28 NAVY NEWS, MARCH 2008
You made
his day...
I name this ship...
Email is
not good
THE RESPONSE to my letter
IT IS often the smallest things which galvanise our readers
(December) asking for Christmas
to pick up the phone or put pen to paper. Last month Tom
enough
cheer was second-to-none and
Hay asked for help in identifying a cruiser steaming past
we have tried to reply to each and
the Doge’s Palace in Venice a good half century or more
I WOULD like you to publish
every letter to thank everyone for
ago. We would love to give Mr Hay a definitive answer...
a short congratulations to my
their kindness to us.
but as yet there is none.
husband, WO1 MA Steven
The benefactors of the
Joseph Paris, from Cranleigh in Surrey, rang to tell us
‘Jumper’ Collins for receiving his
correspondence and parcels
the ship was HMS Sheffield, confirmed by her distinctive
bar to the Long Service and Good
have been Delta Company and
two stacks. However, Bill Bartlett rang to say it was HMS
Conduct medal, for serving 30
attached ranks, as I moved from
Liverpool, in 1949, at that time flagship of the 1st Cruiser
years in the Royal Navy, having
Alpha Company to Delta, but the
Squadron in the Mediterranean. He was onboard at the time,
joined in 1976 at the age of 16.
conditions remained the same.
as was Lord Mountbatten. Mr D Davies, from Rosyth, agrees
Sadly, all he officially received
I would like to thank each and
that she is HMS Liverpool, as do Ray Smith, from Gravesend,
was an email telling him to
every one of your readers for
and Chas Devlin from Dundee, who sent us the photo of HMS
collect it from the UPO, where it
their time, effort and goodwill
Mauritius in 1947, taken in the same position as our ‘mystery
was just handed to him in a box
in support of the Royal Marines
ship’. Peter Sisson believes she is HMS Mauritius. Mr J Suters, of
by a member of staff.
deployed in Afghanistan.
Romford, Essex, thinks she is HMS Glasgow in 1953 and former
I suppose Service personnel
We have received some
CPO Charles Grimmer, now living in Norwich, thinks she is
receive awards for serving 30
parcels from ex-servicemen
HMS Arethusa. A Mr Clements thinks she was HMS Tiger
years all the time, and that to the
who served in World War 2,
in 1952 and Ian Cowell believes she is HMS Newcastle.
Royal Navy it’s nothing special,
and just as we haven’t been
I’m sorry I ran out of space to print all the letters – Ed
but to my husband it is a big
forgotten by them, I can deal, and I think it would be
safely say we will never nice for him to receive at least a
forget them, and owe them small amount of recognition by
a debt of gratitude we can having a mention in Navy News.
never repay. – Alison Collins
Thank you all for bringing
some Christmas cheer into our
time served in Afghanistan, God
Command
bless you all, and the Queen.
On a last note, the lads would
like any ladies to write to them, approved
myself as a point of contact.
– Cpl Piers Eastwood,
WITH reference to the article
40 Cdo RM, Op Herrick,
Rainey days ahead (February)
BFPO 792
I held the last post of Warrant
... On behalf of all the lads Offi cer to the Commander-in-
in 1 section, Mortar Troop, 40 Chief Naval Home Command.
Commando, we would like to say When the offi ces of
thank you to your readers who Commander-in-Chief and
sent us all the parcels after Cpl Second Sea Lord amalgamated
Eastwood’s letter. my appointment was changed
The reaction to the letter has to Command Warrant Offi cer to
been staggering and we are all CNH/2SL.
truly overwhelmed. Although the infrastructure
To know that all these people and Terms of Reference had not
have taken the time to send us fully been implemented by the
the parcels has made our time then Admiral’s Secretary, Capt
here go that much quicker and Wykeham-Martin RN, before I
also had a huge effect on morale. retired I was the first Command
– L/Cpl Kevin Readings, Warrant Officer to Admiral Sir
40 Cdo RM, Op Herrick John Kerr.
Having said this I believe that
Maltese days
when I retired in 1994 the post
did not remain and it was some
time before it was resurrected.
READING about the return of
These facts can be verified
845 NAS from Basra (January)
by the photographs of the old
put the deployment of the
CNHs and CNH/2SLs that
Squadron at the beginning of
hang, outside the Admirals
1972 in a different light.
office in 2SL/CNH Building,
I was the Squadron’s Leading
whereby each member of
Writer and we were aboard HMS
staff photographed with the
Bulwark (it flew Wessex Vs then)
Admiral has their rank and title
berthed in Valetta Harbour.
mentioned.
Don Mintoff no longer wanted
One of the reasons that the
the British Forces stationed on
post of Command Warrant
the island and we were assisting
Officer was implemented was
the dismantling of the Services
due to a visit by the Master
infrastructure. The Squadron
Chief of the US Navy, when
pilots clocked up some very
Admiral Sir Jeremy Black was
useful flying hours.
CNH.
Thankfully the local residents
Admiral Black was
were not as hostile as those the
impressed by the fact that the
Squadron would have to contend
US Navy’s lower deck had a
with in Basra.
‘mouthpiece’, even to the extent
– Charles Lowson, Fareham
that the Master Chief’s wife
was the ombudsman to their
See page 8 for the Orion task
families.
force in Malta – Ed
Admiral Black and Capt
A fine officer
Wykeham-Martin, I believe,
had a similar belief that the
RN lower deck should also
have a representative within the
I WAS saddened to read of the
2SL/CNH organisation, hence
death of Lt Cdr John Bloom
the post of Command Warrant
(December).
Officer.
I also served on the Gavinton/
– Terence Higgens,
Monkton and Nurton, he was
former WO1 (Coxn) SM
our Jimmy and I can say he was
a true gent and a pleasure to
work with.
I recall him attending
Strait talk
Portsmouth magistrates court
to pay my fine after a silly night
IT IS not often that Navy News
out – £4. I paid him back over makes mistakes but when you
four pay days (I think) have, I have held back from
An officer to remember. going into print with a gentle
– Jack Robinson (former AB reprimand.
Tas) Tyldesley, Manchester But on this occasion I have
decided to be a grumpy old man
Pie not pasty
and point out a common, but
nonetheless unforgiveable, error.
Your photo (January) of HMS
I MUST take issue with Brian Blyth and HMS Ramsey is
Johnson’s Meals on Keels dit captioned “as they pass through
(January). the Straits of Hormuz at sunset.”
For when did a Cornish
There is only one Strait of
pasty ever look like a dockyard
Hormuz in the same way as there
tortoise? I think Brian may have
is only one Strait of Dover, one
got confused by too much cider
Strait of Gibraltar, one Strait of
down in Oggie land.
Malacca, et cetera.
Dockyard tortoises are in fact
Collectively they are the plural
steak and kidney pies – served
straits but individually they are
upside-down.
the singular strait.
See the naval cook’s glossary
in my book Bomb Alley (Pen and
– Trevor Wand,
Sword Books Ltd).
Much Hadham, Herts
– David ‘Rowdy’ Yates, Thank you for setting us ‘strait’
Ventnor, Isle of Wight – Ed
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