MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Growing controversy over the future of HMS Endurance

HMS Endurance at Mare Harbour

The Royal Navy has revealed it is arranging for HMS Endurance to be towed back to Portsmouth on a barge. The ice patrol vessel has been out of action since it suffered a major flood on December 16, and is currently berthed in the Falkland Islands, reports the Portsmouth press.

Hundreds of litres of icy water gushed into the ship's engine room when she was in the Strait of Magellan off Chile heading for Valparaiso. The icebreaker was saved from running adrift on the rocks by the Chilean Navy. A RN spokesman said: "The plan is to get her back to Britain, get her repaired and get her back into active service. It is planned that the ship will be brought back by heavy lift ship or barge to her base port of Portsmouth; the timescale is not yet known". But Defence Select Committee member and Portsmouth South MP Mike Hancock said: "I think it's completely unsatisfactory that no date is being given for her return. It could be months before she is back and in the meantime they've got to get another ship down". "They need to answer questions about what is happening with her because it's going to cost taxpayers a lot of money"."This has the potential to be as embarrassing as HMS Nottingham'sreturn", he added. (NRI) On 7 July 2002, HMS Nottinghamran aground on the submerged but well-charted Wolf Rock near Lord Howe Island 200 miles off the coast of Australia. A 160 ft hole was torn down the side of the vessel from bow to bridge, flooding five of her compartments and nearly causing her to sink. The accident happened in poor weather after a set of maneuvers to allow a sailor with an emergency medical condition to be evacuated to Lord Howe Island. The captain was not on the ship at the time of the incident, but was ashore having dinner with the Islands Marine Services Manager thanking him for the assistance rendered to his crewman. On 6 August, Nottinghamset out on her journey to the port of Newcastle, north of Sydney, towed stern-first because of the damage to her bow. In Newcastle, her Sea Dart missiles were removed and further repairs were carried out. It was not clear that it was economic to repair her but Nottinghamhad recently undergone major modifications to her radar and other electronics, and it was determined that it would be less expensive to return her to the UK and repair her than to bring another Type 42 destroyer up to her new specification. After arriving in Sydney on 15 October, the damaged ship was lifted on board the heavy lifting vessel MV Swan and welded to her deck for transport. On 28 October, Nottingham left Sydney on board the MV Swan for the journey back to the UK. By 9 December, she had arrived at Portsmouth Harbour for repairs at Fleet Support Limited. The destroyer HMS Glasgow was temporarily reactivated to cover for Nottinghamwhile she was being repaired. On 7 July 2003, the anniversary of the collision, Nottinghamwas re-floated. In April 2004 she sailed again following the £39m repair and refit. The ship returned to duty in July 2004.