Our Founders
Lenny Yeatman and Tony Ray in 2019
It all begins with an idea and for the HMS Ardent Association it began the day after the ship was sunk and the crew were onboard the SS Canberra. In the ARDENT’s temporary office, a hairdressers saloon, Lenny and Tony hatched the idea of an Association that would foster and promote the name ARDENT and provide a focal point to remember our fallen crew mates. By the time the crew reached home on the QEII everybody's contact details had been collected and the Association was born.
Lenny and Tony kept the helm of the Association for the first 20 years before handing over the stewardship to a new team in 2002.
Today the name ARDENT lives on at the Royal Navy Sea Survival centre in Portsmouth, an accommodation block in HMS Raleigh and in 2022 the new Type 26 Frigate build programme building at BAE Systems Scotstoun.