HMS ''Cordella'' was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

auxiliary

mine countermeasures vessel A mine countermeasures vessel or MCMV is a type of naval ship designed for the location of and destruction of naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive weapon placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Sim ...

that served during the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

as part of

11th MCM Squadron The 11th Mine Countermeasures Squadron was a unit of the British Royal Navy during the Falklands War of 1982. Unit history Background On 2 April 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. Intelligence from a submarine reported the laying of ...

Service history

F/V ''Cordella'' was a 1,238 ton

fishing trawler A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets tha ...

built in 1973 by

Clelands Shipbuilding Company Clelands Shipbuilding Company was a leading British shipbuilding company. The company was based in Wallsend was nationalised by the British Government. It was founded in 1864 by John and Thomas Cleland, and operated until it was acquired by Swan ...

Wallsend Wallsend () is a town in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. ''Cordella'' was one of five

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

-based trawlers that were taken up from trade by the Royal Navy in 1982 for service as

naval trawlers Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the First and Second World Wars. Some, known in the Royal Navy as "Admiralty trawlers", were purpose-built to na ...

(auxiliary MCM vessels) during the Falklands War. The trawlers were fitted with Oropesa towed minesweeping equipment and Extra Deep Armed Team Sweep (EDATS) equipment at HMNB Rosyth and crewed by Royal Navy personnel prior to operational deployment.Freedman, Lawrence (2005), ''The Official History of the Falklands Campaign: War and Diplomacy'' During night of 10 June 1982, ''Cordella'' supported her sister ship HMS ''Pict'' while the latter influence swept

Berkeley Sound Berkeley Sound is an inlet, or fjord in the north east of East Falkland in the Falkland Islands. The inlet was the site of the first attempts at colonisation of the islands, at Port Louis, by the French. Berkeley Sound has several smaller bays ...

. No

mines Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun Mi ...

were found thus reducing the risk to ships engaging in

naval bombardment Naval gunfire support (NGFS), also known as naval surface fire support (NSFS), or shore bombardment, is the use of naval artillery to provide fire support for amphibious assault and other troops operating within their range. NGFS is one of sever ...

of Argentine positions. During nights of 12, 13, and 14 June, she conducted covert operations resupplying SAS and SBS patrols deployed variously along the coast. Following the Argentine surrender Cordella and the other four ships of the 11 MCM cleared the minefields off Port Stanley.

Post-war

After the war she returned to the United Kingdom and returned to her peacetime role as a fishing vessel. She returned to the Falkland Islands in the early 1990s and was used as a Fishery Protection vessel under charter to the Falkland Islands Government, occasionally making trips to patrol South Georgia waters too. In 2000 ''Cordella'' was sold to a Latvian owner as F/V ''Olga''. Renamed as F/V ''Gideon'', she was lost off

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

in 2005.

References

External links

Merchant Navy Ships
serving in the Falklands War {{DEFAULTSORT:Cordella, HMS Cold War minesweepers of the United Kingdom Falklands War naval ships of the United Kingdom Ships built on the River Tyne 1967 ships

Service history

Post-war

See also

References

External links