Desecration is reprehensible – and must stop now

HMS ARDENT, the ship I commanded, lies on the bottom of Falkland Sound where she succumbed to attacks by Argentinian aircraft in May 1982.

Twenty-two of my brave boys are at rest in that wreck, which is as much a war grave as any cemetery ashore. Indeed, it and other ships sunk in war since 1914 are protected by statute.

Sadly, as The Mail on Sunday has reported, these war graves are being constantly pillaged. New diving techniques and the ability to scan the ocean floor have made the numerous wrecks littering the seabed from both world wars increasingly accessible and vulnerable.

I first became aware of this when, as Commander-in-Chief Fleet in 2001, we heard from some ex-Royal Navy divers that they had come across a Japanese salvage company diving on the wrecks of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse in the South China Sea. There was a scuffle and the pillagers were forced to drop their ill-gotten gains, including the ship’s bell.

The position of these wrecks have been known for decades due to regular services of remembrance and the replacement of the White Ensigns that still fly underwater on the sunken ships.

In 2014, I became aware of Dutch companies and Danish artefact-hunters robbing the wrecks in the North Sea.

The Government seemed unwilling to take the issue seriously – but it really must do so now.

In the Far East, many of the Allied ships sunk in the battles of 1941 and 1942 have been completely removed with only a depression in the seabed marking the tomb of so many brave men. The same is happening in the North Sea, where ships sunk at the Battle of Jutland are being desecrated.

Notwithstanding the difficulties of enforcing rules in the Far East, more could be done. In the case of the North Sea, it should be possible to protect war grave wrecks immediately and pursue the wrongdoers in the courts.

We owe it to our fallen heroes and I salute The Mail on Sunday’s efforts to energise the Government’s response to these reprehensible acts.