Aurora was recently delighted to host some Royal Navy Medical officers and ratings, and members of the Queen Alexandra Royal Naval Nursing Service, as well as two P&O officers who served onboard her during the Falklands war.
Forty years ago, this year, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands and the British government launched Operation Corporate. A task force of Royal and Merchant Navy ships was dispatched to the South Atlantic to retake the islands. You may know that P&O sent Canberra south as a troop ship, but most are unaware that two other P&O ships were also ‘taken up from trade’. The ferry MV Elk and the SS Uganda, who was already famous for taking children on educational cruises around the Mediterranean. In only three days, in a Gibraltar dry dock, she was converted into a hospital ship with wards, intensive care and a modern surgical suite and give the code name ‘Mother Hen’.
Captain Simon Love was presented with a beautiful painting of Uganda, in her Geneva convention livery, of a white hull with red crosses by Surgeon Commander Leicester (RN) at a cocktail party held in the Uganda room. This was particularly meaningful for Captain Love as he served on Uganda after the conflict when she was a troop transport ship between the Ascension Islands and the Falklands.
Hotel General Manager, Gordon Marshall, was also privileged to meet Derrick Houghton who served on Uganda as the Accommodation Officer during the campaign and shared some wonderful stories. The regular guests were not left out as Nicci Pugh, one of the ‘QARNN’s’, hosted an amazing talk in the Curzon Theater entitled ‘White Ships, Red crosses’ which was enjoyed by nearly four hundred guests. A very memorable visit for all.