Falklands 'forgotten ship' finally honoured

AT LAST there stands a memorial to the ‘forgotten ship’ on the islands she helped liberate 30 years ago.

On Hookers Point outside Stanley, and surrounded by small square granite setts representing the ship’s company, is the monument to HMS Glamorgan.

Nineteen miles from that spot in 1982, the guided missile destroyer was struck by an Argentine Exocet missile in one of the final acts of the Falklands war.

Twenty-nine years later and a memorial to her sacrifice was formally dedicated in the presence of three dozen Glamorgan veterans, plus 150 Falkland Islanders, while current Falklands guardian HMS Clyde was anchored offshore and Typhoon fighters flew over low the site in tribute.

That memorial, fittingly, comprises polished Welsh granite, cut at Trefor Quarry near Pwllheli, and transported 8,000 miles to the South Atlantic.

The drive to erect a Glamorgan monument was sparked by a pilgrimage to the Falklands by the ship’s navigator in 1982, Cdr Ian Inskip.

“There were memorials on the islands for all the ships lost and all units which had suffered significant casualties – except for Glamorgan,” he said.

“Mention the Falklands War, and images of Sheffield, Coventry, Antelope, Ardent, Atlantic Conveyor always spring to mind. Few people know that Glamorgan was hit by an Exocet just two days before the Argentine surrender and came within inches of blowing up with the loss of hundreds of lives.”

Fourteen men were killed in the hangar and galley, but the strenuous efforts by the ship's company in the subsequent three and a half hours saved Glamorgan.

The memorial can be found just off the Stanley Airport Road. If you look up after reading the inscription on it, you will face the spot on the ocean where Glamorgan was hit.