'Special' Falklands War ship RFA Argus leaves Portsmouth for the final time as seafarers gather to pay tribute
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Emotional Royal Fleet Auxiliary sailors bid farewell to a Falklands War ship as she left Portsmouth for the final time.
Primary Casualty Receiving Ship RFA Argus, a vessel that has served our country since 1982, departed from HMNB Portsmouth in the bright sunshine this afternoon (March 3). Clusters of current and former RFA personnel watched as she was towed away past The Round Tower in Old Portsmouth just after 5pm.
Chief Officer Engineer Bryan Girling, who served in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) for 42 years, told The News: “It’s a sad day, but I have happy memories of the ship and some exciting times. I served during The Gulf War and it was some very interesting times then. Being part of the RFA transformed me from a boy into a man, a long and varied career on that ship and many others. I gained a few medals for being in the wrong place at the right time.”
RFA Argus’ departure marked the end of a long career which began in 1982, when she was requisitioned for service and later purchased outright in 1984. Formerly known as MV Contender Bezant, she would go on to have a lengthy military tenure where she was deployed across the globe - including to the Middle East during the Gulf War in 1991.
C/O Girling served aboard the vessel during that time and said it was a slick operation onboard at the height of her career. Crew combined sailors, medical professionals, and Royal marines. An osmosis plant aboard a ship to transform sea water into drinking water.
“We worked very closely with the embarked forces to make sure they were happy to work on a ship,” C/O Girling added. “For a lot of the marines and nurses, it was unfamiliar territory. We made sure they were well looked after and knew what to do in an emergency.
“Serving in the Gulf War focuses your mind on all the training you had on previous occasions. You’re putting it to the test. It was a conflict that as it turned out was not quite as severe as it made out to be.”
Pamela Booth, 82, of Eastney, served as a Captain Steward aboard ship on deployments to Ireland and elsewhere. She found it very sad to see RFA Argus for the last time. “Serving was happiness and it was such a lovely ship,” she said. “We had to learn all sorts, firefighting, everything. You had to take over if anything happened. It was an adrenaline rush.
“It’s a terrible shame. Maybe they could have used her for a training ship, or medical centre. Serving in the RFA was my field of dreams. I wanted to join when I left school. I went through all the exams but failed because my height by half an inch, but I got there eventually at the age of 56.
RFA Argus had an extensive and varied career. Her crew provide humanitarian aid to Kurdish civilians in Operation Haven. She was later deployed to the Adriatic to support military operations in Bosnia and Kosovo during the 1990s.
Other notable assignments include assisting civilians in Sierra Leone during the Ebola outbreak in 2014, establishing shore-based medical facilities and transporting aid to outlying areas of the country. Her ship’s company received 167 Ebola Medals for Service in West Africa, with the ship earning an Admiralty Board Letter of Commendation.
Throughout the 2020s, she was dispatched to the Caribbean to support British Overseas Territories during hurricane season, was deployed to the Indian Ocean alongside RFA Lyme Bay, later assigned to the Eastern Mediterranean and Australia for Royal Marine deployment drills.
Originally it was planned for her to go back to sea. Politicians, including Portsmouth North MP Amanda Martin, were given a tour of the ship in April. A sad end unfortunately befell RFA Argus, when she was deemed unsafe to sail by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and Lloyd's Register. The decision was made for her to be retired, after several months alongside HMNB Portsmouth.
Family Workforce Communications Officer Duncan Turner, 25, was part of the ship’s company when she sailed into the city. The Scotland native said: “It’s emotional as I’ve got a personal connection to RFA Argus. I've been deployed on five trips aboard ship all over the world. It’s sad to see her go and I’m sure a lot of the crew are as well.
“With the state of her, it’s best that she goes so her legacy lives on. I remember an outstanding trip to Gibraltar a few years ago, with such a good crew. It was the trip that saved my career to be honest. Going to Australia was also quite memorable, part of the stewarding team and various different roles. The amount of people here shows how special she was over the years.”
No definitive decisions have been made yet on her future, though it’s likely she will be scrapped. C/O Girling said: “She’s not likely to go back to sea again. It needs extensive work on engines and shafting. I believe it will be cost prohibitive. Eventually, the ship will have to be scrapped and I believe it’s what’s going to happen to the Argus.”
Captain Simon Booth, former Commanding Officer of RFA Argus, added: “She’s done really good service and been an absolute asset to defence, but she’s very old and needed replacing. It was good to see former colleagues and see her go. Hopefully someone will be thinking about replacing her, as there is a war going on and we might need to respond with a couple of ships in the Gulf. I live in hope of a replacement. Given the state of the defence budget at the moment, I feel like it would be a long time coming.”