All our yesterdays...

[DaveB]

Adding a few more shots.. this time of a nautical nature

First.. the MN ships my dad served on..

Luculus.. a tanker he did the Russian Convoy JW62/RA62. No merchant ships were lost on either convoy though the RN didn't do so well. HMS Cassandra had her bows blown off by a torpedo on the return trip and had to be towed back to Murmansk. She was eventually repaired


SS Peribonka (seen here probably in '47 when Saguenay Terminals renamed their owned ships with a Sun prefix as Sunwalt). He did the Med Convoy on this little tinker..


Larchfield. He didn't mention this one much and looking at it, with good reason! A coaster operating out of Liverpool


SS Viking.. looks like it was already from a different era and I guess it was. It was built in 1905 which predates Titanic by some 6 years!. Seen here after war service returned to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Co. Ltd.


SS Fort Columbia.. a 'European' version of the American Liberty ships. Built in 1943 by Burrard Dry Dock Co. Ltd., Vancouver. All British operated vessels were prefixed 'Fort' and all Canadian operated vessels were prefixed 'Park'. Fort Columbia went to Saguenay Terminals when released from war service.


RMS Rangitiki.. built 1929 for New Zealand Shipping Co.Ltd and registered in Plymouth. He did a RTW trip on this.. his last time at sea before meeting mom!


And if this isn't enough.. here are mine

HMS Hermes.. No fixed wing at this time I'm sad to say.. she was a Command Helicopter ship


HMS Blake.. a nice colour shot of C99 doing her stuff. Originally built with 6 and 3 inch turrets aft, these were removed to accommodate the hangar which housed 4 Sea Kings. Shows just how big it was!


HMS Norfolk.. County Class Destroyer. Originally designed as a light cruiser, the labour government of the day told the Admiralty that they couldn't have cruisers so it was re-classified as a Destroyer!


HMS Wakeful.. what a little devil this was Built for Sweden as a deep sea tug, the RN picked it up secondhand and used it as the Clyde Guardship. Main armament, a GPMG, a handful of Sterling submachine guns and a few pistols for the officers Never put on your Drafting Preference card in 'Areas to avoid'.. Scotland, cause they'll send you there for a laugh!


HMS Iveston.. Ton class minehunter.. ships of wood, men of steel e t c. A decent little ship this one but boy.. did it bounce around or what!


And finally.. HMS Andromeda, batch III Leander. Did 2 trips out in the Gulf during the Iran/Iraq war on this lady.. first one as Task Group Commander and the second as oddball to be sent where no one else wanted to go.. eg, into a suspected minefield area! Got some colour phots of her somewhere but can't find the bloody things This shot in the Gulf..


That's all folks

ATB
DaveB

[Garry Russell]

Hi Dave

What a lovely collection

Viking....before I got to the end of the sentence I'd guessed she was an IoM steamer.....she just looks so much the part for that era and earlier on that route. Must have seemed a very modern ship in 1905

[DaveB]

Hello Mate

Yup.. I like Viking too.. the lines are simply 'classic'. Passengers in 1905 must have thought they were on a speed boat as she'd pull over 20kts She probably has the most interesting background too having been requisitioned by the Admiralty serving as HMS Vindex.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Vindex_(1915) .. before being returned to her more natural shape and duties.

As a comparison.. Luculus and Peribonka/Sunwalt did around 9 or 10kts. How slow must that have felt knowing U-Boats could strike at anytime. Where do you run to at 10kts max

ATB
DaveB

[airboatr]

Whichever direction has a tailwind man!

[DaveB]

Well.. I guess the answer is, you don't run at all.. you keep on going. Dunno if you're au fait with Russian Convoy PQ17 but the brown stuff hit the fan and the convoy was told to scatter. The end result was 24 out of 35 merchant ships were lost along with 153 merchant seamen. I don't think a tail wind would have helped much

ATB
DaveB

[TSR2]

Fantasic shots Dave. Love the shot of Hermes. what was the thinking behind painting Blakes decks green?

[DaveB]

Hiya Ben

I'm not sure to be honest but.. green was the 'in' colour of the day. I seem to remember the 'open' decks on Hermes being the same colour. Can't remember Norfolk but Wakeful and Andromeda were definitely grey. Iveston was wood Truth to tell, I guess Norfolk and Andromeda's decks were probably various shades of green at some point too. Sadly, I don't have any colour shots of Norfolk as these got binned by the 'ex'
One theory could be that the sea, often perceived as being blue (reflection of the sky e t c) can be more green depending on the ships operating area so a green upper deck might make it more difficult to spot. Someone, somewhere obviously decided green was duff and dark grey more appropriate. The answer is out there
EDIT... I've been able to establish that green upper decks were popular during the late 50's/60's mate.. this included the carriers which had green decks with yellow markings. I can't say for sure but I believe they started moving toward grey during the 70's.. certainly by the 80's

ATB
DaveB

[airboatr]

No Dave, I wasn't aware of that. ... But I am now.

cheers mate

[sketchy74]

Cracking pic of the Blake there Dave.

[DaveB]

Yeh.. it's a belter isn't it Fraser Almost makes me want to go back to sea again

ATB
DaveB