Sea Skimmer (Jon Hunt Book 1) by Larry Jeram-Croft

Author:Larry Jeram-Croft [Jeram-Croft, Larry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Larry Jeram-Croft
Published: 2013-12-29T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

12 May 1982, Puerto Belgrano Naval Base

Despite everything, Marcel couldn’t help a guilty feeling of relief. It was good to be out of that bleak airfield in Tierra del Fuego. The dockyard was in a much more pleasant area on the banks of an estuary. The surrounding countryside was cultivated rather than being just miles of bleak rock and the weather was much improved. But now he stared moodily at the grey frigate ‘Guerrico’ alongside the dock. Not only was she showing her age with peeling paint and rust streaks down her sides but everywhere you looked were signs of battle damage. The holes of small arms strikes were easily discernible and in many places the larger signs of the impact of heavier weapons. The frigate had been sent to reinforce the occupying force in South Georgia but had been attacked by a detachment of British Royal Marines landed from the ice patrol ship HMS Endurance. She was clearly never going to sea again. He marvelled at the amount of damage just twenty two land troops had done to such a large ship. It made him wonder what the British would be capable of when they got really stuck in. All that said, she was now the centre of attention of the dockyard. A crane was waiting patiently alongside and a swarm of overalled staff cluttered her upper decks. There were just as many below out of sight.

Just behind the jetty, was a large hangar like building where the sound of metal cutting and welding could be heard. In there, they were making a trailer capable of taking two weapon canisters. The first of which would be unloaded from the ship sometime in the next few days. That was the easy part. The firing control units were also easy to remove but the wiring and control hardware had been badly neglected. Marcel had spent nearly all morning surveying it with an Argentinian engineer. Frankly, he was at a loss why they had fitted the weapons in the first place. Latin machismo was the best explanation he could come up with. They had a strong fleet on paper but it was just about useless when needed. He was pausing to look back at the ship before heading off for some lunch when he heard the familiar unpleasant grating voice behind him.

‘So, Mr Frenchman, how’s it going?’

‘Badly, half of the wiring is rotten. We will have to splice out the bad bits. Luckily, the trailer installation doesn’t require such a long cable run. But we’ll probably have to go to one of your other ships for some of the bits. From what I hear that will not be a problem, it seems your navy are all hiding in port anyway.’

‘No need to be so rude, remember what’ll happen if I decide you’re confounding me.’

‘Check the bloody wires for yourself. You can’t blame me for the inadequacies of your navy’s maintenance.’ Nevertheless, Marcel winced. Yesterday, before he started work, Pedro had invited him into an office where a television was set up on a desk.

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