Shipbuilding is probably the most complicated and detailed engineering exercise, outside aeroplane design. The size of a ship, various hull designs, its use, all give multitudes of options from the thickness of the plates, to the design of door handles. All the equipment has to be installed which involves designing the positioning, the fixings and… Continue reading Royal Navy, Belfast Shipyard Part 2
Royal Navy, Belfast Shipyard Part 1.
To those who hate technicalities I apologise for this entry, For me it records something gone and lost never to be recovered. Whether that is good is debateable. In ’43, I was drafted to Belfast to supervise the radio installations on the warships being built there. The shipyard was vast, there were at least six… Continue reading Royal Navy, Belfast Shipyard Part 1.
Royal Navy, War-tine Belfast
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, War-tine Belfast
Royal Navy, Pompy and Psychiatry
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 barracks everyone went through the ritual… Continue reading Royal Navy, Pompy and Psychiatry
Royal Navy, Pompy Barracks’ Lost Navy
When I arrived in Portsmouth barracks, known as Pompy, 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… Continue reading Royal Navy, Pompy Barracks’ Lost Navy
Royal Navy, Leavong ‘Home’ for the unknown.
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, Leavong ‘Home’ for the unknown.
Royal Navy, The Witchita and the Tuscaloosa
I have mentiond the first part of this elsewhere, but this is the full picture. , The Wichita and the Tuscaloosa, two American cruisers arrived at Rosyth. The Americans had only recently entered the war and, I suspect, this fact affected the American’s attitude, they were doing us a favour coming over to help. Our… Continue reading Royal Navy, The Witchita and the Tuscaloosa
Royal Navy,’Hell’s a poppin’
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,’Hell’s a poppin’
Royal Navy,The dispicable incident of the grandfather clock
We had just come back from the Atlantic and were a day ahead of schedule so the Skipper, who was a Scot to his finger tips, decided we would drop anchor in a fjord in the North of Scotland, which we did. He went ashore to see some of his cronies. Apparently it was a… Continue reading Royal Navy,The dispicable incident of the grandfather clock
Royal Navy, The Golden River
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, The Golden River