| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Bunkers feel the power of the navy’s big guns |
| 2003-03-22 |
| It took only 20 seconds for HMS Marlborough's main gun to fire 10 rounds at the Iraqi bunker complex six miles away on the Faw peninsula. The shock wave of each high explosive round exiting the barrel might have shaken the 3,500 tonne ship to the core, but it was nothing to the effect the shells had when they hit their target 25 seconds later. Moments after the final shell had reached its destination the radio on the bridge crackled into life. "End of mission, good shooting," said the Royal Artillery spotter on the ground who had ordered the strike on the bunker. "Enemy positions thoroughly neutralised," he added. Exactly how many Iraqi casualties the salvo inflicted nobody on the ship yet knows, but those soldiers who survived the white-hot razor-sharp shrapnel were in no doubt they did not want to go through the experience again. Minutes later the artillery spotter was back on the radio. "Possible white flags being raised," he reported. The first round, fired at 0720am, had landed 400 yards short. The spotter had purposefully called the strike in short to give those in the bunker a chance to surrender. "Damn, Mahmoud, that was close!" "Don't worry, Achmed, he couldn't hit the broadside of a .. OWWW!" After the next three shots had been "walked" progressively closer, and with still no sign of submission despite a misfire that had given those inside the bunker a few precious extra minutes, the spotter had asked for the full force of the warship to be released. It was a story that was repeated several times yesterday on the Faw peninsula, as the Royal Navy ships Marlborough, Chatham and Richmond and the Australian frigate Anzak unleashed a barrage of fire. By the end of the morning not only was the bunker system in ruins, but a large military installation on the southern tip of the peninsula also appeared to have been destroyed. The invasion of Faw had begun on Thursday night when US navy Seals secured the Kwahr al Amaya and Mina al Bakr oil terminals, which had been used to supply the UN oil for food programme. The first coalition boot landed on Iraqi soil moments later as members of the Royal Marines Bravo Company captured the oil pumping station on the mainland that piped oil to the terminals. As they bunkered down to wait for support, helicopter troop carriers containing the other three companies of 40 Commando Royal Marines were already in the air from Viking, the code name for their base in Kuwait, while smaller units were deploying from the aircraft carriers Ocean and Ark Royal, both of which had moved up into the waters of the northern Gulf. Swift, fast, quiet, deadly. On Tuesday the Iraqi military had seized the Mina al Bakr terminal and ejected the five UN workers who remained, raising fears among the coalition's military leaders that Saddam Hussein was planning to blow up the terminals, in an attempt to release thousands of gallons of oil into the seas around the Gulf. The operation to take down the terminal was vital. Few Iraqis were killed and 13 were captured during Bravo Company's operation to take the pumping station, while no marines were injured. Bravo, boys! Well done! |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #5 Hail to the Brits! They are a force to be contended with. Thank God they are on our side. |
| Posted by: Yankee 2003-03-22 17:04:16 |
| #4 It's 4.5", to be precise. But don't forget this is al Grauniad. These hacks wouldn't know a battleship from a battle tank anyway. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-03-22 08:59:27 |
| #3 Big guns, my arse! Marlborough has one, count 'em one, 4" gun. The M1A1 carries a bigger gun than that. |
| Posted by: Dreadnought 2003-03-22 07:58:28 |
| #2 That's ANZAC, not ANZAK! |
| Posted by: parallel 2003-03-22 03:10:03 |
| #1 Hail to the Brits! They are a force to be contended with. Thank God they are on our side. |
| Posted by: Yankee 3/22/2003 5:04:16 PM |