Isle Of Man, Two – A careless death The second visit to the Isle of Man was an entirely different experience, we were now Petty Officers with the privileges that entailed. The work if anything was harder, and the sets we were learning much more sophisticated and in some cases as big as a small… Continue reading Royal Navy 1941 to ’46 in order, The Chief’s Course and After
Month: August 2007
Royal Navy 1941 to ’46 in order, An Unusual Iniative
Once I had found my feet, dancing was the best way of meeting people and filling the long evenings when Belfast City was blacked out. My mate Bunny was keen and we went every night to some dance hall or other. On Sunday nights when all the other halls were closed we went to the… Continue reading Royal Navy 1941 to ’46 in order, An Unusual Iniative
Random Thoughts, 22
The government’s proposed massive rebuilding programme doesn’t make much sense to me for a number of reasons. Have you, recently, tried to get a plumber, an electrician, a painter or a builder to do a small of even a big job for you? So, in my innocence, I wonder from where the government is producing… Continue reading Random Thoughts, 22
Random thoughts 21, The Last Post on Global Warming
This is the last post on global warming in whatever way you interpret it. Recently I wrote a piece and sent it to a nephew, one whose opinion I value, who has tracked the jungles of South America and the slopes of the Himalayas looking for, finding and naming new species of flora. I asked… Continue reading Random thoughts 21, The Last Post on Global Warming
Royal Navy 1941 to46 in order, The Irish Question,Coincidences.
The Irish Question Take the Irish Question, for an instance, not the Irish question, from where I stand I find nothing amusing in that. No! Just an amusing Irish question. I don’t remember my friend Bunny’s rate of assimilation, certainly I didn’t really find my own feet for about a week and then he and… Continue reading Royal Navy 1941 to46 in order, The Irish Question,Coincidences.
Royal Navy 1941 to ’46 in order, Belfast Shipyard Part 2.
Shipbuilding is probably the most complicated and detailed engineering exercise, outside aeroplane design. The size of a ship, various hull designs, its use, all give multitudes of options from the thickness of the plates, to the design of door handles. All the equipment has to be installed which involves designing the positioning, the fixings and… Continue reading Royal Navy 1941 to ’46 in order, Belfast Shipyard Part 2.
Royal Navy 1941 to ’46 in order, Belfast Shipyard Part 1.
To those who hate technicalities I apologise for this entry, For me it records something gone and lost never to be recovered. Whether that is good is debateable. In ’43, I was drafted to Belfast to supervise the radio installations on the warships being built there. The shipyard was vast, there were at least six… Continue reading Royal Navy 1941 to ’46 in order, Belfast Shipyard Part 1.
Royal navy 1941 to ’46 in order, A Sailor’s Wartime Belfast
Within a very short time of being in Barracks I was given my draft to Belfast, some place in Ireland I had never heard of, in a country I knew nothing about. My mental image when I received the news was of being sent to a windswept, featureless bog with small white houses dotted about.… Continue reading Royal navy 1941 to ’46 in order, A Sailor’s Wartime Belfast
Royal Navy 1941 t0 to ’46 in order, Pompey Barracks’ Lost Navy
When I arrived in Portsmouth barracks I found yet another illustration of the practical use of psychology, and while it was on a more lowly plane it was no less effective, it was the axiom of the ‘Messenger’. Those who wished to remain in barracks without let or hindrance, as the lawyers might say, fully… Continue reading Royal Navy 1941 t0 to ’46 in order, Pompey Barracks’ Lost Navy
Royal Navy 1941 to ’46, The Passing Out Parade
By the time you have read this you will appreciate that there is more than one meaning to ‘passing out’ and the one in a military sense is not intended. We had suffered more than our fair share of bad weather and our convoy duty had not been so much dangerous as stressful as well… Continue reading Royal Navy 1941 to ’46, The Passing Out Parade