24 NAVY NEWS, AUGUST 2008
Rum
Making free
do on
with signals
Polaris
I WAS most surprised to see the the wall and everything that could
Fleet disposition on your Global be construed as RESTRICTED
THE excellent ‘bombers’ article
Reach page, as you will, I hope, or above gone, even the messages
(May) brought 40-year-old
understand when you read this from the teleprinter.
memories fl ooding back, having
letter. Apparently the officer of the
served in HMS Resolution
During the 60s, when I was day had checked the MSO on his
(Starboard) as the Chief EA/
ship’s company at HMS Mercury, rounds during the weekend and
nuclear watchkeeper on the
I went on loan draft to HMS to his delight saw the telexes on
second Polaris patrol in 1968 and
Excellent, whilst their Yeoman had the wall and then went to town on
subsequently.
his annual leave, and ended up in everything else.
Not a lot seems to have
the rattle for having the telex list The Yeoman and I were put on
changed, though back then we
of ships, connected to the DTN defaulters, and stopping short of
were allowed only one 40-word
(Teleprinter Network) up on the saying “it wasn’t me sir, they were
familygram a week.
wall in the MSO. there already,” I got seven days
Also each man then had to
Apparently this information was stoppage of leave.
decide for himself before patrol if
useful to the enemy. Rough justice I think,
he wished to receive bad family
I returned from weekend leave considering the freedom of
news during it – it was made
to face the first day on my own to information nowadays.
abundantly clear (this being
find the combination of the safe – David Dibben, ex-RO2(T)
the Cold War) that under no
changed, all the telexes stripped off 1962-1974, Hornchurch, Essex
circumstances would the security
of the patrol be compromised by
surfacing to offload anyone – so
presumably a death would be
You don’t know Jack
dealt with by discharge through a
tube – I never asked.
JACK Kettle was a Chatham-based shipwright who fi nished his time
I can still recall the uneasy
in the Navy as a Warrant Offi cer. When he was pensioned from the RN
feeling on hearing the alarms
he worked at the Dockyard in Chatham where he continued to do the
sound, if not prefixed by the pipe
‘for exercise, for exercise’ – was
this it?
The tot was still in issue then,
if you had the afternoon, the
We canal
cartoons.
He lived in Gillingham and had two daughters, one of whom I was
married to.
– Reg Ling, Middle Green, South Bucks
YOUR article on a very brave man, Jack Mantle (May) was somewhat
unwritten rule was that you had spoiled by the words “operating his 2pdr pom-pom gun” when it is actu-
it after your watch. ally a Quadruple 0.5” machine-gun.
The flaw in this reasoning
is obvious, given the awesome
nature of our arsenal, the
complexity of systems and thus
see the Fleet
The weapon abounded early in World War 2 ships and was replaced
by 20mm guns.
– Andrew ‘Tiger’ Timpson, ex Chief Ordnance Artificer,
Birchington, Kent
the need for a clear head 24/7 to
launch an instant counter-strike
at any hour of day or night. As COULD I appeal through from anyone on my email she was fitted with a wartime
Know a Trafalgar lad?
the article says, it was not talked
your columns to anyone who
talwaldron@yahoo.co.uk or on midget submarine periscope) and
about.
served in the RN’s Naval
07813 806508. Sheffield on a Type 42 destroyer.
At least we knew the potential
enemies – the lads today must
Inland Waterways Fleet
– Terry Waldron About 200,000 visitors went
I AM currently serving at RNAS Culdrose and my wife is too, as a chef.
wonder at whom their terrible
and may have information,
The photo shows (left to right)
to see the jolly little ships on
I have a friendly bet with her that we are the only serving couple in
their tour, although our files don’t
the RN who have a child born on Trafalgar Day.
weapons are targeted, or indeed if
photos or anecdotes?
Cleopatra, London, Renown
reveal what finally became of
Do any readers know different? Our son had his first birthday on the
any country is selected at all, now
I am assisting the National
and Sheffield, after their popular
them – Ed
200th anniversary, in 2005.
that we all love each other! Inland Waterways Museum and
nationwide tour in 1974.
– Michael Smith, Helston
Good luck to them all. the Waterways Trust at Ellesmere
The miniature warships visited
50 cities, towns and villages to
– Derek Thorne, Titchfield, Port to find out more about this
publicise the Navy as part of the
Hants fleet.
RN’s Canals Touring Exhibition.
I remember the four
The four craft were scaled-
Thank you
narrowboats that were attached
down versions of real ships and
to either the Naval Display Team
Zeebrugge losses
submarines, with superstructures
and/or the Naval Careers Service
mounted on traditional narrow
in the 1970s.
YOU kindly posted an appeal
boat hulls.
I ENJOYED the exciting and read-
I would like to research the
They were 60 feet long, with
from me last year looking for
able article on the Zeebrugge Raid
history of the boats, who built
a beam of seven feet, and
survivors from HMS Martin,
(April) but there were a couple of
them and when, how they were
were fitted inside with actual
sunk off the coast of Algiers in
omissions which puzzled me.
operated, where they went, and
equipment used in HM ships, to
November 1942.
Firstly, there is no mention of
what was their main purpose?
give some of the flavour of a front
I must apologise for the
submarine C1, apart from it being
The information will be kept in
line warship.
delay in thanking you and your
mentioned in the plan to ram the
the National Waterways Museum Cleopatra was based on a
readers. The response has been
mole with C3.
Library Archive as a part of Leander-class frigate, London
overwhelming – I have received
Secondly the two blockships
the History of the Inland on a County-class guided
letters and telephone calls from
which penetrated the canal con-
Waterways. missile destroyer, Renown on
survivors and relatives alike
siderably further than HMS Thetis
I would be pleased to hear a Polaris submarine (although
searching for friends and loved
(HMS Iphigenia and Intrepid)
ones.
Only recently I received a letter
from a survivor, George Dance, Emmaus house
receive no mention apart from
being part of the plan to block
the canal.
and his wife, Joan, both in their
The trials and tribulations of
80s. When I listen to the stories
I WORK for Emmaus Hampshire, the homeless charity that works. Thetis are described in detail
one can sense the deep unspoken
In March we started building the first Emmaus Community in together with the rest of the Naval
pain and loss for their comrades
Hampshire on the outskirts of Winchester.
force. These two old cruisers and
and yet there seems to be a great
An Emmaus Community is a ‘live/work’ place for previously homeless
their skeleton crews must have
joy and belief in our country.
men and women who really want to rejoin society. Companions, as those
suffered as much if not more than
I am sure our gratitude has
who live in Emmaus Communities are called, sign off state benefits and
Thetis, and there seem to have
been expressed many times and
agree to work a 40-hour week within the community.
been no awards made to their
these men and women will not
In return they have a home and a small income and assistance with
companies.
be forgotten. The sad part is we
dealing with any problems they may have. Over 20 per cent of the com-
It is astonishing that the raid was interest to me since my father was describing the history and devel-
never seem to learn, but maybe
panions who have lived in the 15 communities already up and running
even contemplated. The chances
a Chief Motor Mechanic in CMB opment of CMBs and the part
war is part of life. As I wrote
in the UK have been ex-servicemen and women.
of blocking the canal effectively
35 with Lt E E Hill as skipper, they played in the Great War.
during my research:
We will open our doors for business in spring 2009. We are still fund-
with blockships must have been
and I believe their function in the I have part 2 of this booklet
“Our mothers gave us life, our raising to achieve the £500,000 needed to cover start-up costs, but now
seen as very slim.
air raid was smoke-screening off (published after 1919) which also
fathers gave us bread, our brave that we are in mid-build are increasingly looking for gifts in kind and for
We lost three cruisers (albeit
Blankenberghe. recounts the attack on Kronstadt
soldiers died for us so we may groups prepared to stage events and, eventually, to help on site.
quite old, but not that old) two
The photograph (above) which and other operations in Russian
live instead. Is there a naval ship or establishment currently looking for a new
submarines, very bad damage to
my father cherished, shows a waters, together with a list of the
“So how should we repay the cause to support? If so then why not adopt Emmaus Hampshire?
Vindictive, a lot of brave men and
group of Chief Motor Mechanics officers and men who were lost at
ones we love so dear? It would be For more information please see www.emmaushampshire.org.uk or
a lot of time and training for what?
taken at Dover in 1919, including Kronstadt.
to live our lives in harmony and contact me at mike.matthews@emmaushampshire.org.uk tel. 01590
– virtually nothing.
Lt Dayrell-Reed. – Philip Mottershead,
cause no-one to fear.” 624033
– Arnold Melhuish, Plymouth
Messrs Thorneycroft and Seaman Radar Branch, 1944-47,
– Henry Watson, Edinburgh – Mike Matthews Captain RN (ret’d) Brockenhurst, Hampshire ...THE supplement was of special Co Ltd published a booklet Sale, Cheshire
opinion
DUNDEE this year, Londonderry the next, are there no limits and by the shipmates representing the nation at the Garden
to the reach of the Royal Naval Association and its annual of Remembrance in Caen.
Leviathan Block, HMS Nelson, Portsmouth PO1 3HH
conference? Then, France will be cheaper than many UK venues, and
Actually not, because shipmates have voted to hold their the conference might attract more delegates than usual,
August 2008 no.649: 55th year
2010 RNA conference in – France. who will take their families along for the five-day visit. The
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