Old Gaffer

Within a very short time of being in Barracks I was given my draft to Belfast, some place in Ireland I had never heard of, in a country I knew nothing about. My mental image when I received the news was of being sent to a windswept, featureless bog with small white houses dotted about.… Continue reading Royal navy 1941 to ’46 in order, A Sailor’s Wartime Belfast

When I arrived in Portsmouth barracks I found yet another illustration of the practical use of psychology, and while it was on a more lowly plane it was no less effective, it was the axiom of the ‘Messenger’. Those who wished to remain in barracks without let or hindrance, as the lawyers might say, fully… Continue reading Royal Navy 1941 t0 to ’46 in order, Pompey Barracks’ Lost Navy

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 Royal Navy 1941 to ’46, The Passing Out Parade

Pompey Barracks – Portsmouth To You! After leaving the ship, in due course I reached barracks in Portsmouth to await another draft. It was the first time I had been there to stay for more than a couple of days and I soon discovered it was a world of its own. Immediately on arrival in… Continue reading Royal Navy 1941 to 46 in order, Pompey and Psychiatry

By the time I was drafted I looked upon the destroyer almost as home and the prospect of Barracks made me even sorrier to leave. However, I had no choice and was sent back to Barracks. I suspect it was at the behest of a shore-based officer whose feathers I had ruffled. I had had… Continue reading Royal Navy 1941 to ’46 in order, Leaving Home for the Unknown

We were entering harbour with our new Skipper in charge and most of the crew were getting into what was referred to as their Number Ones, their shore-going gear, their Sunday suits, when suddenly we were thrown to the deck. We’d hit the harbour wall. It was at the time when our place at the… Continue reading Royal Navy 1941 to ’46 in order, Hell’s-a-Poppin’.

If the wide screen is to be believed, in the days of the great railroad expansion in the USA, there was a tradition that on the completion of a section of track, a golden spike was ceremoniously driven into the last tie. In the Navy there was a legend that every wooden warship had a… Continue reading Royal Navy 1941 to ’46 in order, The Golden Rivet

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 Royal Navy 1941 to ’46 in order, Islands of Stimulation in a Sea of Monotony