NAVY NEWS, AUGUST 2008 25
LETTERS to the editor should always be volume of letters, we cannot publish all of
Hood was not
accompanied by the correspondent’s your correspondence in Navy News.
name and address, not necessarily for We look for correspondence which stim-
publication. E-mail correspondents ulates debate, makes us laugh or raises
are also requested to provide this important issues. We particularly seek
information. letters from serving personnel to open
Letters cannot be submitted up debate on issues that matter to
over the telephone. you.
a happy ship
If you submit a photograph Please try to keep your submis-
that you did not take your- sions as brief as possible
self, please make sure that – our space is limited.
you have the permissions The editor reserves the
for us to publish it. right to edit your sub-
Given the impressive missions.
Professor Eric Grove’s review of my book Now, not even Prof Grove could dispute anything
The Battlecruiser HMS Hood: An Illustrated
these men chose to record of their personal experi-
Biography, 1916–1941 makes interesting
ences and impressions – even if they weren’t balanced
reading. Considerations of space limit me
by the countervailing ones he himself illustrates.
to addressing only the grosser points in his
Of course, what he resents is that such views should
have been aired at all, that the rose-tinted vision of
review.
Hood’s last years should have been rudely shattered
This ‘second edition’ as Prof Grove calls it is,
by the overwhelming evidence of her reduced morale
by publisher diktat, no more than a reprint of the
and pitiful condition.
original edition of 2005 with the replacement of an
As an example of ex post facto censorship and rank
inaccurate photo and the inclusion of a dozen minor
bad scholarship his comments could hardly be bet-
textual changes.
tered.
Dr Brooks was indeed kind enough to share part
Prof Grove’s last paragraphs on the cause of
of his unpublished work with me in 2004 but his
Hood’s sinking bring us in their turn to the cause of
arguments were so explosive that I chose to reserve
his splenetic outburst.
judgement on the matter until Prof Jon Sumida had
The issue is another upon which I expressly reserve
had a chance to respond.
judgement in my book and I take great pains to steer
I would have taken this course even had I not been
a middle course on the subject. Not so Prof Grove
within a fortnight of my publisher’s submission date.
who decides to use this review as a vehicle for venting
Prof Grove has plainly read the note I inserted to his frustration at the failure of a single technically-
this effect on page 48 of my book; why then does he qualified expert (of any nationality) to support his
choose flagrantly to misrepresent me as having taken own musings.
sides in the debate? All in all, the tone and content of Prof Grove’s
Prof Grove takes indignant exception to four of review are a fuller statement on his status as “a
the 150 Hood veterans whose testimonies I used in professional naval historian” than any lines of mine
researching this book: AB Len Wincott (bored to could express.
be aboard in 1926), Boy Seamen Fred and Frank My final comment to Prof Grove is that, beginning
Coombs (subsequent winners of the DSM) and the with the introduction, he needs to get the most out of
“member of the Engineering Branch” who as he his investment by reading all of its content, particu-
knows is Vice-Admiral Sir Louis Le Bailly, one of larly if he intends to make further review of it.
Britain’s greatest living sailors. – Dr Bruce Taylor, Los Angeles, California
What’s it mean to be
Ship fit for
Becky the Beans?
a Queen
WHEN I was working with the RAF Regiment in Norfolk in July, we
REGARDING the naming of
were evacuated (casevac’d) by an RN Lynx helicopter.
the new carrier HMS Queen
The pilot was named Becky and the observer was named Jimmy –
Elizabeth, I like to think the name
‘Aussie.’ Unfortunately I can only remember their first names.
chosen by the powers that be was
This lady was the best pilot I have ever flown with. She made that
in memory of that famous old
aircraft dance. I do speak from experience – I am ex-Navy.
battleship the QE, known as The
We nicknamed her ‘Becky the Beans’ because every time she
Flagship of the World, named after
flew us out she gave it the ‘beans’.
the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth 1.
I have no way of talking to her, or Jimmy, but would like to pass
Sadly she was sunk in
on my thanks to both pilot and observer for a great couple of days. Alexandria in Egypt in World
They were exemplary in their professionalism and character. War 2. She was my first ship
I work for a company called Amputees in Action. We do casualty which I joined in 1935 and I
simulation for the Armed Services. Please pass on our appreciation served in her for two years until
to Becky and Jimmy, we did not get the chance when we were at
she went in for a refit after the
work.
Coronation Review in 1937.
Just tell them it’s from the ‘old boy’ Steve with pipe and one leg,
I write this because no other
‘the boy’ Jack, young, with one leg, and John, in-betweeny, with
person has mentioned this and
one arm.
this is probably my last letter to
We had a fantastic time being flown by Jimmy and Becky. She is
Navy News because I am now 92.
a great pilot, and the Navy should be seriously proud of her.
– R A Picken, ex-CPO,
– Steve Beerling, ex-MEM and war pensioner, Maidstone
At the risk of making them blush, we traced Lt Becky Frater and Lt
Basildon, Essex
Jimmy ‘Aussie’ Hawley to 815 Squadron at RNAS Yeovilton. Jimmy is
The latest graphics released by
on exchange from the Royal Australian Navy – no prizes for guessing
the MOD for the future carriers
that one. can be found on the poster
Still not sure what ‘giving it the beans’ means, but the passengers in our centre pages this month
seem to have enjoyed it – Ed – Ed
0024-025_NN_aug08 really.indd 224-025_NN_aug08 really.indd 2 113/7/08 11:10:303/7/08 11:10:30
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