Mike Brodie
The Gulf War Diary
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The Brodie Family |
Mike Brodie The Gulf War Diary |
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February 1991 |
Defence watches! |
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| Defence watches! Making for Jebil Ali for the engine change. Transiting the Straight of Hormuz. | |
| Arrive JebilAli. Commenced the engine change and embarked thr Ram panels (these are panels that are put are put all around the ships structure to help reduce out radar echo to the enemy missile). | |
 "A couple of times we got to the stage of full alert and locked the target up with our fire control radar preparing to shoot it out of the sky. It could have been a missile coming straigh for us!! You know what happend............the decicion was made on all those times NOT to fire. Now i tell you now, yes they were friendly aircraft but what if they weren't???" |
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| Jebel Ali. Had an unexpected trip to Dubai today. Before going though we had a beech party and BBQ, water was lovely food not so! It was good to be away from the ship. Arrived in Dubai and was completely lost, we got dropped off the the other side of Dubai to where we were last time so it was a case of keep walking and see where we end up. Bought Rebecca Louisa some Walt Disney video's but i think i might keep them for myself! Especially the Jungle Book. | |
| Sailed from Jebil Ali. Back to defence watches and reality. Engine change went well and we now expect to stay in the southern gulf until the 13th when we move north to relieve the Cardiff or Gloucester. Limited info about the war all we do know is that allied air forcr still bombing Iraqi positions apparently with good results. No more onn the land side and naval ops are still contained to enforcing the cargo embargo and patrolling the northern gulf. | |
| Defence watches patrolling in the southern gulf! | |
| Defence watches patrolling in the southern gulf! It's dead frustrating being stuck down here, we want to get up there and do something purposeful. | |
| Defence watches patrolling in the southern gulf! | |
| Defence watches patrolling in the southern gulf! | |
| Defence watches patrolling in the southern gulf! | |
| Defence watches patrolling in the southern/northern gulf! Signal arrived to say that allied forces were to take Faylakah island just 10 miles off Kuwait. Exeter was to take part and move north to be given further instructions later. HOORAY!! At last we started moving north late evening. | |
| Defence watches! Told that now we are north the Cardiff can go home but unfortunaley for Gloucester has to stay on. H.M.S London also has to stay on a little longer. Up north now and stationed in the Dorra Box.. 29-00 degrees north 049-00 east with H.M.S. Argus, Dilligence and the rest of the support ship. Gloucester only 5 miles to the north of us with the mine sweepers and USS Missouri and USS Wisconsin. | |
| Defence watches! Still in the Dorra Box babysitting. Silkworm sites believed to be operational on Falakah island so operations are suspended and aircraft are sent in to take the sites out. We are now only 15 miles off Kuwait and tension is so high. Eyes are glued to my radar screen watching for any fast contacts coming off the Kuwait coastline. Those Silkworms are the size of a double decker bus. My god we are at war! Quite frightening. For me anyway. Waiting with bated breath for the B.D.A.(battle damage assesments) from the aircraft and Missouri's R.P.V. on the silkworm site. Air raid warning now RED! | |
| Defence watches. Remain in the Dorra holding box with support ships. Operation still on hold. Just as they think all the silkworms are disabled they then get a sweep of silkworm targeting radar which obviously means those bastards are still working and looking for a target! Everything has to be put on hold yet again. Sweepers now under the protection of Manchester and Gloucester. A start is made to sweep for mines outside the swept channel made early on to Faylakah. | |
| Defence Watches! Just a normal kind of day really. Situation still on hold and the "Chemical Safety Rule" is now in force as we have moved even further north, plus we have had intelligence reports that movement of chemical weapons was taking place within Iraq. Lets just hope that they don't use the chemical weapons, I mean it frightens the shit out of me so i've got everything crossed. Starting to see a big crack within the Iraq's will to fight! No doubt they still pose a very real threat and that can not be ignored but with the yanks dropping leaflets on the Iraqi soilders saying they'll be killed if they don't run away, well reports are that alot seem to be taking notice and running. | |
Defence watches! It is like night during the day infact it has been like that for the last week or so. Constant night time, when you are in 8 hour defence watches you forget actually when it is day and when it is night.The fires that are ongoing on the Kuwait coastline you can see really clearly, orange just fills the skyline and the air is pungent with thick black oil and death. Silkworms still operational according to the latest B.D.A. so air raids are ordered yet again to blast away the suspected sites. B52 bombers are tasked to do the job. Tthey tell us when the raids will be, its not a problem bacause you see the aircraft on your radar obviously going in land to do their business. The problem for me is when they have finished. They have a strict set, defined area of the coastline at which they must exit the battle area so we can tell that they are friendly aircraft, but do they do it NO! some do but some don't. We are a Destroyer and a air defence ship when we see things coming off land, on occasions, less then 15 miles away at speed you shit yourself. . "We are a Destroyer and a air defence ship when we see things coming off land, on occasions, less then 15 miles away at speed you shit yourself."
A couple of times we got to the stage of full alert and locked the target up with our fire control radar preparing to shoot it out of the sky. It could have been a missile coming straigh for us!! You know what happend............the decicion was made on all those times NOT to fire. Now i tell you now, yes they were friendly aircraft but what if they weren't??? Those bastards flying should have flown as to the rules agreed and exited at the agreed points. If it were a missile we would have what 45 seconds to lock it up and get a missile off before it would reach the point where nothing could be done. A terrible experiance this morning when we found 3 dodies expected to be Iraqi military from a small boat the got destroyed by one of our helo's a couple of days ago. Anyway we found them just floating around so the sea-boat was sent away to have the unpleasent job of picking the bodies up. The first 2 came back and were a mess, not a nice sight and i will never forget that, but when they went to the 3rd and tried to pull him into the boat, we could all see that his head had been blown off. The decicion was made to have a short service for this poor gut and then we attatched a sinker (large concrete weight) to the body and sent him to the bottom. It shook me up and i was standing on the ship, those two guys in the sea-rider were really upset. All in all today we had recovered 5 bodies. All were put into body bags and sent over to R.F.A Argus where once the war is finished they will be given back to the Iraq's or so we are told. |
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| Defence watches! Continuous raids now going in on the Silkworm sites both on Faylakah and the coast of Kuwait. Accurate bombing is being hampered by the thickness of smoke across the sky. Air raid warning is still red as it has been for the last five days. We've found 2 more bodies today and some wreckage | |
| Defence watches! At 0450 local, USS tripoli struck a mine creating a 15ft by 15ft gap! She lost all power and had flooding in her generating room. Afew men were thrown into the water by the blast however around 45 minutes later everthing was under control and she needed no assistance, lucky sods! if that happend to us with the size of our ship we would most probably have sank, now thats another thought to go to be on!! As if that wasn't bad enough at approx 0930 local USS Princetown struck a ground mine. Princetown a Tikongaroga class suffered a possible broken back, bent shafts and a loss of all her weapon systems. She's going to Bahrain for an assesment. Luckily again though we don't think there were any deaths but some serious injury's. Operations now postponed and the mine sweepers are ordered in again to make sure a swept channel to Faylakah is definatley clear this time. Nothing will happen until this is done. | |
| Defence watches! Well after yesterday today was .....well....quiet. Found some wreakage so we carried out a close range shoot and then blew it up with explosives so it wasn't a danger to shipping. Ground offensive is expected to start soon. Allies continue to bomb Iraqi positions with bombs and leaflets. Moral in the Iraqi troops is believed to be low and the will to fight is diminishing. I don't blame them!! | |
| Defence watches! During the 8 hour night watch one of the detector papers on the bridge wing turned blue. That means a 'G' agent which is non-persistant nerve agent is in the air or has been dropped on us. Anyway after alot of quick checking it was said to have been caused by the cleaning of the GPMG and thankfully it was a false alarm. Media arrived on-board from the Pompey Times and the News of the World, A Mr Boffey. After recieving more signals it is now thought that we are now surrounded by mine danger areas. More to the point though, Theres only one way out and that's only a very narrow bit of water. GOOD EH! Kiss ya arse goodbye. | |
| Defence watches! At 0150 Local whilst asleep off watch the chemical alarm sounded. Whilst shitting mayself i had my repirator on in two seconds and then got dressed as quick as is possible amoungst all the panick! I made my way to the senior rates dininf room where all the upper deck gun crews were to go. Everybody believed it was real and the adrenelin was fast flowing. I started to think i could smell something in my gas mask, then i felt dissy and extremly worried. When you are in that kind of situation all kinds of things happen to you. Your mind plays tricks on you but to me it wasn't a trick this was for real. at appox 0235 a false alarm was called and i went back to my bed still a bit shakey. At 0240 the bloody alarm went off again, my god my heart can't take any more of this, went through the exact same procedures except false alarm was called before i left the mess. Got back into bed and yep it went off again, may-be it was foolish but we had gone through so much shit today that the whole mess stayed in darkness and no-one and i mean no-one got out of bed. Then the phone went in the next door mess, it rang for about a minute before someone had, had enough and decided to answer it. I heard him pick it up...........and almost straight away i heard the reciever being thrown down, 'ITS NOT A FALSE ALARM LADS' he shouted at the top of his voice. We all shat ourselves! Real panic again and the same routine was followed. It was a false alarm, pissed off but relieved i went back to bed and eventually got to sleep. | |
| Defence watches! At approx 1251 our helo '420' spotted an Iraqi F.P.B. (fast patrol boat) on its way to Faylakah from Kuwait. He had weapons ready but had to get a "weapons free" from the yanks. After 3 mins had passed the yoanks eventually gave "weapons free" but it was too late '420' had itself been locked up bt SA6 from Kuwait and had to break lock on the FPB to head south and avoid the SA6. After going out of range the mad-dog went in for another go but unfortunatley the boat had turned around and buggard off. Fucking yanks pusseying around again. Another busy day with blue aircraft flying off the Kuwait coast with no IFF giving us the shits. If they don't sort it out soon i can see us or another ship shooting down a friendly aircraft! | |
| Defence Watches! Relieve the Gloucester on the 25th and then she goes home, lucky sods. The battleships start NGS (Naval Gunfire Support) on Faylakah and Kuwait. (USS Missouti and Wisconsin) USS Jaret had a rocket launched at her unsucessfully, at the same time out E.W. (electronic warfare) warner in the Ops room went off and so did the chemical alarm. Yet again i was off watch in bed when the alarm went off. with just a slight hint of panick i got dressed and doned my AGR. After 20 mins it was another false alarm so i stayed up and considered taking up smoking to calm my nervs down!! It really is getting quite tense now, there seems to be alot of air movement over Iran.....whats going on there then? and we are now under constant search radars from ashore. Sleeping now with full kit on (as i should have from day 1) If a missile was launched we'd have about 40 seconds to get out, so i'm making sure. | |
| Defence watches! At 0400 Local land offensive begins. total news blackout even we don't know for sure just what progress has been made. The skys which should be blue and hot are still black and intimidating with all the smoke that is still coming over from Kuwaits oilfields. We've been told to stand by for a chemical attack si i'm attatched to my gas mask. Should relieve Gloucester tomorrow on the gun line protecting the battleships and sweepers. My god 7 miles off Kuwait. Is that good or bad?! | |
| Defence watches! at 0500 this morning H.M.S. Gloucester fired two Seadart missiles at Silkworm fired from from along the Kuwait coastline. First Seadart hit and destroyed the silkworm the second missed and a silkworm ditched approx 400 yards astern of H.M.S. London. 0920 we entered the swept channel for a solo transit to the gun line to relieve Gloucester. Arrive at about 1530 and whilst the Gloucester departed we took up station with Missouri providing her with the main air cover. Action stations were piped at 1755, I'd just come off watch...possible silkworm attack. Brown trousers i tell ya. up on the upper deck at my Gambo gum ready for what ever will happen. Could see Kuwait all lit up with bombs exploding etc.It was pitch black and with no lights allowed it was really hard to see anything. It then came over the upperdeck tannoy that H.M.S. London had come under chemical attack and she was only 1 mile south of our position therefore........... ......... and the chemical alarm was sounded. I reached for my battle bag and got out my NBCD clothing. We had all to get it on as fast as we could, but it was fucking pitch black....I just couldn't see what i was doing, my hands were shaking and i could not find my NBCD boots. So i brought out a small personal torch that i had bought i Gibralter and shone it in my bag to try and find these boots...my god i was really panicking.............my Chief Petty Officer in charge of all upperdeck crews (Chief Belcher) gave an almight screem "turn that fucking white light out" you don't mess with Ron Belcher Chief GI! I had found my boots by this stage but was still using the light to try and get dressed. I donned all the gear eventually and we were stood up there waiting, waiting with full NBCD suite on and respirators for a good couple of hours. All that goes through your mind is....... what if a missile comes now with all this on? Have i dressed myself correctly? any open areas exposing the skin could be fatal and will i ever see home again? | |
| Defence watches! All night on was fairly quiet compared to yesterday! We had the odd fast aircraft coming off the coast showing no IFF and exiting not at the correct points for friendly forces that shit us up a bit. 909's having problems locking targets up and the 996 radar picture still only reasonable...stacks of confidence. Well on full alert at 0500 this morning for another silkworm launch but it came and went without any incidents than goodness. At 0152 squirrels (people listening in secretly to Iraqi radio traffic) detect on Iraqi radio that Iraq intend to pull out of Kuwait. 0212 confirmation of intentions to pull out but allies still push on continuing to bomb and take Kuwait. At 2030 ITN reporter Richard Nicholson broadcasts live on World Service from out MCO! | |
Defence watches! Quiet night and day but in early hours coolition forces were said to be in control of Kuwait and had met little resistance. Airport still in Iraqi possesion and so bombing continues there. Allies blocked off all routes in and out of Kuwait no escape now for those Iraqi bastards! Theres now around 75,000 P.O.W's, 07010 airport taken although one US aircraft lost whilst bombing. Looks very much like the war is over now but we are still on full alert until Iraq agree to the terms set by the United Nations. 48 hour cese fire in operation now until terms are met. |
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| Defence watches! At 0800 Gloucester left northern Gulf home bound, lucky gits, well done lads!! Fires still buring in Kuwait and the sky is still black at midday. Rain fell today and it was black! I wonder how long this pollution and blockage of the sun will go on? Iraq agrees to the terms and apart from small details to be finalised the war is over! HOORAY! | |
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