Misplaced Pages

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Cordella
Builder	Clelands Shipbuilding Company, Wallsend
Acquired	by STUFT, April 1982
Commissioned	April 1982
Decommissioned	August 1982
Fate	Returned to owners, August 1982 Sunk, 2005
General characteristics
Type	Mine countermeasures vessel
Tonnage	1,238 tons
Service record
Commanders:	Lt Cdr M.C.G. Holloway
Operations:	Falklands War

HMS Cordella was a Royal Navy auxiliary mine countermeasures vessel that served during the Falklands War as part of 11th MCM Squadron.

Service history

F/V Cordella was a 1,238 ton fishing trawler built in 1973 by Clelands Shipbuilding Company at Wallsend, England.

Cordella was one of five Hull-based trawlers that were taken up from trade by the Royal Navy in 1982 for service as naval trawlers (auxiliary MCM vessels) during the Falklands War. The trawlers were fitted with Oropesa towed minesweeping equipment and Extra Deep Armed Team Sweep (EDATS) equipment at HMNB Rosyth and crewed by Royal Navy personnel prior to operational deployment.

During night of 10 June 1982, Cordella supported her sister ship HMS Pict while the latter influence swept Berkeley Sound. No mines were found thus reducing the risk to ships engaging in naval bombardment of Argentine positions.

During nights of 12, 13, and 14 June, she conducted covert operations resupplying SAS and SBS patrols deployed variously along the coast. Following the Argentine surrender Cordella and the other four ships of the 11 MCM cleared the minefields off Port Stanley.

Post-war

After the war she returned to the United Kingdom and returned to her peacetime role as a fishing vessel.

She returned to the Falkland Islands in the early 1990s and was used as a Fishery Protection vessel under charter to the Falkland Islands Government, occasionally making trips to patrol South Georgia waters too.

In 2000 Cordella was sold to a Latvian owner as F/V Olga. Renamed as F/V Gideon, she was lost off Newfoundland in 2005.

See also

• 11th MCM Squadron
• British naval forces in the Falklands War

References

1. "The Falklands Conflict - Data Library - Ships". falklandswar.org.uk. 2012. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
2. ^ Freedman, Lawrence (2005), The Official History of the Falklands Campaign: War and Diplomacy
3. ^ Hoole, Rob (2012). "The Forgotten Few of the Falklands". mcdoa.org.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
4. "CORDELLA - IMO 7304857". shipspotting.com. 2012. Retrieved 7 June 2012.

External links

• Merchant Navy Ships serving in the Falklands War

v t e British Naval Forces of the Falklands War
Royal Navy	Active Alacrity Ambuscade Andromeda Antelope Antrim Ardent Argonaut Arrow Avenger Brilliant Bristol Broadsword Cardiff Conqueror Cordella Courageous Coventry Dumbarton Castle Endurance Exeter Farnella Fearless Glamorgan Glasgow Hecla Herald Hermes Hydra Intrepid Invincible Junella Leeds Castle Minerva Northella Onyx Penelope Pict Plymouth Sheffield Spartan Splendid Valiant Yarmouth
Naval Auxiliary (RFA)	Appleleaf Brambleleaf Bayleaf Blue Rover Engadine Fort Austin Fort Grange Plumleaf Pearleaf Olna Olmeda Regent Resource Sir Bedivere Sir Galahad Sir Geraint Sir Lancelot Sir Percivale Sir Tristram Stromness Tidespring Tidepool
Ships Taken Up From Trade	Alvega Anco Charger Astronomer Atlantic Conveyor Atlantic Causeway Avelona Star Balder London Baltic Ferry British Avon British Dart British Enterprise III British Esk British Tamar British Test British Trent British Wye Canberra Contender Bezant Eburna Elk Europic Ferry Fort Toronto G.A.Walker Geesport Iris Irishman Laertes Lycaon Nordic Ferry Norland Queen Elizabeth 2 Rangatira Salvageman Saxonia Scottish Eagle St Edmund St Helena Stena Inspector Stena Seaspread Strathewe Tor Caledonia Uganda Wimpey Seahorse Yorkshireman
Civilian Auxiliary (RMAS)	Goosander Typhoon
- Sunk

• Cold War minesweepers of the United Kingdom
• Falklands War naval ships of the United Kingdom
• Ships built on the River Tyne
• 1967 ships