26 NAVY NEWS, JULY 2010


Basil’s gone to ground


MAY’S Mystery Ship brought back memories. The ship was HMS Fox and I joined her in 1968 in Lowestoft while she was still building. As PO Writer I had a whole range of jobs and one of them was to act as social secretary. It was my children who suggested adopting Basil Brush as our mascot. (I favoured adopting a pub but none of those that I contacted felt they could bear the cost of the free beer.) I arranged the visit to the BBC for the recording of The Basil Brush Show (at the suggestion of my children) and a good time we had.


‘Known unto God’ in Norwegian land


FURTHER to the splendid supplement Slaughter in the Fjords (April) and subsequent letters on the subject, I would like to add my observations of a Narvik visit two years ago to see what evidence remained of


the Royal Navy’s action. I found only three, a German


After the show we adjourned to the bar where I was approached by an actor in a very strange garb who complimented me on the authenticity of our uniforms! He thought we were extras... As a sequel to the BBC trip the producers arranged for part of a later show to be filmed onboard. At one stage I was called to


destroyer’s bows, the Red Cross War Museum, and three civilian cemeteries with a few RN graves. A long way up Rombaksfjord are the orange rusty remains of the German destroyer Georg Thiele gradually slipping into the sea for the last 70 years, unrecognisable as a former warship. However in the Narvik action with a torpedo she did blow the bows off the destroyer HMS Eskimo.


the bridge and told that ‘for the purposes of the exercise’ I would be the Navigating Officer and had to stand behind the chart table, remove my specs, and smile and nod as I was ‘introduced’ to Basil. I must have been good at it – they made me do it four times. My children were most impressed with my three seconds of screen time.


was presented with our own Basil Brush in a glass case, which was mounted on a bulkhead just outside the sickbay. I’ve often wondered what happened to it – presumably it languishes in some trophy store. I also often wonder what happened to the other members of the ship’s company from that first commission – I seem to be the only one who is a member of the Survey Ships’ Association. – Malcolm Clarke,


ex-PO Writer, Westbury on Trym


We tried to run Basil to earth in the Nelson trophy store, but drew a blank.


Quorn, or one of her sister ships, and “nothing more was ever seen of that foxy-whiskered gentleman” – Managing Ed.


Old Formy


I FOUND Les Wills’ account of his trip to Japan (RNA pages, April) very interesting, especially his list of ships with numbers of crew killed in action. I was a crew member on the most damaged ship in the British Pacific Fleet. Twice hit by kamikazes, then a major fire caused when an FAA fitter fired a Corsair’s guns into the petrol tank of an Avenger torpedo bomber. All the planes were destroyed. The ship whose name and deaths were not on the list was the fleet carrier HMS Formidable. – T Day, Parkstone, Poole, Dorset


Perhaps he ran into HMS At the end of the visit the ship


Through the local Information Bureau I visited the Red Cross War Museum and saw a short film of the action, mostly composed of computer re-enactment.


The museum exhibits are interesting and of good quality, but a lack of information in English marred the visit, as I noted in the visitors’ book.


As for the RN sailors’ war


graves, I found only three sites, all within local cemeteries. Halvik, about three-and-a-half miles out of Narvik, contains two rows of 17 – 34 in total. Only two ratings from HMS Hunter are identified, the remaining 32 are anonymous from HMS Hardy, ‘Sailors of the Second World War Known unto God’ (KuG).


I took a few photographs (one


inset) and paused for a while. Narvik New Cemetery has 24


naval headstones, only half are identified, the remainder KuG. Nearly 16 miles away is Ballangen cemetery,


containing


28 graves, mostly sailors from HM ships Hardy and Hunter, including Capt Warburton-Lee. I did wonder about relatives coming here to visit the resting place of their menfolk. If searches were in vain they must be amongst those anonymous


graves, well over half the sailors interned in Narvik, hastily buried with only crude markings. Norway was under German


occupation for over five years, little wonder when officials from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission came to re-inter the many scattered RN graves they were buried without full identification. Yet I did wonder, surely they had identity discs, clothing marked with their names, the Commission


Donny rules the waves


WHAT a great photo of PO ‘Donny’


‘brrrrrave,


dedicated display of waterskiing past Helensburgh on behalf of Armed Forces Day (June p10 and reproduced right). Soaked and frozen, yet flying the flag and giving a correct salute. I married a Helensburgh lass in 1940, we were both RN and worked and lived there for several years.


gone down the Clyde since. – Jack B Quin, Newtown, Powys


A blow for accuracy


I WROTE to you in May about the ribs in Lagos where bulk carriers were described as ‘tankers.’ This time my point is on


Astute’s diving – on page 7 (June) you described her ‘blowing her tanks.’


When boats dive they flood their tanks, they blow to surface. – Brian Taylor, ex-submariner, Hunmanby, North Yorkshire


Of course, a lot of water has


STAN COLLIS was not the only PO too young to draw his tot (letters, June). I was a PO, TAG 2 at HMS Urley two months before my 20th birthday.


No tot for tots


– Leon Dunmore, Kintbury, Berkshire


...MY promotion to Yeoman of Signals came two days before my 20th birthday.


I was trained at HMS St George in the Isle of Man. Many ERAs and OAs reached PO level fairly quickly. Some of them were probably too young for rum when in the POs mess, especially towards the end of the war. Sorry to disappoint you, Stan. Pity I can’t offer a belated tot in sympathy!


– John Solway, Orpington, Kent


Much regret you’re wrong


AS A retired RN offi cer I would


dispute your statement in the Comment page (June) that “MRU” is “many regrets unavailable” when it has always been accepted as “much regret unable”.


Senior Communication Specialists in the Canberra branch of the RNA endorse my opinion. – Lt Cdr R L Smith


Osmond and his brrrrrilliant’


and


Amazon voucher to the letter


which amuses, impresses or enlightens us the most.


A £25


would have had ships’ muster rolls.


The Hardy and the Hunter’s


men would have known each other – the Jocks, the Taffs, the Micks, the Janners, the Brummies, the Scousers and men and boys from the shires now all lie in a foreign field, in neat uniform rows as though on parade at divisions.


– Eddie Summerfold,


Hon Sec, HMS Opossum Association, Bury, Lancs


Navy in the Battle of Britain


IT IS 70 years ago that the Battle of Britain was fought and very little has been said about the part played by the Royal Navy. The magnificent part played by the RAF has been very well- documented and publicised with the saying by Churchill: “never was so much owed by so many to so few.” Well done, as was said in the


days of 1940. I was a member of the ship’s


company of HMS Hambledon in 1940 and we were stationed at Sheerness as part of the 21st Destroyer Flotilla. We were Senior Officer of the Flotilla which comprised three destroyers: Hambledon, Garth and Atherstone. There was also a cruiser there


Fleet was stationed at Scapa Flow at four hours’ notice for steam. From soon after Dunkirk we used to sail every night from 6pm to 6am to patrol the Dutch coast and down to the French Channel ports on anti-invasion patrol. As Senior Officer we used to lead the other two destroyers in line ahead. We had several fights with


E-boats but no casualties on our side.


November or December 1940 when Hitler called off Operation Sea Lion and turned his attention to Russia.


patrol and detonated an acoustic mine under our stern which severely damaged the ship but we were towed back to Sheerness and in due course were repaired. I was severely wounded in this incident and spent two years and three months in hospital. – Frank Shaw (ex Ganges Boy 1937) Colchester, Essex


Cold war warriors frozen out


I AM writing in response to your article detailing the award of a Bomber Pin to serving SSBN submariners (May p4). The lack of recognition given to those who fought the Cold War has long been a bone of contention for those of us who spent a large part of our seagoing career on operational SSBN patrols.


So I was incensed to read that our lords and masters only consider it necessary to award the pin to those who are serving.


So those of us who are


retired are expected to purchase a replica from a profiteering merchandiser. What an insult! – Bill ‘Fred’ Purves, Ex-CCWEA ADC SM, Dumbarton


In early 1940 we were out on The patrols went on until The main part of the Home


but she did not come to sea with us.


SO IT’S hello and welcome back to chefs, stewards and writers, goodbye and BZ to (take a deep breath) Logisticians (Catering Services (Preparation)); Logisticians (Catering Services (Delivery)) and Logisticians (Personnel). After extensive consultation with the logistics branch, the Second Sea Lord has approved a change back to the traditional ranks, as we report on page 35. It’s a funny old thing but the complex titles, introduced in 2007, never really caught on. And as Navy News pointed out at the time, if you think they look cumbersome in print, try making a pipe... One of the reasons for the renaming was to align RN qualifications with civilian ones and thus ease the path of


sailors’ future employment. But until the BBC introduces a competition called Master Logistician (Catering Services (Preparation)) or a restaurant advertises for Logisticians (Catering Services (Delivery)) we remain unconvinced that the commercial world has embraced this newfangled language. Sharp-eyed readers of Navy News (is there any other kind?) may have noticed a recurring theme in our pages of poking fun at the titles over the past few years. Far be it from us to claim any credit for the change, but it would be nice to think the Navy News journalists (or should that be Logisticians (Events Reporting (Delivery))?) had a little bit of influence over this welcome return to English.


The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of the MOD


July 2010 no.672: 56th year Leviathan Block, HMS Nelson, Portsmouth PO1 3HH


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