The Chairman’s Message
Dear Members
As I mentioned in the last newsletter, the Wallace Arnold/Shearings merger caused us a minor hiccup for our April reunion this year and I was unable to get any discussion with the hotel manager moving on prices, etc. for next year. The next reunion is booked for 7th - 9th April 2006 but that is provisional as Shearings won’t confirm it until we actually make the bookings. We have only just received the prices and conditions from Shearings but we now need to get a very accurate idea of the number who will be attending. Please read the item on Reunion 2006 and then return the card which will be enclosed with the newsletter. This is urgent.
As the Secretary reported in June, 109 of our members had not paid their subs for the current year. The reminder chit which was sent to them with the newsletter prompted quite a few to send theirs in but about 25 (both full members & associate members) had still not paid up in August. Several resigned. Subsequently, I spent a good deal of time, and of course your money, phoning the full members, our D57 shipmates, as I am only too aware that anything might have happened to them. All those that I was able to contact said that they will send their subs off immediately. Three have still not been received and regretfully we shall have to regard their membership as lapsed.
As far as the Associate members who have not paid, some of them are the widows of members who have died. We always give free Associate membership for one year to the widows but it is understandable that some will not want to continue. However, a wee note would have been appreciated. Other Associate members are relatives of those who served in L03 or D57 and who were given the privilege. We cannot spend a lot of time, etc. chasing them and we must therefore conclude that they no longer wish to belong. Nine Associate members are therefore considered as lapsed and removed from membership.
We are always very sorry to lose members, especially when they are our old shipmates. But needs must.
George
Membership Matters
Membership
Sad to say that two full members and one associate member have passed over the bar since our last newsletter. Their obituaries are given below.
We have also said farewell to five full members and 10 associate members who have either resigned or lapsed due to unpaid subscriptions.
During the same period we have gained one new members, whose details are given below, and who we warmly welcome:
S/M D. WhiteLdg. Sea.D571955-57
Membership now stands at 271, made up as follows:
Full/Life Members179
Associate Members 86
Honorary Members 6
Total271
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Obituaries
MAY THEY FIND A SAFE HABOUR FOR EVER
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Other matters
Trafalgar 200
All those who asked for tickets for the Drumhead Ceremony on 29th June at Southsea Common received them. Alan Edinborough and I went down to the Veterans Centre there on the Sunday before (26th) to set up our display, which we hoped would attract new members. The erection and completion of the Centre was running late and it was not until the late afternoon that we were able to get in. There was still a lot of “completing” to do! However, we were told where our allocated space was and put the stand up and then had to leave. We were a bit disturbed by it all as there were big gaps in the side of this enormous “tent” with quite a breeze blowing through. However, we were assured that they would soon have the sides finished and we had no need to worry.
Peter Marchant and some friends went down for the Fleet Review the following day, went into the Veterans Centre and found our display flat on the deck! They were able to get it back up again though
The Drumhead Ceremony went off well and was quite moving, especially when HMS Illustrious steamed past with her deck manned.
Our Standard Bearer, Brian Hibbert, smartly paraded our Standard along with many others from other organisations. Bill Stone, our 104 year old guest of honour at our last reunion, took a very active part in the ceremonies. Although several of our members were seen at our stand, both before and after the Drumhead Ceremony which took place in the arena outside the Veterans Centre, most of those who had got tickets were not. From our point of view, the position we were allocated was less than ideal, being at the back of the Centre and away from most of the other stands.
As a recruiting drive it just didn’t work. Only one person showed interest and left his name and address in the box. A letter subsequently sent to him with an application form and a copy of our newsletter has so far brought no response.
BBC South Today did a special programme on TV covering the Trafalgar 200 celebrations. Whether it was shown in any of the other regions is not known. If anyone would like to borrow it please get in touch with the Secretary.
We have also received a communication from Captain D. Lombard, RN, the Director Marketing Project for Trafalgar 200, that an official DVD of the summer events and a commemorative Royal Worcester Plate are available for sale. No prices were given but to place an order or, I presume to get further information, visit their website on or phone 01903 810065.
Peter Harrison
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End of WWII Commemorations
The MOD sent us a list of events being held in July to commemorate the end of World War II. These were for a Service at Westminster Abbey, a lunch to be held in a marquee in the Buckingham Palace gardens and an event on Horse Guards Parade. We were asked to nominate 2 for each of the first two of these and four for the Horse Guards Parade event.
Letters were sent out to members known to be WWII veterans. Since many of our members have still not sent in details of their RN service it is a bit difficult to identify all those who served during the war. However, as many as we could identify as such were sent the letter with details of the events and asked if they would like to attend any one of them. Eventually we had three members who put their names forward, one for the Westminster Abbey Service and two for the Horse Guards Parade.
In a letter to the MOD with the nominations we made a point of the difficulties and expense for the elderly attending such events. The Horse Guards Parade event was televised so many of you will have
seen it but no reports have been received from those who attended.
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Visit to London by the King & Queen of Norway
Another request came from the MOD for members who had taken part in the Norwegian campaign during WWII to attend a reception at Buckingham Palace to meet the King and Queen of Norway on 25th October. This request came by an e-mail received on 7th September and details were required to reach the MOD by letter on 12th September! Since the 12th September was a Monday it didn’t leave much time to get hold of members and get a letter in the post. As usual there was a proviso - no financial assistance was available for travel and subsistence!
Frantic telephoning produced 5 names. Ken Robinson and David Broom, both of whom took part in the Altnark incident and the 2nd Battle of Narvik in L03, Harold Kirk who briefly served in Cossack but was in the Afridi during the Norwegian campaign in 1940 and subsequent evacuations from Namsos when Afridi was sunk. The other two were Larry Hazell and John Gritten, both of whom served in Afridi and are associate members.
We have since heard that Larry Hazell has received his invitation but don’t know whether the others have. We hope that in due course we shall get a report from one of them telling us how it went.
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THE WEBSITE
Please note the new address for our website which is shown at the bottom of the front cover page. Bill Bartholomew has done a wizard job in transferring it. Many thanks Bill for all the hard work you put into maintaining and updating the site. If you have access to the web, do take some time now and again to have a look. Bill is always on the lookout too for new material, so, if you’ve got something of interest, please let him know.
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I was There! Where?
By Alec Kellaway
Part 4
Chapter Three - Portsmouth Barracks.
RNB during working hours is full of activity even in peaceful times but now that the war had started the amount of personnel moving around the barracks had greatly increased. The shape of the barracks had changed since I left there in 1936, there were extra huts around, under the parade ground a large air-raid shelter had been built, all the mess rooms had been fitted with black out curtains, the mess floors had been cleared of all polished surfaces, because of fire risk. On arrival at RNB I had to present myself to the regulating staff to be put on the books for messing, entered either T (for Temperance) or G (for Grog) and added to the catering list for meals. From there I had to go to the engineering block for orders regarding the mechanical course. A quick visit to the medical room, strip off, present myself to the MO, lift my arms and pronounced ok. Following this a visit to the dental officer, which I knew, would be ok as on the Hood we had regular dental inspections. After this I was at a loose end until the following Monday when the course started.
It may be wise now to give details of the course. A once only chance of getting promotion; fail this course and there was no return. The outcome on the final day when exams were taken defined your chance of promotion. During the 3 month course you were given various tasks to do on which an assessment was made, points from these assessments were added to the written exam, in the end there could be four evaluations which affected your future. The two persons obtaining the highest marks were always rated PO right away. They would then go to sea to obtain their boiler room certificate and then be recalled to the training establishment at Plymouth for two years training to become Mechanicians. This is what we would all like to achieve but there were only two vacancies. Above a certain pass mark a candidate would be qualified for PO but their name would have to go on a roster which would mean that when their name reached the top they would be promoted. Likewise a lower pass mark would mean that the qualification would be for Leading Stoker only. A lower pass mark would mean failure; there was no chance of trying again. In the first weeks of the course a preliminary exam was held and from this the entrants were divided into two groups, A and B, With others I was in Group B, this is not saying that A is better than B but to equate the groups. I did very well in this test and it was thought that I would make Mechanician. A course member, Jacker Tee, even stated that I would be B group’s candidate, anyway as the course progressed Jacker did say to me that I would not reach the higher level and named two who would. This did not sink into me until later. It would appear that there was something akin to nepotism; in this case the candidates had senior rates who knew them and would give all assistance possible to help them. At the end of the course I qualified for PO and awaited drafting to sea
The course was very educational the subjects covered boiler maintenance, chipping and filing a rough cast steel cube then getting it as square as possible cut a key way, then make a key to fit. There was also furnace work heating metals and forging them into different shapes, as well as working with the coppersmith making oil cans and there were activities with electrical systems. The course was never dull and there were days when us candidates had to take charge of the class to assess our power of command. It was surprising how much information was given and how much knowledge was gained throughout the course.
Chapter Four - H M S COSSACK
On the 30th April 1940 I was told to get a medical - drop trousers and cough - then collect my belongings as I was drafted to HMS Cossack arriving in Portsmouth that day. I was joined on this draft by another stoker, C. Delara, who was to be a good mate of mine. He unfortunately was lost when the Cossack was torpedoed.
Cossack was a destroyer that had been badly damaged during the second battle of Narvik. The Cossack’s motorboat met us at the dock and conveyed Cecil and me aboard. The first sight of the ship astounded me. About five heavy shells from German destroyers had hit her, which had damaged her steam system and with the engines temporarily out of action she had run aground. However the engineering staff with the help of some Norwegians - one of whom was Olav Rothli who was later captured by the Germans, I met in April 2001 at our reunion - managed to get things working and the Cossack returned to Portsmouth under her own steam. Olav was sent to a prison camp for being in possession of a radio but had it been known that he had assisted the Cossack he would in all probabilities have been shot.
Cossack was lying on a buoy and was discharging her ammunition, as she had to be dry-docked for extensive repairs. I presented myself to the Chief Coxswain who handed me over to the Chief Stoker and he, on getting my details, allocated me to number three boiler room for day work and watch keeping duties. I then found out to my good fortune that Cossack was going into the hands of J I Thorneycrofts at Southampton for repairs, which would take several weeks. This was a bonus as I lived at Eastleigh, four miles away. There is very little for a crew to do while a ship is in dockyard hands for repair, so on reaching Southampton half of the ship’s company was given leave. I being a newcomer had my leave later. It was decided that as extensive repairs had to be carried out the remaining half of the crew would be accommodated on the Sterling Castle, a Union Castle Liner being fitted out as an armed cruiser. This was excellent as the ship was very spacious and the meals were superb. One evening there were only two of us for supper and with the meal we were given a very large portion of cheese - the ration for about sixteen . The two of us decided that as we were going out for a few beers we would take the cheese with us and this proved fortunate for us as the Landlord in the first pub gave us our beer for the evening in exchange.
In the early days at Southampton night leave was given to the non-duty watch with leave expiring at 8.00 am. However there were numerous ratings returning after 8.00 am which meant that there were many defaulters. The Commanding Officer, Commander Sherbrook, who later won the V C while attacking a German cruiser when he was Captain of H M S Onslow another destroyer, on investigating these late arrivals realised that there were transport problems. He cleared lower deck of the remaining crew and said he appreciated the transport difficulties and would extend the leave until 8.30 am but God help anyone who was late. This cured the problem very well.
While under repairs there was an uproar in the stokers mess because one of the stokers was a communist and was handing out communistic literature. This did not go down well with his mess mates for at this time there was a Russian German alliance and it so happened that feeling in the mess got to the stage where there could have been a serious incident. The stoker in question was taken before the senior officer on board and warned that he must keep his views to himself.
After about four weeks the repairs were getting near completion, the crew returned to the ship for accommodation and storing and general cleaning was started. Eventually all repairs were completed and after trials Cossack proceeded to Scapa Flow. Cossack being a Fleet Destroyer was normally found escorting ships of the main battle fleet.
At times there were convoy escorts to be done; this was a vital duty protecting merchant ships from German U-boats. It was not long after returning to the fleet that Cossack took over leadership of the flotilla. Captain Philip Vian, who had previously taken Cossack into a fjord and rescued the British Merchant Sailors imprisoned on the German supply ship Altmark, returned to Cossack and relieved our commander. Captain Vian had just lost his destroyer, the Leader, Afridi sunk by German dive-bombers.