24 NAVY NEWS, FEBRUARY 2011


phantom flotilla


US ‘ghost fleet’ was no


In reply to your correspondent Robin Allum (letters, January) he can rest easy. I also saw the Ghost Fleet from HMS Ocean.


Apparently the US Fleet had been ordered to clear the Eastern Mediterranean so as not to become involved. One of my friends who was on the flag deck said that they did not acknowledge any signals. – Malcolm Clarke, Westbury on Trym, Bristol


...DURING the Suez campaign I was serving on HMS Salerno, an LST 3513, as a Petty Offi cer Cook.


The galley was on the deck on the stern. We had good views aft and each side of the ship, observing the


Anglo-French


convoy all around. The operation’s task was to regain the Suez Canal. I saw US ships on the horizon and when I went to my action station on the bow doors when the ship beached to help 15 Centurion tanks disembark, the US ships came in close to all LSTs at speed, with what we thought was a view to swamp us – zigzagging around each ship.


The landing was successful and our British and French forces advanced some halfway down the canal when they halted and HMS Salerno went up the canal and embarked helicopters in the tank deck and returned to England. I gather the US through NATO etc made us withdraw. – Fred Motley, retired cookery officer and rating pilot, Southsea, Hants


...I AGREE with Shipmate


Allum that there were American ships present before we attacked Egypt, Operation Musketeer, on November 6 1956. All RN ships went to action stations when an unidentified


submarine was forced to surface when it was detected beneath English and French shipping not long before our attack. It proved to be American and it


surfaced so fast, for fear of being depth-charged, that it nearly took off and became a flying fish! I was on board HMLST Striker


at the time, with 40 Commando Royal Marines. – Tony Davie, RNA Woking, RMA Reading


...YES – there was an American Fleet crossing and recrossing us on our way to Suez. I was serving on my first ship, HMS Undine. We had just left our Cyprus patrols and returned to Malta to re-group and return to the UK. We arrived late evening and moored up to a buoy behind a destroyer.


At around 2am all our alarm bells sounded action stations and we left Grand Harbour at full revs, 30 minutes or so later the skipper came on the intercom system and told us that the Suez Canal had been closed. The destroyer moored ahead of


us was Egyptian and our job was to detain or destroy her, we chased but lost her among the Greek Islands. She was later captured by the Israelis. As we were an anti-submarine


frigate we were then told to screen the fleet against possible Russian submarine presence.


Whilst on lookout I reported ‘objects’ at port 15 degrees moving left to right, this eventually turned out to be a US carrier fleet, unlit, that crossed our bows without lights, signals, or radio contact. It was to us a ghost fleet, so no,


Robin, you were not the only one to view it.


No recognition for deeps


IN THE December issue an ex- submariner complained how disappointed he was that he could not get some recognition for serving in boats during the Cold War.


He should not be surprised that he gets no recognition. As a submariner in the 1940s and 1950s we carried out many wartime patrols in which we went into the enemy’s ‘backyard’ on every patrol. We carried out sinking by


torpedo, or gunfire, we also laid mines and conducted landings


on shore with the MO (Military Operations) and MI (Military Intelligence). When we eventually came back to the UK we were directed to some remote loch in Scotland where we got sent on leave for a week.


At the end of all this we were


never recognised in any way, in fact I would say as a submariner, we weren’t much thought of during the war or afterwards, so I think that worrying about a pin is a bit futile.


– Des Radwell, Falmouth Squadron survivors


WHILST I was saddened to read of the death of S/Lt Peter Adam of 857 Squadron, (People, page 31, December) I wondered where or who the paragraph “the last remaining member of the original 857 Naval Air Squadron has died”, came from? My old shipmate Jack Riches and myself are ex-members of the


original 857 Squadron. We served with Peter on board HMS Indomitable through the entire Pacific campaign. Peter was an excellent pilot and a gentleman – but last survivor of 857 Squadron, he is not. I wonder if there are any more ex-857 originals out there? – John Rigby, Basingstoke, Hants


– Christopher Roddis, written from P&O Artemis (on another cruise....)


Steam locomotives in the Arctic


I WAS interested to read about Lt Brian Drewett and his service on the USS Winston Churchill (November,


page


19) and his next appointment. For most of my life my hobbies


have included an interest in railways and trams. I have been an Information


Point Volunteer at the National Railway Museum in York for 16 years and I would like to invite Lt Drewett to look around the NRM, home to another Winston Churchill, if he would like to see her namesake locomotive. I have been trying to discover connections between railways, trams and the Royal Navy or other navies.


A feature in the Friends’


National Railway Museum Review in 2010 revealed that the Royal Navy purchased two locomotives in 1845, one from the London and Greenwich Railway and one from the London and Birmingham Railway.


Their wheels were removed and they were fitted to the bomb ships HMS Erebus and Terror, where they were to act as auxiliary engines powering a new type of marine screw.


These ships were taken on the 1845


Arctic Expedition


commanded by Sir John Franklin, the purpose of which was to navigate and chart the Northwest Passage.


● The steam locomotive Winston Churchill pulling Churchill’s funeral train. Photograph by kind permission of the National Railway Museum, York.


ill Ocean. Both now lie within or beneath the ice of the Arctic


Until I read the piece, I had never heard of a steam locomotive actually becoming part of the guts of a ship.


e


– David Tolson, Rillington, Malton, North Yorkshire


The steam locomotive Winston Churchill, now in the National Railway Museum in York, pulled the wartime leader’s funeral train from Waterloo to Hanborough, near his ancestral home of Blenheim Palace, on January 30 1965 – Ed


h e


enlightened us the most Leaving is just routine


READING the letters about what should or shouldn’t occur at the time of discharge from the RN, there appears to be a marked difference in the expectations of those who have served their full time (22 years or more) and other lesser beings like myself, who opted for an earlier discharge. In my case, I was a Petty Officer with 16 years’


service and was lucky enough to have already signed a contract with my civilian employer, starting with them just a couple of weeks after discharge. I couldn’t wait to leave, and I turned up at Nelson


recognition, back-slapping, sincere thanks, bugles and drums with colours unfurled, or even a fly-past would have gone unappreciated and been something of a hindrance. I had a fantastic time in the RN and no regrets, but


farewell chats, special


Barracks ready to complete my discharge routine in record time. Any handshaking,


a new, exciting chapter in life awaited me. My advice to those who are approaching their discharge, regardless of rank or rate of the amount of time served, is that they banish sentimentality and any expections of gestures of gratitude. Just turn up, get your discharge routine done, and


get away as fast as possible. The RN no longer needs you and you no longer need the RN. Don’t look back over your shoulder, keep focused on what’s ahead. It’s just like the end of any relationship, get over it, move on. Furthermore, chucking your kit into a bin and stamping on it achieves nothing. Why be so mean- spirited? Instead, donate it to your local Sea Cadet unit, it’s


always gratefully received and given a very worthy home.


HMS Illustrious VC?


WITH the government’s announcement of its decision to scrap the Royal Navy’s last operational carrier, HMS Illustrious, albeit after a long and distinguished career (indeed, by 2014, the longest of any modern British capital ship), would it now be at least possible to take the opportunity of her fi nal commission to correct a long-standing disservice to the Fleet Air Arm and properly honour the memory of those true heroes who fl ew from her namesake predecessor 70 years ago? On November 11 1940, in the singlemost


very different, and far bloodier, for the Allies. In comparison with operations undertaken by the RAF, such as the attack on the Ruhr dams, the Fleet Air Arm crews received scant reward in terms of decorations, and even before the meagre sprinking of medals was amended, many of those who raided Taranto had died in the bombardment of the Illustrious by Stuka dive-bombers in early 1941. As communities such as Dunkirk and Malta have


strategically-effective combat operation ever undertaken by any branch of the British Armed Forces in either world war, the Swordfish torpedo bombers of 812 and 815 Squadrons, Fleet Air Arm, flying from the previous HMS Illustrious, effectively crippled the entire Italian Fleet for the major part of the most crucial period of the Mediterranean campaign.


Had it not been for Operation Judgement, the air raid on Taranto, the course of the war may have been


been awarded medals such as the DSO and George Cross by the British government for their fortitude in wartime, could not the Illustrious receive the accolade her namesake’s crew so richly deserved in 1940, and serve out her final years as HMS Illustrious VC? Not only would this honour those naval airmen


who truly earned the much-abused title of ‘hero’ 70 years ago, but it would display an ongoing moral commitment to maintain naval aviation as an essential component of the Navy on which this nation depends for its defence.


– Hadrian Jeffs, Norwich, Norfolk


– Mark Jenkinson, (RN 1972-88) Stockholm, Sweden


A £25 Amazon voucher to David Tolson for the letter which moved, entertained and


ctic a


Farewell to all pets


THE January 2011 Navy News featured an article in ‘The Time of your Lives’ section about a black mongrel bitch in the minesweeper HMS Wolverton. I was the last Navigator of


HMS Wolverton when she served as a patrol boat in the Hong Kong Squadron, and the presence of the dog onboard in 1971 clearly started a trend in the ship.


her service in Hong Kong in 1985, she was replaced by HMS Swift and sold off to become a nightclub. As part of the disposal


When she had completed


preparations, we had to decide how to deal with the ship’s wide selection of animals, which included: two mongrel dogs (Scab and Sam), two terrapins (Jake and Elwood), two ducks, a cat, and a lovebird – all of whom lived on board. As the British members of the


crew were all returning to the UK, we had to leave the animals behind with the locally-employed Chinese members of the crew. We did not ask too closely


what actually happened to them all, but when I returned two years later, they were nowhere to be seen!


– Capt Richard Powell, CO HMS Dauntless


Homage in Souda Bay


I READ with great interest the letter from Bernard Hallas (January) about the pilgrimage to Crete and Service of Remembrance at Souda Bay planned for May 2011. I laid a wreath in May 2005 at the Commonwealth War Graves’ Commission at Souda Bay, as other members of the HMS Orion Association have done during many other years. Also as a former Secretary of the RMA Leicester Branch, because my late husband was an RM Commando evacuated on HMS Orion, I have a strong interest in this ceremony and have contact with the British Consulate in Crete, who also attend the Souda Bay ceremony. I will contact them and enclose a copy of Mr Hallas’ letter to ask if something can be done from their office to (quoting Mr Hallas) “see that at least one White Ensign flies over the waters of Souda Bay.”


True Brit


I AM British, I have served in Her Majesty’s Forces, and I am proud of these circumstances. HMS Daring is a British ship


that is ‘flying the flag’ for our country. Why does such a prestigious


event as a visit to New York include the dispersal of England football strips to schoolchildren? This accentuates the impression of many American citizens that I am English. I am not English – I am British. – Lt Cdr Louise Minter, (Ret’d) Glasgow


– Kay West, Secretary, HMS Orion Association, Great Glen, Leicester


ONE of the great pleasures of working at Navy News is reading the letters that readers send to us. What a treasure-trove of history they are, these first-hand accounts of experiences of naval life in peace and war, some funny, some very moving, all vivid. As the years go by, there are inevitably fewer first-hand accounts


of World War 2 (though still a goodly number, as this letters page shows) and the perspective shifts to the 1950s and beyond. But what will happen in another 50 years? Letter-writing is


increasingly the preserve of the older generations. Younger people communicate through a plethora of media, in fact


there has probably never been so much communication as there is now.


But emails, texts, Facebook, Twitter, Blogspot and Wordpress – all are ephemeral. As a spokeswoman from the Imperial War Museum


said: “Letters aren’t just put in an attic like they used to be.” The museum has realised there is a huge hole in contemporary material because so much of it nowadays is digital, so it is urging servicemen and women to join its War Story project, and log their experiences of Afghanistan, in whatever form. Anyone signing up to the project can use film, art, photography or the written word to capture their memories and experiences and build a historical record of the conflict as a legacy for future generations.


However vivid experiences are at the time, old men forget, as Shakespeare said. So let’s hope many Servicemen and women take this opportunity, because it would be a sad loss to future generations if most of these first-hand experiences went adrift because of the transient nature of modern communications.


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


February 2011 no.679: 57th year Leviathan Block, HMS Nelson, Portsmouth PO1 3HH


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