The Westland Lynx helicopter attached to the Royal Navy frigate HMS Richmond crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on 12 June 2002, killing two of the three on board.

The helicopter went down approximately 200 miles off the eastern seaboard of the United States, necessitating the deepest salvage operation ever undertaken by the Ministry of Defence.

[6][7] On 12 June 2002,[8] HMS Richmond was participating in a training exercise[9] with the U.S. Navy[10] to test Sea Skua and Tomahawk missiles by firing them from a Lynx helicopter at a disused American warship[8] at the Virginia Cape range.

[5] The Lynx helicopter attached to Richmond[6] was being piloted by Lieutenant Rod Skidmore, 39, a British citizen and married father of two from Martinstown, Dorset.

[8] Whilst returning to Richmond[2] in fair weather,[4] Lewis made an emergency call at low altitude around 40 miles (64 km) from the ship.

[6] As stated at the later inquest, Hanson heard a bang from the starboard engine, after which the helicopter nosedived into the Atlantic Ocean[8] from a height of around 400 feet (120 m).

[11][14] The crash raised questions about the airworthiness of the helicopters, following from their grounding two years earlier from operational stress suffered by the core of the rotor blades, although the accident wasn't linked to that defect.

[5] The recovery enabled the accident investigators to identify a potentially serious defect with the aircraft, which was fixed immediately throughout the rest of the helicopter fleet.

[8] On 12 June 2014,[15] 12 years to the day after the crash, Lewis's death was commemorated by a flypast over Swanage station by a Lynx from RNAS Yeovilton, and the renaming of the preserved British Rail Class 33 diesel-electric locomotive No.