The 10.50pm Sunday telephone call from the officer-in-charge of Australian Clearance Diving Team One, LEUT Damien Scully, to his second in command, LEUT Chris White, was concise - "there's a British warship gone aground near Lord Howe Island. We've got to fly there. We've got four hours."

Within seconds more cellular phones on bedside tables were ringing and the six 'duty' divers from the unit were soon shrugging on clothes, farewelling family members and heading for their base at HMAS Waterhen.

By 11.20pm, eight divers were at the section gathering equipment they would need to dive and to salvage.

Across Sydney at the Richmond RAAF base, there were similar scenes as duty officers recalled SQNLDR Dean Tetley, his four crew members and two ground support staff to ready a 37 Squadron J series Hercules transport.

While this feverish action took place most of Sydney's four million people slept soundly unaware that the 3,500-ton Type 42 destroyer HMS Nottingham with a ship's company of 249 was aground on Wolfe Rock just off Lord Howe Island.

The hull had been severely holed and a fin stabiliser damaged.

Water had flooded five compartments, including the Sea Dart magazine and crew accommodation, while lesser inflow had penetrated another four.

Much of her fresh water was contaminated.

Water eventually put her main engines out of action.

The ship's commanding officer, CMDR Richard Farrington, decided to reverse her off the rock believing she would "break her back" if she remained.

He ordered "Full Astern" and fortunately both engines responded. The ship slid backwards into navigable waters.

Using what power she had left and in 25-knot winds, heavy seas and rain, he steamed his ship to the lee of the heritage-listed island.

The waters were quieter. She dropped anchor. Below decks his ship's company was in action, assessing damage, shoring and getting pumps to work.

For several hours the fate of the state-of-the-art warship, which had closed the island to allow her Lynx helicopter to fly an injured sailor ashore, was in the balance.

The crew won out but not before she took a 15-degree "down by the bow" attitude.

Urgent calls went out for help.

They were answered by the Royal Australian Navy, the Royal New Zealand Navy, the Royal Navy, the RAAF, Australian Maritime Search and Rescue and the emergency personnel on the island itself.

A massive rescue operation began.

The RAN didn't have any warships close at hand but the New Zealand supply ship HMNZS Endeavour was steaming down the Australian coast, heading home from a visit to Thailand and Vietnam.

Behind her by about a day was the ANZAC class HMNZS Te Mana.

Endeavour responded immediately while Te Mana called in at Mackay, refuelled from a road tanker pulled up at the wharf and in quick time continued towards the island.

It was in Sydney that there was frantic action.

LEUT Chris White, who became the acting CO of AUSCDTONE (LEUT Scully led the team of divers to the scene) told Navy News: "The incident occurred before 10pm on Sunday, July 7.

"The Duty Fleet Officer rang LEUT Scully at his Cremorne home and in turn he phoned me.

"LEUT Scully told me a British warship had gone aground near Lord Howe Island, we had to fly there and we had just four hours to get ready.

"Calls were made to the six duty divers on their cellphones.

"By 11.20pm there were eight divers at Waterhen and by midnight another two.

"By 1am there was a total of 15. We had called more people in.

"We gathered together our diving kit along with welding and cutting gear.

"They assembled grinders and Ramset fasteners.

"We went to the FIMA store and collected six steel plates-about four metres by 1.5 metres each.

"The equipment went into a special container and on to a nine-tonne table-top truck."

Meanwhile duty staff at Waterhen had asked the duty sailors from the minehunters Hawkesbury and Norman, then alongside, to provide any available diesel fire pumps from the ships.

Two pumps and their hoses were soon on the tabletop.

"ABCD Shane Bullock got in another truck and went over to Fleet Base East," LEUT White continued.

"The duty crew on HMAS Tobruk had been ordered by MHQ to provide three electric pumps for the team to take.

"The pumps were soon back at Waterhen and with the other equipment.

"In all there were four tonnes of equipment and steel."

At 2.45am the small convoy headed west towards RAAF Richmond.

It was quiet on the Windsor Road at that time of morning. They arrived within an hour.

A diver who was not going drove the tabletop. A second diver, also staying at home, drove the 22-seat bus carrying LEUT Scully and his nine-man team.

"On the way they picked up some extra oxygen cylinders for cutting from the sick bay at RAAF Richmond," LEUT White said.

Teams of RAAF personnel were ready for the RAN team - dubbed an 'Underwater Battle Damage Repair Detachment'.

The special container and the divers were loaded aboard the RAAF transport and at 5.30am the Hercules lifted off and headed towards the tiny holiday island where the frantic effort to keep the sea water at bay continued.

At the same time a Cessna Conquest turboprop took off from Canberra, under the authority of AMSAR, and charged with keeping watch for any oil spillage from the stricken warship.

"The aircraft found diesel had escaped from the ship but it was only a slight sheen and was moving north-east away from the island," AMSAR's Ben Mitchell told Navy News.

Within hours of landing at Lord Howe Island the divers were in the water, both inside and outside the warship.

They carried out 'first-aid' sealing outside the hull and inside, closed some hatches.

Over the next days, the RAN divers attached steel plate to the ship's hull using cartridge-fired fasteners, sealed holes with caulking and tape, cut jagged steel clear and provided images of the underwater damage to those on deck using closed-circuit TV and digital video.

The pumps were set to work boosting the draining of the flooded compartments.

Back in Australia, divers at AUSCDTFOUR at HMAS Stirling and their equipment were put on standby.

The RAAF did several other flights to the island including one which saw five tonnes of equipment drawn from the Defence warehouse at Moorebank and HMAS Waterhen flown to the island.

Among items carried were cylinders of oxygen for cutting, sealing equipment and sets of 'bear claws' (eye-letted magnets to which the divers can secure their harnesses).

HMNZS Endeavour arrived at the island just before dawn on Tuesday, July 9 and provided meals, showers and general support to Nottingham's sailors.

Te Mana arrived a day later.

From Britain a specialist team of salvage experts and public relations people flew in to join those at the scene.

An RAAF Hercules flew them out to the island.

The Australian dive team was initially billetted ashore, but then went on board Te Mana.

The Navy divers used the crippled warship's Lynx helicopter and later Te Mana's boats to reach Nottingham.

Nottingham's final destination unsure

As this edition of Navy News went to press, work was under way to tow the crippled but stabilised warship backwards to a port in Australia.

The Brisbane-ported tug, Ostrel Salvor, was already at the island while a larger tug, Pacific Chieftain, was steaming from New Zealand.

Royal Navy spokesman LCDR Mike Souter said the tow by the two tugs was likely to attain a speed of just four knots.

He said the majority of the ship's company would be taken off and flown home leaving the tow in the hands of a 'towing party'.

Meanwhile sailors of the three navies at Lord Howe are involved in sport including rugby.

LCDR Souter said (July 15) it was not known where the ship would be taken.

He said a possible departure date was July 27.

Morale aboard Nottingham is high and he praised the RAN's divers who were invaluable in the first days of the emergency.

He also praised and thanked the islanders for their efforts and hospitality.

By Graham Davis