6 NAVY NEWS, MAY 1999 Options
Letters INTEREST REVIVED IN CLASSIC AIRCRAFT I WAS interested to read the article Stringbag to fly again (March issue), particularly as it refers to NF389.
Language barrier WELCOME to M. B. Kelly and Capt C. M. Robinson, kindred spirits in trying to keep accurate Jackspeak alive (March issue). I too jump up and down every time I see references to someone serving on a ship. Civilians don't live on houses; sailors too, live in ships. In the splendid exhibition hall alongside HMY Britannia in Leith Docks I bought an official postcard with a caption saying that she is "tied up". Back in 1940 I was told in no uncertain fashion that grocers tied up parcels; HM ships secured, moored or made fast. The Times has just produced a Guide to English Style and Usage. In a section on the Royal Navy it advises its journalists and sub editors thus: "moored or made fast'. It also recommends 'pennant' (not 'pendant') although that's not what it says in my Manual of Seamanship Vol 1, 1937. English is a wonderful language to which the sea has made a vital contribution in terms now in common usage. Let's keep it like that. - M. K. Tither, Chesterfield.
Sally Army saluted THE EXPERIENCE of CCCT S. R. McLeod when wearing uniform in Ruislip (March issue) reminds me of an occasion when I wore the uniform of CPOMA to attend Remembrance Day Service at Worcester Cathedral. An elderly lady approached me for assistance. She had a small wooden cross bearing a poppy which she wanted me to plant in the Garden of Remembrance. I was happy to oblige, but could not help wondering what service connection had motivated her request. With due solemnity I planted the cross, came to attention and saluted. She seemed suitably impressed as she proudly informed me: "Both my father and my elder brother were in the Salvation Army." - J. G. Hinton, Worcester.
Bribes slur 'outrageous1 Oh, really? I HAVE just read Commodore Critchley's farewell offering as Drafty (March issue), in which he says that when he joined submarines in 1968 bribery was current. I held the post of Drafting Coxswain in 1945-47, taking over three days after VE Day. During my time and for at least ten years before and two years after I know of no such bribery. I do not know what happened later as I had left the Royal Navy but I see no reason to believe these high standards fell. For a senior Naval officer to repeat these rumours as statements of fact is outrageous. This seems to follow the modern practice of denigrating those that have served before. How dare you, Commodore? - T. M. Moore, Newton Abbot. RE DRAFTY's article on 'Blue Liners' being used for bribes, I can confirm from personal experience that draft chits could be bought but not cheaply. In 1940, as an ex-Ganges boy turned 18, I entered the big barracks eager for my first draft. Having quite a large sum of accumulated pay I could afford the luxury of dining in the Naafi, where one morning I sat at a table alongside an old three-badger nursing a cup of tea. When I confided my longing for sea time Stripey commented "You sprogs are all the same, desperate
News No.538 45th year Editorial and Business address: Leviathan Block, HMS Nelson, Portsmouth, Hants, PO1 3HH Editor: Jim Allaway Deputy Editor: Anton Hanney Assistant Editors: Dominic Blake and Mike Gray Business Manager: Anne Driver TELEPHONES Editorial: 01705-294228/724163 Fax: 01705 838845 (Mil. PNB24163) Advertising: 01705 725062 Distribution and accounts: 01705 724226 Additional direct lines to all business departments:
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to learn the hard way." He then offered to show me the road to a draft chit if I subbed him breakfast. Though suspicious of a con trick, I agreed. True to his word, he took me to a CPO who, without preamble, said "It will cost you three quid" - a week's wages in those days for most working men and next day I had my coveted draft chit. The drafting office, situated in the basement of one of the blocks, was fronted by half a dozen windows - barred, if memory serves me correctly. At these windows sat CPOs and POs, each a member of a close-knit fraternity of 'natives' - local men with homes and families in the town, as were the majority of the barracks staff. Behind them were rows of filing cabinets containing cards - the rear cards believed by matelots, probably correctly, to be those of fraternity brothers which never saw daylight. There were quite a few rackets in barracks at that time, including the chief who made sure that all non-smoking matelots drew their tobacco issue and sold it on to him. Then there was the PO supervising draft routine kit inspections who could always immediately replace a missing item at a price; and the civilian barber who did a roaring trade in totally unnecessary haircuts. - T. Lyness, Bellshill.
Criticising Pte Ryan COULD somebody please explain, objectively and not through eyes blinkered by the red, white and blue, just why the Academy Award-winning film Saving Private Ryan is criticised (March issue) for not making reference to the British contribution to the Allied landings on D-Day ? Saving Private Ryan deals with a fictitious incident involving a fictitious American sub-Unit in the American sector.
It does not purport to give an overall view of the D-Day campaign. This was done in that other outstanding film The Longest Day in which our contribution was fully acknowledged. The Dam Busters is one of the finest war films ever made, but nobody on this side of the Atlantic would criticise it for failing as it did to acknowledge that the war in the air during World War II was not fought by the RAF alone. And isn't that other classic The Cruel Sea somewhat parochial, too? Did the RCN and the USN play no part in the Battle of the Atlantic? Why not just accept Private Ryan for what it sets out to be? D. J. Beynon, Haslingfield, Cambs. Letters to the Editor should always be accompanied by the correspondent's name and address, not necessarily for publication.
When I was stationed at HMS Merlin in late 1946 I noticed one day six Swordfish aircraft parked near the Repair Yard. Shortly afterwards they disappeared inside to re-emerge sometime later as two aircraft, NF389 and NF399, beautifully painted in peacetime colours. What happened to the other four I have no idea. So it is with real interest that I look forward to the time three years hence when NF389 takes to the skies once again. I hope I am around to witness the event. It is just 52 years since I last saw the aircraft flying and four years since we were re-united at Lee-onSolent at the 50th anniversary of the end of the war celebrations. F. L. Smith, Sutton Coldfield MUCH has been said about the
Spitfire and the Battle of Britain, but the Hawker Hurricane was on an equal footing. It has therefore been decided to form a society in respect of the Hurricane, which fought valiantly throughout the war in several different roles. Membership will be open to all with an interest in the aircraft. Contact me for details, or Mr Tim Warrener, 19, Four Acres, East Mailing, Kent ME19 6AY. (.Arnold, 86 Totland Close, Farnborough. The Hawker Sea Hurricane was the first British single-seat monoplane to be used aboard aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy. It was also used as a catapult fighter from the decks of merchant ships. - Ed.
Defiance to the last REGARDING B.C. Broadley s letter about HMS Defiance (March issue), not only did we have snooker tables, we had a Naafi bar (Symonds from the barrel and bottled beer) plus Naafi girls to serve tea, cream buns and Eccles cakes at stand-easy. We were classed as a floating 'stone frigate'. I was aboard 1952-53 as E. M. Workshop Sweeper and the Captains Boats Crew. The Captain lived ashore and was taken off by dinghy in the morning, home for lunch, back in the afternoon and then home again for supper. The Captain's motor boat Coxswain was PO Jan Nicols, ex-Amethyst Cox'n. - F. McKeown, Glasgow. I HAD the pleasure of taking two courses at HMS Defiance, in 1948 and 1952-53. HMS Exe was also part of the arrangement, providing steam to the group. Inconstant, the wooden frigate of 1868, had the billiard table on board, as well as the cinema. Being anchored off Wilcove Point, there were few times that the table could not be used due to any ship movement. At that time we also had X-Craft midget submarines alongside Exe, carrying out training exercises off Plymouth. Happy days, even when scrubbing Inconstant's beautiful wooden upper deck, barefooted in winter! - K. Booth, Solihull. I SPENT some time in HMS Defiance, caulking the decks as part of my shipwright's training in 1948. The billiard balls used to run to one side when the ship's company fell in. Andromeda also had an enclosed Captain's walkway on the stem. - R.B.D.F., Gosport. PLYMOUTH Command trained TAS and hard hat divers at HMS Defiance and the newly formed Electrical Branch of 1947 until 1955, when it was decided to close It down as it had become a fire hazard. Many foreign navies were pleased to send their people there for technical training, as well as our own RNRs. - O. G. Thomas, Caldicot, Mon. • HMS Defiance In the early 1950s, consisting of Inconstant (right), Vulcan (left) and Andromeda (astern). The funnels of HMS Howe can be seen just astern of Andromeda.