28 NAVY NEWS, NOVEMBER 2010


Ark Royal’s first hit


I WAS absolutely delighted to read your Opinion piece in October about the Battle of Britain. I agree wholeheartedly that the Royal Navy’s part


● HMS Sirius Bright star of the fleet


WITH reference to Roy Banton’s letter about HMS Cleopatra (October), may I respectfully point out to him that there was one other Leander that was not named after mythical figures, so his friend should check his facts.


I served in Sirius, the Dido- class light cruiser and can tell him that Sirius is the ‘Dog Star.’


A brilliant white star seen in She was HMS Sirius.


the constellation Canis Major (it is the brightest fixed star), it is also the logo of Portsmouth City Council.


last ships) were adopted by Portsmouth.


Incidentally, Sirius (two


Her motto was the same as Portsmouth’s, as was her badge.


The motto was “Heaven’s light our guide.” – Gerry Gerhard, Armadale, West Australia


Polish mystery


REFERRING to the letter published on October 15 (Navy News website – Have your Say) about the Polish submarine mystery, the incident could refer to the sinking of Polish submarine ORP Jastrzab. The Jastrzab was a Holland- class submarine, originally built for service in the US Navy, but in Polish service from 1941-42, when she was lost to friendly fire. During the passage of convoy PQ15 to Murmansk, on May 2 1942 she was mistakenly engaged by the (Norwegian) destroyer HNoMS St Albans and the minesweeper HMS Seagull. She was attacked with depth charges and made to surface, damaged by further fire and had


to be scuttled. The


some controversy. Sources state that she was escorting the convoy, others that she was covering the convoy’s passage by patrolling the Norwegian coast against sorties by German capital ships, one of five submarines to do so. These sources


Jastrzab was out of position by some 200 nautical miles and was fired upon despite showing yellow recognition smoke candles and flags, however, other sources do not confirm this. Finally, the commanders of St Albans and Seagull were found guilty at a court martial over the incident.


– Andrew Bates, Gateshead Onward, Christian soldiers


I HAD no idea that the Church Army had any units in Cyprus, but thank you for the information on page 24 (October) that ‘B Coy of 2 Royal Anglicans’ are out there... On a more serious note, why,


when senior naval officers, or indeed senior rates, retire after many


Navy News publish a valedictory biography of that person? It seems odd that a 1SL or 2SL, for instance, can retire with hardly any acknowledgement of their departure and previous service


years’ service, doesn’t


history. Otherwise we have to wait until their obituary eventually appears in the Daily Telegraph. Chris Bond, Poole Dorset


Whoops, bit of a slip there, but rumour goes that the Regiment’s Colonel-in-Chief, the Queen Mother, no less, was known to refer to her ‘Royal Anglican Regiment,’ so perhaps there’s a royal precedent.


really have a policy, but I suppose we prefer to bow to the rising sun – Man Ed


Hankies out for Tom


THE LETTER (October) about the Fantasy on British Sea Songs at the Last Night of the Proms prompts me to say that it was played at the Proms this year, not at the last night, but at a performance of a 1905 concert a week before the last night. Luckily the politically correct camp have not deleted Chatham


Division Bugle call! Incidentally, the afore- mentioned concert was televised and I noticed that the promenaders have pinched the RM Band Service move of passing a line of handkerchiefs amongst them during the playing of Tom Bowling! – E G Cole, Whitstable, Kent


As for valedictions, we don’t state that the incident is a matter of


● The cutaway poster of the Queen Elizabeth-class carrier by Ross Watton that appeared in Navy News this summer; post SDSR there are some changes to come


Mystery of the missing mess


PERUSING the excellent cutaway of the new carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (July) I cannot find the Warrant Officers’ and Senior Ratings’ Mess. Is this a deliberate mistake, or


do you know something we do not?


As I was the mess president of the same mess on board Hermes (1980-82) I know we are talking about a large area. But where is it? With squadrons


Cdr Owen McDermott, QEC Mission Systems (and Navy News’ honorary cutaway offi cer) said: “Thank for you for your comments and question about the cutaway of the Queen Elizabeth Class; we are delighted with the result and the amount of interest it has generated.


a whole ship’s section and most of the width of the ship on 6 deck. “On current planning QEC’s


on board we had around 150 mess members and it was the biggest mess afloat, not counting the POs’ mess forward which had about 180 members.


dining hall, but where is the mess itself? Please put me out of my misery.


– Paul Fitzgerald, ex WOMEM(L)


Paignton, Devon


A QUESTION arose amongst a group of us ex-RNs regarding offi cial numbers. When I joined in 1966 my no. was PO97...etc. However in the 1970s this


“Given the size of these amazing ships we were forced to limit the number of decks we could show on the cutaway. “The Warrant Offi cers’ and Chiefs’ Mess is just aft of midships and covers most of the port side of 6 deck.


I can see the senior ratings’


almost, but not quite the same size (rank still has its privileges after all!) and is connected by a very large folding partition that will allow the two messes to be opened up to create a suitably impressive social venue covering


“The Petty Offi cers’ Mess is of


core ship’s company of 682 will have 89 Petty Offi cers, 42 Chief Petty Offi cers, fi ve WO2s and 14 Warrant Offi cer 1s. “We have designed the ship’s accommodation and mess spaces to be able to accommodate the squadrons which as you quite rightly say will signifi cantly increase these numbers. “You may wish to follow


progress of the Queen Elizabeth Class on our website at: http:// www.aircraftcarrieralliance. co.uk.”


to press the Strategic Defence and Security Review confi rmed that the carriers would be built. Letters about the SDSR were coming in and we hope to run them next month – Man Ed


Shortly before Navy News went Points of note Mauritius escaped IN your


was changed to DO97...S. What no-one can remember is what the suffix letter stood for, or indicated?


I am sure with your readers’


vast knowledge and contacts someone will come forward with an explanation. – Ian Wilson, Thatcham, Berks


IN YOUR article Sample of life O’Brian (page 19, October) you state that Patrick O’Brian was Irish. In fact he was English, born in Chalfont St Giles, Bucks. – W A Vandersteen, Winchester


October edition you


rightly pay tribute to Lt Cdr Hugh Knollys (Heroes of the Royal Navy) for his part in the Corfu incident of 1946 amongst others. You state “in the lead was HMS Saumarez...” This was not so. Operation Retail had been planned in advance after the earlier gunfire incident mentioned. On the day in question HMS


Mauritius entered the channel, wearing the flag of Rear Admiral Kinahan,


followed by HMS


Saumarez 500 yards astern; HMS Leander followed half a mile astern with HMS Volage 500 yards astern of her.


The incredible thing was that


HMS Mauritius passed straight through the Albanian minefield and came out the other side unscathed, while HMS Saumarez bought it. I was present during this


operation in the aircraft carrier HMS Ocean, standing to the west of Corfu, with a squadron of Firefly Mk 1 aircraft ready loaded with rockets in case of need. Later I took part in the ensuing


minesweeping operation when we recovered some mines; these were from German sources captured by the Yugoslavs and were brand new.


Cdr John Torr (Retd) Kingston Gorse, West Sussex


overlooked. Your figures are the same as I obtained from the Curator of the Fleet Air Museum when I discussed the subject with her a few months ago. You may be interested in an extract from a book called Luftwaffe over Scotland, written by Les Taylor. In it he writes that Lt McEwen, from 803 Squadron flying a Blackburn Skua from the carrier Ark Royal “attacked immediately and shot down Dornier KY+YK. “This had the distinction of being the first Luftwaffe aircraft shot down in operations against Great Britain.”


known either!


News. Lots of photographs and interesting articles. Keep up the good work. – Vice Admiral Sir Cameron Rusby, Melrose, Roxburghshire


I doubt whether this is generally I thoroughly enjoy my Navy


Legendary men


I WAS interested to read about the retirement of Cdr SD(B) E W Andrew in the 1990 section of The Time of Your Lives.


Is this the same Cdr Andrew whose voice so eloquently bellowed across the parade ground at HMS Raleigh, directed at any unsuspecting naval


only had to think about putting his hand in his pocket or wearing his naval cap at a ‘jaunty angle’? It has to be said that he was


rating who


actually a legend in his own lifetime for many reasons! Whatever happened to him? I


would love to know. – Andrew Lucas, ex Radar


operator, Raleigh 1983, Liphook, Hants


...Admiral le Fanu (Time of Your Lives, August) was C-inC West Indies while I was president of the chiefs’ mess in HMS Minerva 1968-69 and Guardship. Knowing he was visiting the


is too often


mess at noon I advised that we would not have our tot until he left. He chatted, chatted and chatted until in the end he said: “When’s the rum coming up, Chief?”, had his tot and left. Incidentally, I went to pension


– Bob Styants, Halesowen


the day the tot died, July 31 1970, however, I still toast the Queen each day!


King’s patrol


IN YOUR article Veterans’ Double Century (October) you refer to Cdr Bill King, the commanding offi cer of the submarine HMS Telemachus. You say that Commander King’s


Far East patrols were uneventful, but, with respect, you are wrong. Cdr King ambushed and sank a large Japanese submarine, returning to its base in Singapore Dockyard, firing a spread of six torpedoes.


– Topsy Turner, Ditton, Aylesford, Kent


WHEN cuts are in the offi ng, the rumour mills go into overdrive and worst-case scenarios prevail. When the announcements are fi nally made, there can be a sense of relief that the worst did not happen.


So it was with the Strategic Defence and Security Review. The doom-laden rumours included cancellation of the new carriers, closure of one of the naval bases, a halving of the frigate/destroyer fleet, and integrating the Royal Marines into the Army.


The outcome was not so dire, and for the surface fleet the future is quite positive, with the new carriers on line, the Sandown and Hunt MCMs continuing in service and the Type 26 frigate programme going ahead to replace the Type 23s.


The longest shadow hangs over the Fleet Air Arm with the withdrawal of the Harriers and the capability gap in air power for the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers.


Bridging this gap will be one of the major challenges of the next decade, because a carrier strike capability and all the skills and support involved in flying aircraft from a deck in the middle of the seas cannot be re-created overnight. But perhaps the greatest challenges will be maintaining


morale among those currently serving, and persuading young people that the Navy still offers a rewarding career. The Navy is still recruiting and for the next generation who will operate the Type 45s, Type 26 frigates, the Astute-class boats and the new carriers, it still offers an exciting future.


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


November 2010 no.676: 56th year Leviathan Block, HMS Nelson, Portsmouth PO1 3HH


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