HMS York

Simon was lucky enough to have an invite for a party and tour of the current Royal Navy vessel down here courtesy of the FIDF.  HMS York, a type 42 Destroyer was doing quite a short tour, as she was sidetracked to help with the humanitarian effort in Libya.

The tour consisted of nibbles, drinks and a look around the destroyer, including a simulated attack by two aircraft carrying Exocet missiles.  No prizes for guessing the country the aircraft belonged to!!!

After some GnT, we had a demo of the resuce swimmer who goes to rescue anyone who falls overboard.  After he has been in the water Naval Tradition dictates that the rescue swimmer is allowed a bath on the Captain's Cabin.  Some small consolation I guess, given that the water around here never gets much above 8C even in the height of the summer!  They never said about the man overboard.....

One sign which stood out in the boat was the one below:

As darkness fell, the lights of Stanley began to glow

Aftewards, we had a quick drink in the Victory Bar, one of the pubs in Stanley.  I have meant to photgraph the picture below many times before, and finally I had a camera in my pocket.  The picture of Leopold Galtieri resides under a toilet seat fixed to the wall in the gents! 

29 years on, memories of the invasion are still strong in peoples memories.....