First posted August ’06 The Diving Course, taught by serving Petty and Chief Petty Officer Divers, was mostly practical, and had hairy moments. In fact they taught at such a rate one tended to forget all but the frightening bits. We were taught to signal with the air-line and lifeline, how to inflate the suit… Continue reading The Ancient Art Of Helmet Diving Part 2
Category: Royal Navy
Islands of Stimulation in a Sea of Monotony
There is nothing more stimulating than sitting on a button on a warship when it is gathering speed. Button is the term used for the round pancake of wood set on top of the mast to protect the end from the weather. Radar relies on signals received through a special cable which connects the set… Continue reading Islands of Stimulation in a Sea of Monotony
TV Shenanigans,The Change of the Watch
The latter was posted in August ’06 ` TV Shenanigans, essentially TV is a theatre in the home, hence one must expect poetic licence, deceit, and for things not to be what they appear. As a cynic I am prepared to accept much of what I see because it is entertainment, and consequently it is… Continue reading TV Shenanigans,The Change of the Watch
Tha Passing Out Parade
By the time you have read this you will appreciate that there is more than one meaning to ‘passing out’ and the one in a military sense is not intended. We had suffered more than our fair share of bad weather and our convoy duty had not been so much dangerous as stressful as well… Continue reading Tha Passing Out Parade
The Charade of ‘Defaulters’
I believe that the Service was suspended in the aspic of time, almost ever since the days of Nelson – until the war, with the sudden alterations in thought and deed which that emergency and the introduction of civilians forced upon it. In turn the Nelson syndrome was thrust upon us at every opportunity by… Continue reading The Charade of ‘Defaulters’
Life On A Small Ship
Previously Posted in August 2006 In my time in the Navy, the people most respected as groups, were the Submariners and the Divers. Not totally because of the risk, but because the conditions of their training and work were the toughest. Subs were merely lethal weapons first and last, and the comfort of the men… Continue reading Life On A Small Ship
The Chiefs Course And Beyond
Isle Of Man, Two, A careless death The second visit to the Isle of Man was an entirely different experience, we were now Petty Officers with the privileges that entailed. The work if anything was harder, and the sets we were learning were much more sophisticated and in some cases as big as a small… Continue reading The Chiefs Course And Beyond
The Library and PT
The Library I have already described the way we lived in general, with me doing most of the catering for our mess and the E Boat problems. How we were provided with German speakers whose sole purpose was to listen through the hours of darkness for the officers on the ‘E’ Boats, communicating in German… Continue reading The Library and PT
You’re No Use To Me
As Part of the Newcastle training we had to learn lathe work, forging and bench work at the Metalwork classes, a re-run of my Matriculation syllabus. This was an opportunity for me to relax. One day I was working on a lathe when I found a note complaining that the machine had been left dirty.… Continue reading You’re No Use To Me
In Praise of a Lost Art
The making of a ‘Prick’ of tobacco. The ration was supplied in leaf form, as the name implied, with stalks and all, and I intended to turn this mass of dried cabbage into a plug of tobacco, which could challenge any in a tobacconists shop. Just writing that has made me realise there are few… Continue reading In Praise of a Lost Art