30 NAVY NEWS, APRIL 2008
Doges’
Sad goodbye
dilemma
I WOULD like to reply to Mr my boss, a Rear Admiral. The
THANK you all for your
Benson’s letter (February) regard- 6th Fleet band played, speeches
responses to my picture of the
ing the disgust and anger he feels were made, a Navy Chief recited
ship in front of the Doges’ Palace.
towards about the way his son was a poem. Flags, certificates and
I had a letter from Mr
treated when he left the service. plaques were presented, tears were
Gladden, who lives in Great
Being discharged with a sheet shed (some very nearly by an RM
Yarmouth and was a stoker
of paper signed by an ‘Able Rate officer). Afterwards I remarked to
mechanic on board at the time.
Writer’ is of little importance. my boss that my retirement cer-
It is HMS Liverpool in the
Allowing himself to become emony would be much different.
middle of January 1949, he also
annoyed by this shows he is not July 7 2002 was topped off by
has an exact copy of that picture.
appreciating the point. five minutes in an office where
– Tom Hay, Turriff,
I would remind Mr Benson that I exchanged my ID card for a
Aberdeenshire
his son has very valuable skills computer-generated A4 certificate
Letters are still coming in, with
and training to take to a civilian in a plastic ring-binder sleeve,
Liverpool and Sheffield being
employer, courtesy of the Navy, two leaflets from the RNR and
the front-runners. The clincher
he has been paid a sizeable (tax- RNA and a piece of A4 with a
for me is a letter from Lt Mark
free) gratuity and now enjoys an UPO stamp to let me out of the
Veti, Fighter Controller 1 in HMS
(index-linked) pension for the rest main gate.
Liverpool. He was reading Navy
of his life. Thus I sympathise with Mr
News while having his lunch in
For my part, I realise the ben- Benson, it certainly took the shine
the wardroom (as you do) and
efits that my time in service has off my 22 years’ service. Surely
noticed the exact same photo-
brought me and feel very grateful those who reach pensionable age
graph on the bulkhead. So as
for them. of all ranks and rates are worth
he said, it’s definitely Liverpool
● No anti-fl ash for the Royal Horse Artillery as they carry out a Gun Salute Picture: Soldier Magazine
– or his ship has got the wrong
I joined the RN at about the more than two bits of A4.
picture – Ed
same time as his son with £3 – Paul ‘Taff’ Thomas, former
T-boat target
practice
Smoke and fury
to my name. My one remaining Leading Chef, Aberystwyth,
parent died before I completed Ceredigion
branch training and I joined the
... I SYMPATHISE with D
Fleet technically an orphan.
Benson. I left the Service in
My rise through the ranks was
September 2005 as a Chief Petty
more glacial than meteoric and
Offi cer after 40 years and four
I left after 23 years’ service as a
with her spare gun set up on the port side.
months of service (man and boy).
I TOO have a set of photographs
I WAS amused by Lt Cdr Nicholls’ letter
Leading Hand.
Both spare guns were manned. Fortunately neither
My Valedictory Certificate was
of HMS Ausonia being torpedoed
‘The Right Precautions’ (March) about gun However, upon termination of
by practice torpedoes. It took
salutes.
of us had a misfire so we never found out if the gun-
handed to me by a Leading Writer
service, I was able to use my gra-
place as part of a ‘families’ day.’
If this policy is followed by the Army, will we
ner on the misfiring ship would have ordered the
at HMS Nelson during my leav-
tuity to pay off a mortgage on a
Unfortunately after dropping
expect to see the Royal Horse Artillery arriving for
spare gun to take up the saluting sequence.
ing routine. It was not framed and
sizeable family home. Personally, I
the families off and setting off for
the Queen’s Birthday Parade salute dressed in anti-
I know that our Chief GI (Charlie Heffard) would
there was no mention that this
do not think that is a bad trade-off
Greece we had a luboil failure to
flash gear? And what about the horses?
have severely frowned on any one of our saluting guns
could or should be presented to
for 23 working years of my life.
one of the engine bearings and
The reference to the Queen’s Birthday salute
crew who flinched at the gun making a noise.
me at my last unit.
So I urge Mr Benson to adopt
Unless there have been great
we were towed back to Malta for
reminds me of June 2 1964. HMS Lynx tied up
He might have smiled whilst doing so to the stand- the “my glass is half-full not half-
strides in the last two-and-a-half
repairs, on completion of which
against the wall in Simonstown Harbour with HMS
by guns crew who were on the receiving end in the empty” attitude and appreciate
years, the whole process of leaving
we brought her home for scrap.
Jaguar tied up outboard of us. case of a misfire.
the benefits his son’s time in serv-
the Royal Navy seems very basic
Our submarine squadron, in
We had two saluting guns rigged on our port side I shared the salute with Her Majesty with my wife
ice will have brought him.
and clinical when compared with
my time on her in 1963-64, was
to fire over the jetty with the standby gun rigged on by the way, as at 1100 that day I received a signal say-
Regarding the demob suit, if
the other Armed Services.
S/M5 and consisted of Tiptoe,
the starboard side. ing that mother and newborn son were well.
Mr Benson’s son ever feels the
Having spoken with former
Turpin and Thermopylae, as
Jaguar had two guns rigged to fire over the harbour – Roger Breakwell, East Cosham, Portsmouth
need for a suit and trilby, I am
members of the Royal Marines,
Tiptoe was in the dockyard at
quite sure he is perfectly able to
Army and RAF, I conclude that
Malta, being ‘stretched’ the tor-
go out and buy one under his own
their process for dealing with
pedoes would have been fired by
steam!
either Turpin or Thermopylae.
– Jim Hudson,
retirees seems to be far superior,
West Rainton,
with presentations from senior
– Brian Wilkinson, Kingswood,
Co Durham
or commanding officers as the
Bristol ... WHILST serving in Naples in norm.
...THANK YOU for the wonder-
2001 I and approximately 150 Come on the RN, let’s make
ful memory that your photo of
other people were invited to at- people who are leaving after
HMS Ausonia being attacked by
tend the retirement ceremony of lengthy periods of service feel
dummy torpedoes off Malta in
a US Navy senior chief who had appreciated.
1964 brought back.
completed 21 years’ service. – Gordon Trenell, (former
At the time I was a 21-year-
The guest list included all CCY and CPO Careers Advisor),
old stoker on watch down the
senior NATO officers including Blackpool
engine room, and remember the
chief ERA telling me to ‘gag’ the
trips on the steam generator in
case they tripped out during the
attack.
Even though we had been
warned, when the torpedo hit the
engine room port hull plating the
● British and American offi cers pictured with Igor Sikorsky, his designers and the fl ying instructor at the
bang was terrific and I can assure
Sikorsky factory in 1943
you that we all needed a change
of underwear!
Thanks once again for the
memory of a very happy ship.
Sikorsky’s first flight
– Peter Lambourne,
Rochester, Kent BACK in May 2007 you published were given details of the helicopter enough for the helicopters to fly
a letter from Mr F Udell asking if designed by Igor Sikorsky. In a off and return.
it was true that a helicopter landed nearby field we saw a display of We joined the convoy to return
Wrong guy
on the deck of HMS Campania its capabilities. It was a very crude to England in October 1944. On
early in 1943. machine but had all the necessary arrival at Liverpool we had an
THERE is a slight error in The
I can assure him that it is not components to fly up, down, back- unfortunate mishap with one of
Grove Review (March).
true. Early in March 1943, when wards and sideways. the helicopters, but that’s another
Your Ship was not written
I was a Leading Air Fitter in For the remainder of our mis- story. The helicopters finally flew
by Capt Guy Hodgkinson,
the Fleet Air Arm, I was posted sion we were given instruction to the General Aircraft factory ● The senior members of HMS Scott’s wardroom – back row, left to
but by Lt Cdr R H (Hugh)
with several others to Gourock in and assisted in the production of in Feltham near London. After a right, Mr Kohler, Lt Cdr Jenks, the Rev Lamb, Cdr Swain, Lt Bullock,
Hodgkinson, the recent CO of
Scotland where we boarded the the first helicopters. The first two short period at this factory I was front row, Lt Jones, Lt Cdr Buck and Lt Mitchell
HMS Pytchley, who left the Navy
liner Queen Elizabeth. We sailed were destined for the US Army, drafted back to Lee-on-Solent.
soon afterwards to become a very
to America, landed in Nova Scotia the second two went to the US I haven’t given the exact dates
successful schoolmaster.
and took a train to Asbury Park on Navy and the next two were for of this assignment to America but
When I became CinC Western
the east coast. the Fleet Air Arm. the approximate dates are taken
Fleet in 1970 I reissued this
After a few days we travelled After the two helicopters were from my Certificate of Service.
Golden oldies
booklet, re-edited and brought
to Connecticut and met a Lt Cdr handed over to the British officers There must be Naval records of
up to date by Captain (later
RNVR, a Lt Tyler RN and three and the two pilots, RAF Lt Gable the correct dates to justify what
THE 14 offi cers of HMS Scott lieutenant. The youngest Lt is 24,
Vice Admiral Sir) Roderick
RAF officers. So far no one had and Lt Cdr Peat, had completed I have written, but there were no
wonder if they presently comprise the next youngest is almost 30.
MacDonald, the then Captain of
told us what we were in America their flying instruction, we were helicopters in this country in early
the oldest wardroom afl oat under At the other end of the scale
the Fleet.
for. embarked on a large merchant 1943 as stated in the Navy News
the White Ensign, with an average there are two wardroom members
– Admiral Sir William O’Brien
We were driven to the Sikorsky ship, HMS Dagerston, along with letter.
age of 37 years. in their 50s.
Prof Grove was grateful to have
Aircraft factory on the outskirts of the two helicopters. The ship had – W Moore, Owlthorpe,
They have no ‘Young Officers’ Can any RN ship beat this?
this additional information – Ed
Bridgeport. Here at the factory we a platform built on the stern large Sheffield
and no officer below the rank of – Lt Paul Mitchell, HMS Scott
opinion
WHEN the Armed Forces stopped wearing their uniforms in gauntlet of this abuse every day.
Leviathan Block, HMS Nelson, Portsmouth PO1 3HH
public in the 1970s, the serious threat came from the IRA. Nor would it solve the deeper malaise of a lack of
Now it seems that it comes from within our own country. respect for our Armed Forces. It is not just the bullies in
April 2008 no.645: 55th year
Men and women from RAF Wittering have been banned Peterborough who show it. The well-heeled neighbours of
Editorial Business
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Sarah Fletcher 4448
How gratifying it would be to exercise the Freedom of the students of University College, London, who used the
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