to conserve the monuments and memorials of the Georgian sailing era and this allows us to delve into a substantial part of that 300-year period, even to its eve during the reign of Queen Anne, when within a few days of the October date of the Battle of Trafalgar, Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell entered the history books. Returning home victorious from Gibraltar after skirmishes with the French Mediterranean forces his flagship, the Association, and three other ships struck rocks off the Scilly Isles on the foggy night of 22 October 1707 and sank like stones drowning over 2000 men. Only two washed ashore alive. The tercentenary of this tragedy nearly passed by, but thanks to the enthusiasm of Justin Reay, one of our members and Cecil Isaacson Memorial lecturer for 2007, the Club teamed up with the Britannia Naval Research Association to arrange a moving wreath-laying ceremony beside Sir Cloudesley Shovell’s tomb in Westminster Abbey. Over 100 guests attended the ceremony, which was followed by a reception in the Commonwealth Rooms at the House of Commons. (See page 9) The next day, 19 October, the Club was privileged to be invited to the Royal Navy’s wreath laying ceremony at St Paul’s led by the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Jonathon Band. I had the honour of reciting Nelson’s titles, after Sir Isaac Heard at Nelson’s state funeral. The Club will now be an integral part of this ceremony, and next year members of the Club will be invited to it. On Trafalgar Day following the Sea Sunday service at Portsmouth Cathedral, I joined the wreath-laying ceremony at the re-sited statue of Lord Nelson in Old Portsmouth. It was notable that there were more people watching than had ever been the case before 2005. Then, on 27 October it was to Newhouse for the Club’s annual Trafalgar Dinner and the Immortal Memory (see page 7). One of our three guests of honour, Commander Steve Pearson Royal Navy, Commander HMS Ark Royal, was unfortunately taken ill prior to the dinner and we were deprived of his Immortal Memory speech. One imagines that he may have begun with reference to his own ship! Ark Royal is one of the most famous names in the Royal Navy. The first Ark was ordered by Sir Walter Raleigh at Deptford in 1586 and was sold to the crown the following year. She thus became Ark Royal rather than Ark Raleigh. ‘Her Majesty’s good ship the Ark’ was large and powerful by the standards of her day and The Lord Admiral, Howard of Effingham, chose her as his flagship from which to lead the entire Navy of England against the Spanish Armada in 1588. Today’s 20,000 ton Ark is the fifth ship to bear that name. Launched by Her Majesty The Queen Mother on 2 June 1981, she has since undergone many changes, including a major two-year refit from which she emerged as a commando assault carrier, and rejoined the fleet as the Royal Navy’s flagship in 2001. In 2007 the Fleet is at a crossroads. It is a challenging time. The media would have us believe that the service has been reduced to nothing more than a coastal defence force. While there is ultimately a point where cuts may have a catastrophic impact, the Royal Navy is looking to a bright future. The first of the new Astute class attack submarines with their extended range Tomahawk land attack missiles, was launched in July. HMS Daring, the first of a new class of destroyers is undergoing sea trials that are to quote the First Sea Lord, ‘exceeding expectations’, and the Carrier Vessel Future programme is at last underway with the building of HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, equipped with the Joint Strike Fighter. Again, in the words of The First Sea Lord, ‘effectively four acres of British Sovereign territory able to travel 500 miles in a day.’ Coupled with the amphibious and littoral capability provided by the assault ships HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark, the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean and the Bay class landing ships the Royal Navy will have the most capable mobile expeditionary strike force outside the US. The Royal Navy also continues to maintain the Nuclear Deterrent. Naval ships, aircraft and submarines are deployed all over the world and are engaged in a wide range of operations: maritime security operations in the Mediterranean, Horn of Africa, Arabian Sea and South Atlantic, anti-narcotics work, fishery protection, humanitarian assistance, survey and patrol work, and ‘capacity building’ in the Gulf. Currently the main military focus is on ‘high power warfighting operations’ in Iraq and Afghanistan. Until recently it was the Royal Navy, including Royal Marines, which supplied over 50 per cent of the forces deployed in Southern Afghanistan. Unfortunately, few of the general public realise this. Nevertheless, the Royal Navy has a constant battle to demonstrate its relevance to the general public and to their elected representatives. In a humble way the activity of the Club, which demonstrates its respect for the traditions formed over the last 300 years when it conserves the monuments to our Georgian naval heroes, helps to highlight the
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