Orders, Decorations and Medals

The highly important and unique Gulf War C.G.M. group of five awarded to Chief Petty Officer (Diver) Phillip Hammond, Fleet Diving Unit, Royal Navy

Conspicuous Gallantry Medal, E.II.R. (CPO [D], D138513P RN) together with its case of issue; General Service 1962, 2 clasps, Northern Ireland, Kuwait (LS, D138513P RN) with named envelope for Kuwait clasp; Gulf 1990-91, clasp, 16 Jan to 28 Feb 1991 (CPO [D], D138513P RN) with its named card box of issue; Naval L.S. & G.C., E.II.R. (PO [D], D138513P RN) with its named card box of issue; Saudi Arabian Medal for the Liberation of Kuwait, with its case of issue, extremely fine and virtually as issued, together with more than 40 photographs of Hammond and his team in the Gulf, original news cuttings, copies in internal R.N. Reports, copies of congratulatory letters, a copy of Hammond’s diary made during the Gulf operations, and a quantity of original Explosive Ordnance Disposal documents

C.G.M. London Gazette 29 June, 1991.
‘During Operation Desert Slash, Hammond was the Chief Petty Officer of Fleet Diving Units (FDU) “A” and “B”, embarked in RFA Sir Gallahad in the Northern Arabian Gulf. He acted as a supervisor of diving operations from Gemini craft in live minefields and of a helicopter-borne Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team. Not content to take a purely directing stance, he willingly put others’ safety before his own by taking the leading role on many occasions in protracted night dives on live enemy ground mines to recover them for exploitation. At all times he displayed admirable calmness and great personal courage, working tirelessly to protect and direct his men, thereby instilling great confidence in their minds.
When FDUs A and B moved ashore on 5 March, Hammond took a principal part in port recovery and EOD operations. He supervised and participated in the first searches of oil tankers, bunkers and buildings for booby traps, the gruesome task of recovering dead bodies, and the rendering safe of unstable live ordnance, beached mines and improvised explosive devices. All this was done with the men’s safety uppermost in his mind, often leading them through areas of anti-personnel mines and barbed wire to reach the objectives. Throughout this extremely dangerous operation, he was a focal point of experience among the divers and his measured advice was highly prized by the officers in charge of the FDUs.
The conditions under which the Units operated were atrocious. With no infrastructure ashore, the men subsisted in cargo containers on a jetty with no light, sanitation or potable water, in an atmosphere heavy with acrid smoke and toxic fumes from the oilfield fires burning inland, and diving in water with zero visibility due to thick oil pollution. All the time, they were at risk from random gunfire from uncontrolled factions of the local population. Hammond’s deep reserves of personal stamina, his ebullience and mature leadership gave much succour to the young divers in the FDUs.’

CPO Hammond was recalled from leave on 29 December, 1990, and flew to Dubai on 4 January, 1991, to embark on RFA Sir Gallahad. From that point in time until 15 February when CPO Hammond became involved in the recovery of corpses from an Iraqi gunboat, the FDUs had little, if any, direct involvement in the war. Two days later (on 6 June), under silkworm missile attack, the task of clearing mines became a reality. On 19 February, after blowing up one MO 8 variety mine, a Russian ground mine, which could not be further identified, was detected and dealt with by CPO Hammond’s team. As a result of the failure by any of the Allied explosive ordnance teams to identify this particular mine, CPO Hammond was tasked with its recovery for further examination. This was successfully achieved on 25 February when it was hoisted on the deck of H.M.S. Impervious.
On 5 March, FDU “B”, together with US and Australian teams, went ashore to Mina Ash Shuaibah, 30 kilometres south of Kuwait city. It was vital to clear Shuaibah since it was the only port able to take the deep-draught vessels that were bringing food and water into the devastated country. The teams began the dangerous task of first clearing the wharfs, ships and warehouses of unexploded ordnance and booby traps and then had to enter “the black waters of the harbour itself, made treacherous by thick crude oil and war wrecks”, to search for and dispose of sea mines. This was achieved by 12 March, with the unit moving to Kuwait harbour for a similar task on 18 March.
During his tour of duty in the Gulf, CPO Hammond and his team were responsible for the clearance and demolition of dozens of mines both at sea and on shore. Those tasks, together with certain more unsavoury ones, were undertaken in the most horrendous conditions and in circumstances of extreme danger. In addition to the C.G.M. awarded to Hammond, FDUs “A” and “B” received two D.S.C.’s, two D.S.M.’s and three M.I.D.’s.
After 19 years’ service and an incredible amount of ordnance disposal experience, which included the rendering safe of a submerged mine that had fouled one of H.M.S. Conqueror’s propellors shortly after the Falklands War, Hammond’s naval career was cut short with considerable publicity. Hammond was arrested on his return from the Gulf, when his kit bags were found to contain four Kalashnikov AK47 rifles, one Belgian-made FN machine gun and nearly 4000 rounds of live ammunition. He told the subsequent Court Martial that he wanted them to train his unit in the handling of enemy weapons. The Court, however, did not stint from the seriousness of the charges and found Hammond guilty as charged, sentencing him to 12 months imprisonment and dismissing him from the Navy.
This C.G.M. is the third and last to be awarded during the present reign and, in consequence of the recently revised honours system, the award has now become obsolete. The other two awards were made for Vietnam and the Falklands.