NAVY NEWS, MAY 2008 17
Museum is
Stories of swash and buckle... and Jedis
Top scran for
touched up
ROYAL Navy football and rugby union have both celebrated their
top soldier
centenaries fairly recently.
THE fi nishing touches are being
But their 100 or so years of sporting achievement pale when
applied to one of the more
compared with navy fencing which, in 2008, is celebrating its
THE head of the British Army
joined recruits at HMS Raleigh
ornately-decorated museum
275th birthday.
when he formally opened their
ceilings in the British military.
The RN Amateur Fencing Association, which currently oversees
new dining facilities.
The Royal Marines Museum
the sport in the Senior Service, has only been around since the
General Sir Richard Dannatt,
in Southsea was once the
end of WW1.
Chief of the General Staff,
officers’ mess of Eastney
But fencing in the RN traces its history back to 1733 and the
spent a day at the Torpoint
Barracks.
appointment of the first fencing master to the service at the
establishment learning about its
And back in the 1860s
Naval Academy (now the Old Naval Academy) in Portsmouth.
role as the home of basic entry
with the British Empire at its
Among the luminaries who have picked up fencing swords in
training, the submarine school,
grandest, there was evidently
more recent history are Cdr Ferdinand Fielmann, a pioneering
the RN logistics school and
little expense spared.
submariner and Olympic champion in 1908 and 1912, fellow
boarding party tuition – among
A century and a half later,
Olympian Cdr E Brookfield who represented Britain at four
other functions.
the ceiling of the minstrel’s
games between 1908 and 1928, Lt Joe Field RM who coached
He sat down with junior
gallery needed some careful
the British team at the infamous Berlin games, and former British ratings in the new Victory
restoration work – the finely-
champion and Olympian Bob Anderson – the ex Royal went on Galley which is split for diners:
detailed plaster was beginning
to become a fight choreographer in Hollywood, advising on fight one part caters for new-entry
to come away from the wooden
scenes in Highlander, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. trainees, the other serves
laths it was attached to.
To celebrate the anniversary, the RNAFA is staging a free sailors posted to Raleigh for
The museum called in
exhibition at Westbury Manor Museum in Fareham between May more specialist training.
experts from Cliveden
1 and 23. Suitably satiated, the
Conservation to bind the ceiling Among the items on display are all the main RN pattern swords
general headed on to the
together as well as to carry out since the first one was introduced in 1805, the original fencing
water to tour HMS Brecon in
any necessary re-painting and
● Cutlas (sic) drill aboard a British battleship circa the turn of the
manual of 1784 and various prints, photographs and weapons the River Lynher. The Hunt-
re-modelling work.
20th Century
from the past three centuries. class minehunter now teaches
To do so, they needed to
rookie sailors about living in
remove most of the paintings
a confined space and more
from the gallery (save for
A Tall act to follow
experienced ones about the
the picture of George III on
arts of seamanship and force
horseback which was too
protection.
large and had to be covered
The general’s visit ended
up instead), while countless
with the weekly passing-out
boards on the floor above were
parade with Sir Richard taking
lifted to give the conservators
the salute as 56 men and
additional access.
women successfully completed
Lifting up those boards
READER, if you seek his
the ravages of the elements and “Sailors deserve a national spent locked in an underwater
their nine-week initiation into
opened up a timeline of history:
legacy, look around you.
pigeons have taken their toll. The museum and they have a right game of chess with the Soviet Navy
the Senior Service.
workers found newspaper
cuttings from 1976, notes and
Those words, inscribed on the
good news is that a £4m package to expect one so that there’s a – a struggle whose importance few
tools from when the building
tomb of Sir Christopher Wren, are
of work is under way to preserve continuous story,” says Cdr Tall. people beyond the Submarine
an equally apt epitaph for Cdr Jeff
her. “I want to see the White Ensign Service appreciate.
First Lynx’s
was wired up in 1923, and
cigarette packets which would
Tall.
The historic submarines are the fl ying proudly, celebrating the fact “Our contribution to the Cold
be worth a bob or two today.
In 14 years at the helm of
jewels in the crown of the museum, that this is the Service which put War was total and utter harassment
the Royal Navy Submarine
but looking after them, as one of the ‘great’ in Great Britain.” of the Soviets. They tried to keep
last fl ight
“There is an enormous sense
of pride in seeing such sensitive
Museum, the passionate deep has
Cdr Tall’s colleagues once pointed Cdr Tall is in no doubt – there is up with us with a massive building
restoration taking place” said
transformed and modernised this
out, “is a road to hell paved with a constant, common bond linking programme which eventually cost
THE fi rst Fleet Air Arm Lynx
the museum’s marketing
living monument to submariners
good intentions”. those men who volunteered for them the Cold War,” he says.
to clock up 8,000 hours in the
manager Sandy Wilson, “and
past and present.
Machines, of course, are HM Submarine No.1 107 years “The world today is not a stable
skies has fl own for the fi nal
real enjoyment in discovering
The title of Director of the
nothing without the men who ago and today’s nuclear submarine place. We need to maintain our
time.
aspects of the building’s life
RN Submarine Museum now
operate them. One of the offi cer’s crews. national deterrent and we need
XZ257 first took to the skies
through our little discoveries.
belongs to Marion Budgett, who
proudest legacies is the garden “Submariners always operate forces which pack a big punch. I’m
in 1980.
“It really brings home the
previously oversaw the national
of remembrance which lists the in a hostile environment. They are in no doubt that the submarine
Twenty-eight years later,
many people who have been
motor museum at Beaulieu and
names of every submariner lost possessed by a desire to serve in story will continue.”
815 Naval Air Squadron’s CO
involved with this wonderful
helped to run the RAF museum in
since 1901, in war or peace. a team in a very technologically- And it will – not least with input
Cdr Alun Jones and veteran
building.”
Hendon.
Names were added as recently as challenging environment,” he says, from Cdr Jeff Tall. He is now the
Lynx flier Lt Jerry Tribe climbed
She inherits an organisation
March 2007 following the oxygen adding: “There’s a touch of the Honorary Regimental Secretary
into the cockpit to ferry the
Freetown
very different from the one Jeff Tall
canister explosion aboard HMS pirate about any man who wears for the Royal Navy Submarine
venerable helicopter into
took charge of some 14 years ago.
Tireless. the dolphins badge.” Service – a newly-created post
storage.
The Royal Navy Submarine
The submarine museum is one The insignia is a relatively whose role is described as “keeping
It wasn’t only XZ257 making
shakedown
Museum, 1994 vintage, was a
of four telling the story of the recent addition to the Silent alive the vital link between ‘badge
its final flight; after 19 years
small venture with a handful of
Senior Service – the RN, Fleet Air Service, but it’s a mark of honour wearers’ and their heritage”, in
and 3,300 flying hours in Lynx,
prized exhibits and with a distinct
Arm and Royal Marines museums – and comradeship – which one short ensuring the submarine
Lt Tribe was also taking his last
‘family feeling’.
complete the quartet. submariner likened to the green family never forgets its own and is
journey in the mainstay of the
FRIGATE HMS Kent has
The RN Submarine Museum
Each recount the deeds of their beret (see our Vengeance feature on never forgotten.
frigate and destroyer fleet.
been busy helping the people of
of 2008 is in many ways still the
particularly branch with aplomb, pages 14 and 15). For like all in the RN, he views
The helicopter will now be
Freeport.
same – it’s still run by a submarine
but it’s diffi cult at times to see the With and without that insignia, our tradition as something to
used for parts under the Future
Freeport, Bahamas?
‘family’ who care passionately
bigger picture. Jeff Tall has lived and breathed be proud of, something to build
Lynx Project which will provide
Freeport, Florida?
about their subject and there are
The goal ultimately is to create nothing but submarines day in, upon.
the Fleet Air Arm with the
Freeport, New York?
still those prized exhibits.
the National Museum of the Royal day out since entering Dartmouth “Unless you know where you
next-generation version of the
Nope, Freeport, Plymouth.
But whereas Holland I – the
Navy, an umbrella organisation to 44 years ago. He commanded four have been, you don’t know where
aircraft from 2013.
Not somewhere you will find
Wright Flyer of the submarine
oversee and advise the individual boats, including a ‘bomber’ and you are going,” he imparts.
on the map, but a fictitious place
world – was slowly dying of ‘metal
museums. The Imperial War also advised Sandy Woodward
in need of assistance as Kent
cancer’, it is now preserved in
and Science Museums, for during the Falklands
geared up for an impending
perpetuity within a purpose-built
example, operate numerous confl ict
● Cdr Jeff Tall in front of
deployment.
exhibition hall.
sites. Most of his days at
the Fieldhouse Building
The Portsmouth-based warship
And the “inadequate galleries”
sea were
at the RN Submarine
popped down the coast for
Museum
of 1994 have now been joined
some Operational Sea Training,
Picture: Portsmouth News
by the futuristic, bulbous
which opened with a fortnight of
Fieldhouse building.
‘directed shakedown’.
Time has not been
That is intended to blow off
quite so kind to
any cobwebs in the ship and her
HMS Alliance. She
180 men and women – Kent has
still sits on her
undergone some maintenance
plinths above
over the winter, including the
the water, but
change of two diesel generators.
The ship’s marine engineering
department and support firm
FSL carefully extracted the old
Paxman Valenta diesels... and
carefully craned and manoeuvred
the new ones into place.
Shakedown tested the
machinery to ensure it is fit HP BOOKFINDERS: Established
for the rigours of OST, while
professional service locating out
Kent’s ship’s company fought off
of print titles on all
‘enemy’ aircraft and tackled ‘fires’
subjects. No obligation or SAE
caused by those nice FOSTies.
And Freetown?
required. Contact: Mosslaird,
Well, the fictional town was at
Brig O’ Turk, Callander, FK17 8HT
the heart of the political tension
Telephone/Fax: (01877) 376377
which led to Kent being called martin@hp-bookfinders.co.uk
into action. www.hp-bookfinders.co.uk
Lusty in the limelight
AFTER Shipmates and Commando, the spotlight falls For every 70 hours of fi lm shot by the team, 69
upon HMS Illustrious now with a TV documentary have ended on the cutting room fl oor (that’s two
dedicated to the ship’s 2008 deployment. and a half weeks of footage recorded for the six-hour
Warship, which is due to air on Channel 5 this documentary).
month – check TV listings as the date for the fi rst “What’s made it diffi cult is that there’s been a team
programme has changed a few times already – charts of just three people on board – for a documentary
the highs and lows of Lusty’s year so far, from leaving of this scope and size you’d normally require three
Pompey and spending the fi rst month or so stuck in camera crews,” explained producer/director Kate
UK waters for a variety of reasons, to visiting Malta Jackson.
and steaming to the Gulf of Oman with her Merlins “But we’ve had amazing access to the ship and her
and Harriers. sailors – we’ve done pretty much everything.
To produce the six-episode documentary, its “I hope that viewers fi nd it as amazing an experience
makers Granada have lived and breathed Lusty like as I have done. It’s a unique environment.”
her ship’s company (minus the No.8s and steaming An amazing experience, but one not necessarily
bats, however), sending tape after tape back to the UK to be repeated by the documentary team. “Naval life
for a team in London to edit and put together into the never stops – you have no time to yourself and that’s
fi nished programme, complete with narration. something that you really miss,” said Kate.
017_NN_May.indd 1 21/4/08 10:33:19
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56