PLEASE NOTE * Names are listed in order for all group photographs, taking the back row first, left to right. Asterisks are used to indicate the separations between rows. For example: ** indicates the start of names referring to the second row from the top; ***for the third, etc.

IntroductionThis is a book about HMS EAGLE for those who served in her, but many others will read it: wives, parents, sweethearts and friends. Tothose who do, may I suggest that you concentrate on reading between the lines. If you do this you will recognise at once the labour oflove which the compilation of this book entailed.You will also recognise that here is the last saga of a Great Ship, prepared to fight if needed, prepared to aid anyone in distress, preparedto represent her country honourably on all occasions and in all parts of the world. In the many photographs you can meet the men ofEAGLE, no less a band of brothers than the men of Nelson's ships.Between the lines in this book, with its frequent understatement, you will find an anatomy of the Royal Navy revealed in the character,courage, fortitude, humour and kindliness of EAGLE's officers and men.

EDITOR'S NOTE - We regret that this souvenir book is in `paperback' form, but by sacrificing hard covers we have been able toinclude a lot more material than would otherwise have been possible with the money available. Should you wish for a copy bound in boards,then, it is quite easy to get this done by any bookbinder - it would not be very expensive. (For those of you in possession of the bookof the first half of the commission, from 5 March 1969, the two could be bound together.)The author of the book of the first part of this last commission concluded by saying, `We'll be back'. Yes, here we are. As the `ThroughDeck Cruiser' is being considered by the powers that be, we might conclude by saying, with certainty, `We'll be back again'.

CONTENTSGENERAL NARRATIVE 2

RAS 16

DEPARTMENTS

Seaman 17

Communications 21

Weapons Electrical 23

Supply and Secretariat 26

NBCD Party 30

Divers 31

Church 32

Maren 33

Air Engineering 38

Air 40

800 NAS 42

826 NAS 46

849 NAS `D' Flight 48

899 NAS 49

SAR 52

Fleet Chiefs 52

Medical 53

Dental 54

Weapons Supply 55

Laundry 55

Meteorological 56

Education 56

Royal Marines 57

Eagle Players 58

`Eagle Express' 59

Children's Parties 60

Radio 4XO 60

Eagle Brass 61Cinema Staff 61

Thrash 61

SPORTS 62

Soccer 63

Rugby 63

Hockey 65

Squash 65

Cricket 66

Water Skiing 66

Harriers 67

Golf 68

Fencing 69

Cycling 69

Surfing 70

Shooting 70

Water-polo 71

Judo 71

Canoeing 72

Tennis 72

Dog Shooting 72

A BRIEF HISTORY andPHOTOGRAPHS o f EAGLE

BackCover

Foreword

It is a great honour to be asked to write a few

words for the book of the last Commission of

this famous EAGLE.

When we first met, I stated that my aim was to

try to achieve a `whole' ship. This meant that

everyone was to work together, whatever his

job, to attain, at the end of the day, the

maximum operational efficiency out of the

aircraft - our prime weapon.

I believe that, together, we have well and truly

accomplished this aim. We have not, as far as

I am aware, turned down or found too difficult

any task we have been called upon to perform,

and, as you know, these have been many and

varied. We have taken part in moments of

history - covering the withdrawal from our

military bases in the Far East and the Persian

Gulf. Above all, we have achieved an

immaculately clean, smart and efficient ship.

This has been a corporate effort.

From the bottom of my heart I say to each and

every one of you, thank you: God bless you,

and good luck in all your endeavours in the

future.

Left: Captain I. G. W. Robertson, DSC,Royal Navy, arrives on 1st June, 1970 withthe ship in dry dock and (on right) is intro-duced to Commander E. M. G. Johnstone bythe previous captain, Captain J. D. Treacher.Below: On Watch; Off Watch (drawing oneof the lucky car-winning tickets for theHighwayman Draw); Going ashore, on 28

January 1972 for the last time

HMS EAGLEat Portsmouth28 January 1972

one

A tight squeeze

Make room for a small one

Divisions with AGRS

Home from home

DEDIn April, after leave had been given, allbut the RAs took up residence in HMSCENTAUR, towed especially round fromPortsmouth to provide accommodationfor us whilst EAGLE underwent dockingand rectification of essential defects.

Daily orders took on a new impor-tance: they published the caisson open-ing times. When it was open, the walkfrom EAGLE to CENTAUR, around thebasin, was a long one. (It took from tenminutes to an hour - depending onwhether lunch or work was at the otherend.)

Captain Robertson joined and thetwin hulks under his command took onsteadily changing appearances. CENTAUR

became a lively home, where an ` EAGLEspirit' developed, due mainly to thesuccessful innovation of the Eagle Club.EAGLE herself began to look more ship-shape as the rectification programmewent ahead smoothly.

Summer leave came and went. TheTot went. The dock was flooded andwe floated again. On being warped outto the tidal berth we were able to vacateCENTAUR and establish ourselves, thank-fully, `at home' again.

two

Arriving at Southampton

WORK UP & ORIWe sailed for trials on a Saturday after-noon (26 September). The squadronsfound their sea-legs and various evolu-tions were practised: Thimblehunt,Emergency Stations, and so on. Themachinery, too, was put through itspaces, and we returned on 9 Octoberfor a short rectification period. Thisbecame another docking for work belowthe water-line after a rock had beenstruck on the way past Drake's Island.

All was fixed and we sailed a monthlater and worked ourselves up theWest Coast on the first leg of a `roundBritain trip'. It was `all go' in the MorayFirth for some time, in company withCAVALIER, MALCOLM and the submarinesAURIGA, AENEAS, ZEE HUND and POTVIS.

The words AMBER and RED took ona new significance: to some it meantthat meals were available round theclock.

We came down the East Coast andtook a long week-end off in Southamp-ton: the first of many splendid runsashore in foreign parts. Duly refreshed,we steamed round to the BristolChannel and were off Brawdy onFriday 27th where we held the secondwork-up with DANAE, CHICHESTER andOSIRIS, returning to Devonport on 10December.

On I9 January we sailed for our thirdwork-up and the Operational ReadinessInspection, carried out off Gibraltar on8-9 February. There was little time forleave there, and inclement weather didnot help, stranding several hundredashore one night. The Inspection wascarried out by Rear-Admiral Treacherand his staff. With his recent andintimate knowledge of the Ship, wewere braced for a thorough going-over.We got it, and `passed' with flyingcolours.

Fuel and food but no chance of sleep

Firefighters at Gibraltar - the SS BYZANTIUM

three

The Mayor of Southampton stirs it

Arrival at Villefranche Perfume galore

THE MED

In the crisp morning air of 12 Februarywe went to the buoy in the centre of theBay of Villefranche and took a well-earned opportunity for recreation. TheBritish community extended a wel-come and, through their generosity,many coach-trips were made possible.Some of us were content to sit in thelocal cafes; others visited Nice or

toured into the Alpes Maritimes,Grasse, Cannes or Monaco. No onebroke the bank at Monte Carlo, and wesailed for some exercises before arrivingfor a period of self-maintenance atMalta. Some wives had flown out, andthere were a few anxious faces on boardas our entry into Grand Harbour wasdelayed by the weather for some hours.

Whilst some worked on board, othersworked at LUQA. There was recreation,too: sport, theatricals and adventure

training away from it all at Golden Bayin the North. We sailed on 22 Marchand were able to call in at Gibraltar fora couple of days on the way home. Onthe 7th we returned to Charlie Buoyand, after clearing Customs in the fore-noon, we embarked families and sailedwith them up the Hamoaze. The mailstrike had caused many to be out oftouch with their homes during thewhole of this trip and we were all gladto be back.

Eagle's Grenadiers Leaving Malta

four

` Golly, it's good!'

DEPLOYMENTFor those trying to put their houses andgardens in order, April and May passedfar too quickly. The Ship was loadeddown with stores of every description.Because of the Far Eastern `run-down'we had to take everything we mightneed (for nine months) with us. RFA

RELIANT helped out and together wesailed for the Bristol Channel on 26May. From there we picked up thejets, last-minute stores and stragglersbefore deploying to the East on I June.We closed within flying range ofGibraltar and passed close to theCanaries. GLAMORGAN, RELIANT, RE-

SOURCE and TIDEPOOL were all following

All in white

roughly the same route and the patternfor the voyage was established. Wetopped-up from the URG (underwayreplenishment group) and rushed off tofly in some suitable spot. As they caughtup, we topped-up again. After a day orso we chased on and topped-up as wepassed by - and so on. It was strangehow we always seemed to meet up onSundays, though....

With the prospect of months at seanow becoming a reality, the ShipSpirit, which had been smouldering and

flickering at times such as the ORI,

steadily glowed. Individuals began tofind ways of spending their timeprofitably during the long sea passagesthe Ops Team dreamt up exercises; theCommand thought of divisions (just tocheck that we'd brought our whites).The `Off Watch' group, which had beenfunctioning quietly since the ORI,became more meaningful as it thoughtup and arranged entertainment for all.The first of many `Singalongs' was heldon the cable deck on 5 June.

Horse-racing Commander Johnstone inspects

five

Sailing from Devonport

CROSSING THE LINETradition has it that ceremonies areperformed in obeisance to King Nep-tune as ships cross the Equator, and aday was set aside for such merrymak-ings. Initiation, sacrifice, call it whatyou will: a representative selection ofthe Ship's Company were selected to beshaved, dolloped, whitewashed andthrown to the bears. With full courtregalia, mermaids, policemen, etc., theCaptain was the first to sample the

It must be a goal . . .

EAGLE twin-tub, whiter than white,dollopwash. (He was accused of - 1:sailing on time; 2: `Did deprive theShip's Company of Whit week-end';and 3: was seen to smile at the returnof the squadrons.) The Commander,Doctor, Dentist, Schooly, youngestchap on board - were all for it and allwere duly accused (in rhyme, too!) andducked. The formalities over, theduckings became less formal and a few

innocent and unprepared spectatorswere manhandled into the water, and bymid-afternoon the pools were filledwith volunteers and pressed (or pushed)men. Of course, someone had to pullthe plugs out; the waters drained awayand revealed a small collection of keysand false teeth at the bottom of thepools!

When aircraft movements permitted,the deck space was given over toorganised sports. Sometimes, completeknockouts or marathons were arranged;at others the fitness enthusiasts ranaround the aircraft and did their press-ups in quiet corners. For the `spectatoronly' sportsman there was horse-racing, with opportunities to buy, bet,or just to watch. If you liked none ofthat, then the sun was shining, the skywas clear, and all was set for a spot ofbronzing.

As we approached Ascension Island,with its runway available as a diversion,our aircraft became more active and, ofcourse, some mail arrived. The footballteam, the Royals and some other visitorswere landed on the Island, and thehelicopters were called on to shift loadsof earth up the barren mountains inorder to provide a roothold for treesbeing planted amongst the ash of thevolcanic wastes. As darkness fell, thevisitors were brought off and the coursewas set for Capetown. We did not closeSt Helena and changed back into bluesin preparation for `winter' down south.

The PMO gets a ducking Ascension Island

Photographic evidence

six

Main street at our doorstep

In the mountains Dawn, and the EAGLE, strikes Capetown

CAPETOWN. . .We were certainly glad of our blues forthe ceremonial entry into Capetown.The helicopter brought out the pilotand the Admiral - Flag Officer, Second-in-Command of the Far East Fleet. Wewatched as the first rays of sunshinedissolved the table-cloth and crept downfrom the tiny lift house at the top ofTable Mountain to the flats and officeblocks below, and we listened to thenoise of the saluting guns as theyechoed round the rocks. Berthed ascentrally as one could hope for, wewere quickly ashore for a `leg stretch'and the first chance to savour the tre-mendous hospitality that became afeature of the cruise. Special officeswere set up on board and ashore tocater for invitations to lunches, fordrives and barbecues.

For those who enjoy sightseeingthere was, of course, the cable-car tripto the top of the mountain. Somevisited the Rhodes Memorial at Rose-bank, and many took coach-trips fartherafield: either round the Cape and to theCape of Good Hope itself, or alongFalse Bay, past Cape Hangklip and upinto the mountains that are inland.There was beautiful scenery in con-trasting styles-from the sheer cliffsof the Cape to the wide open stretchesof sand in False Bay; from the rugged-ness of the mountains to the flatnessof the plateaux behind them; from thebarrenness of the mountainous moor-lands to the fertile apple-growing areasand vineyards.

After five days, on Tuesday, 22 June,we sailed towards Singapore, slowingdown off Mauritius to land and delivermail and to `show off' some of the air-craft in a flypast and demonstration.

We also landed a helicopter at DiegoGarcia. It was the first aircraft ever toland on the new airstrip being con-structed there by the Americans. Wecollected their mail and were able tofly it off almost the next day as we gotwithin range of the Penang areas. Weexercised there for some days beforeentering Singapore on 8 July for aperiod of assisted maintenance at theSembawang Shipyard. For some therewere wives to meet them; for some thechallenge of an inter-departmentalmulti-sport Olympiad; and for all therewere the swimming-pools; the manysmall bars of Sembawang or the brightlights and fascinating life of SingaporeCity itself. `Rabbits' were purchased,although with the prospect of anothervisit there many people were holdingback, probably to save up a little morecash. On the 21st it was time to press onfarther eastwards.

Rear-Admiral D. J. Williams and his Staff `Haircut, sir?'

seven

. . . AND SINGAPORE

DOWN UNDERSYDNEY,WELLINGTON,FREMANTLE AND . . .

Morning mist at Sydney

Sydney Harbour (with EAGLE and HMAS MELBOURNE, left, at the RAN Base)

The railway - Wellington

The passage to Australia was marred bya fire in one of the two plants used formaking liquid oxygen. This was veryserious and potentially extremely dan-gerous. Whilst the entire Ship went toemergency stations, the fire was foughtand contained within the area of theplant. Within a few hours all was undercontrol, and the damage, althoughsevere, was very localised. The Shipreturned to the Singapore areas andflew the two men who were injured, inthe initial explosion, to hospital.

Our operational efficiency was notunduly affected and we were soonexercising, as planned, off Perth. Wemoved across to the eastern end of thecontinent and, after a little more flying,entered Sydney on 4 August and beganto sample life in Australia. Some nevergot farther than King's Cross, just upthe road from the dockyard. Otherswere off to the beach (Bondi, of course -although there were several others) andthere were coach-trips, too: into thebush or to the wilds of the Blue Moun-tains and Katoomba. In many waysSydney was like London: busy, aliveat night and, alas, expensive. TheAustralians were very friendly and somerelated (almost with pride) their ances-try (`Yes,' said the taxi-driver, `I'm afourth-generation convict.') Miss Eliza-beth McCracken, a young nurse, cameon board to receive a small gift from theShip - she was born on board duringthe Coronation Review at Spithead.Our visit was a hectic five days - one ofthose long week-ends when everythinghappens so fast you never have time torecover.

On sailing, we met with bad weatherand the plans to go through the CookStrait and exercise to the east of NewZealand were cancelled, as the Shipand her escorts (GLAMORGAN, DANAE,

ACHILLES, JAGUAR, HMAS OVENS andHMNZS WAIKATO and WIRANGI) tookshelter. Fortunately, the weather im-proved sufficiently for the entry intoWellington to take place as scheduled.Our visit there coincided with a tradefair and the delicate negotiations on theCommon Market. The New Zealanders,especially the ex-servicemen, of whomthere were thousands, were boundlessin their enthusiasm and generosity. Itwas a visit never to be forgotten. Somewent to Auckland, others saw the hotsprings, others were just dragged fromone party to another in a haze of hospi-tality. Again, five days was the ration -

eight

Royals at the fair

not long enough for the initial impetusto die down, and just long enough to beable to cope before dropping withexhaustion. We sailed, and headedwestwards for another visit to Australia.

Fremantle is the port for Perth at themouth of the beautiful Swan River.Perth is the capital of Western Aus-tralia and is a charming city with oceanto the west and desert to the east and anextensive agricultural belt around it.There were sights to see there, and thevisit got off to a swinging start with theShip's Dance - the big hooley of theCommission - held on the first night in.Whilst some loners went off into thebush, the less adventurous athleteswalked from Fremantle to Perth andback for charity. In comparison toWellington, the visit was quiet, butnonetheless very enjoyable - anotherlong week-end and we sailed again on14 September for Singapore.

For those who had lounged at thepool all day during their first visit toSingapore, time was running short:sights had to be seen and, of course,the remaining rabbits had to be pur-chased - although some felt that HongKong would offer better prices. Morewives arrived. The changes as theBritish Forces left became noticeable;the sentry at the gate of HMS TERROR

was frequently wearing the grey-greenuniform of the Australian forces. At ashort ceremony there, the Far EastColour was paraded and transferred tothe Ship. Many of the visiting digni-taries, most of them servicemen, com-mented on the smartness and bearingand precision of the EAGLE guard at thatfunction; an historic event, we wereproud to have been the bearers of theColour and to have acquitted our-selves at the ceremony so well.

. . . SINGAPOREAGAIN

Leaving Wellington

Arriving at Freemantle

The Far East Colour leaves Singapore to bereturned in EAGLE to Portsmouth

nine

HONG KONGThe passage from Singapore to HongKong was to have included extensiveexercises off the Philippines, but threetropical storms played havoc with theprogramme and we spent some timeavoiding the storms. It was during thistime that we heard an SOS from theSS STEEL VENDOR that had drifted onto areef whilst its engines were out ofaction. Helicopters from 826 Squadronwere scrambled and were able to winchthe crew of forty men to safety beforetheir freighter, loaded with cement,began to break up on the rocks.

With that adventure behind us, wesalvaged what we could of the practiceprogramme and managed to avoid thetyphoons and steam for Hong Kong fora period of self-maintenance and anopportunity to see the sights. Shoppingwas a favourite activity - as was sight-seeing, be it in the Wanchai area bynight, or up The Peak, or round theNew Territories, or down to the southof the Island to the beaches, or for ameal in the floating restaurants atAberdeen.

Being at a buoy meant coming andgoing by boat, but we soon got to gripswith the boat and wallah wallah routine.The guard performed at a ceremony tomark the retirement of the Governor-General, and the aircraft flew past forPrincess Anne who was starting a visitto the colony as we left. Between thosetwo events the wardroom hosted manydignitaries from Hong Kong for theannual celebration of Trafalgar. Adinner is normally held at HMS TAMAR

Arrival at Hong Kong.

ten

but on this occasion our wardroom waschosen as the venue, and the Queen'sFar East Colour was displayed behindthe top table.

Some wives took the opportunity tojoin their husbands, and for everyone itwas a 'last-minute shop to catch thepost'. Postie and his staff were verybusy dispatching the last lot of sea mailthat would get home in time for Christ-mas.

The Side Party, too, was busy, co-operating with jenny and her side party

Wreck of the SS STEEL VENDOR

to get the Ship's side looking clean: itwas quite a sight to see the local paintersswinging in the wind on planks sus-pended from the flight deck by a coupleof thin ropes. The Sea Kings in themeanwhile were dangling strange bitsand pieces from their aircraft as theyassisted the authorities ashore withseveral load-lifting jobs up mountainsides.

Seen near the border of Communist China

GLAMORGAIN by night

ALL AT SEAWe had braced ourselves, in HongKong, for the next part of the Com-mission - a return to Singapore, fol-lowed by exercises and then `standingby' to cover the withdrawal from thePersian Gulf: all the time at sea. Ourdeparture from Singapore, where wedid not stop, and the demise of theFar East Fleet was marked by a steam-past and fly-past for the Commander-in-Chief. All our aircraft, and allthe other ships, took part. We wentstraight on into an exercise - CurtainCall - with ALBION, GLAMORGAN,

SCYLLA, ARETHUSA, ACHILLES, ARGONAUT,

GHURKHA, HMAS SWAN, HMNZS OTAGO

and the RFAs. During this time theentire fleet went to anchor at Langkawifor a few days. Although we were along way off the beach the order of theday was `get ashore and have fun'. Forthose who like a bit of organised sportthere was `It's a Knockout', for whichmany appropriate stunts had beendevised. There were opportunities toget sunburnt, or to haggle, in the shadeof the palms, for coconuts or bananas.Meanwhile, the cooks and the NAAFI

staff were doing great lines with barbe-cued steaks and soft drinks. There wasa fishing competition, too - the totalcatch comprising two, under six-inch,tiddlers !

The Pudding-stirring cere-mony was performed, and the normaldaily routine of work was temperedwith the usual round of Off Watchactivities.

The Admiral and the Commander watch `It's a Knockout' on the beach at Langkawi

Mixing the 1971 pudding

eleven

A `Highwayman' intermediate draw during a Singalong

Eastern shores

THE GULFFrom the Penang Areas we travelledacross to Gan for a further few days offlying before proceeding to the closeproximity of the Persian Gulf. Wespent most of the time within sight ofthe RAF base at Masira and were ableto get in a great deal of flying. Allowingthe aircraft to practise their bombingand rocketry was a good way of startingto de-ammunition the Ship.

The Eagle Players put on a revue inthe Upper Hangar, and the Squadronsput on an air display in which even theGannets managed to frighten us all bycoming low and close, to fly, seemingly,through the maze of aerials that wecarry. After the long stretch at sea wewere preparing ourselves for the forth-coming visit to Mombasa. It nevercame. The political situation requiredus to remain in close proximity to theGulf and so we resigned ourselves toan extra week or so at sea and to missingthe delights promised to us in the`Eagle Express' SPECIAL on Mombasa,issued on the same day as the announce-ment was made. Auld Nig was unableto refresh his `Hazy Memories' whichhad become a feature of every port ofcall.

Later, the situation in Pakistan war-ranted assistance and a busy eveningand night was spent in transferringstores across to ALBION which detachedfrom us and sailed towards thattroubled country with half of 826Squadron and their aircraft on board aswell. We headed towards Mombasa and,as we passed by, held our ChristmasPantomime and bade farewell to theAdmiral and his staff (transferringthem to TRIUMPH) as we continued toDurban, where we arrived on 22December.

Having spent 56 days at sea, we wereglad to be ashore - no real records werebroken (a surprising number of menwere on board and at sea for a longerstretch during the Beira Patrol), butit was a long spell that, thanks to effortsall round, went surprisingly well.

Gannets overhead

Clear Lower Deck

Durban - queuing to see us Ready for show

twelve

DURBANOur berth in Durban was, unfortunate-ly, on the `wrong side' of the docks - itwas a long, hard haul around the har-bour (how many railway lines to cross ?)but the boats were running regularlyand the inconvenience was little impedi-ment to the enjoyment of all. Therewere always crowds on the jetty justlooking at the Ship, and we had recordattendances on `Ship Open to Visitors'days. The general public never quitegrasped that visiting at other times wasby private invitation only. There wereplenty of such invites, too, as gratefulmen showed around their hosts.

Christmas and the New Year seemedto be one long holiday, and there werehundreds of South Africans preparedto share their time, homes and hospi-tality. Car-trips and coach-trips to thenearby game reserves and scenic spotswere frequent, and many men travelledfarther afield to the game parks ofZululand. For those who preferred toentertain themselves there was thebeach and the many other attractionsthat any large holiday resort can offer.

Christmas came and, with it, enter-tainment for children. Father Christ-mas flew in by helicopter to give them awelcome and gifts. The shipwrightshad been busy previously as we crossedthe Indian Ocean and had built asplendid Wendy House and a Fort andother accessories for use in an orphan-age. With the help of the staff ashore, asuitably deserving orphanage was foundand the gifts were taken there andassembled. In addition, several odd-j obs were done around the grounds andbuildings.

On Christmas Eve and ChristmasDay itself there were the usual festivitieson board for those not invited ashore.A service of lessons and carols was heldin the hangar (and we'd been practising,too, with community hymn-singing onthe flightdeck of an evening whilst atsea) and there was, of course, Christ-mas Fayre and an extra can of beer allround. Christmas in the sun may havebeen unusual for some, but it was cer-tainly pleasant, and the visit as.a wholewas regarded - with that at Wellington- as being the best of the Commission.

We sailed at an early hour on 4 Janu-ary and loitered off Simonstown longenough to pick up and land mail. Wedidn't stop at Ascension on the wayback and, shortly after leaving thatarea, we were ordered to close Gibraltarwith all speed to stand by to go toMalta.

Lit up for Crimbo

thirteen

House-building chippies

Father Christmas arrives

The last of the heavies

The Captain launches the little E

Positively the last fixed-wing launch

fourteen

BACK IN THECHANNELThe thought of going to Malta causeddeep gloom all around, but it was notto be so. Having been much shakenaround by the hard-pressed machinery(which pleased all by its steady per-formance) we arrived at Gibraltar on19 January.

True to form, the weather waschangeable. On arrival, the sun shoneand all was calm. As many as could,took leave and went ashore. On thenext day conditions were worse andleave was not granted, so, as soon as thelast-minute essential stores were em-barked, we `upped pick' and were away.

The winding-up operations were infull swing. For months, meetings hadbeen drawing-up plans for scrappingthe Ship and, more immediately, thesquadrons worked hard to ensure thatall the aircraft were serviceable. Inspite of some rude messages andflower-power signs, that appeared onthem overnight, the jets disembarked asplanned (or within an hour or two of it).On the next day the Gannets flew off:not quite the last fixed-wing launchfrom the EAGLE. That was reserved fora replica of the Red Baron's aircraft,and By Golly, it went (splash). A scalemodel of the EAGLE was also launched,making more smoke than ever the big Ecould have done!

826 Squadron flew themselves off,chacons and all, and the only aircraftthat remained was a Buccaneer whichhad had its guts removed and so wasunable to fly off anyway.

` No doubt the razor blades, like the Shipand its crew, will be sharp and keen'

THE ENDWe anchored off Spithead on the 25thand the Customs men - seemingly hun-dreds of them - came aboard to do andtake their duty. The question everyonehad been sweating over (`How muchwill they want for my lot?') was soonanswered and the general feeling wasthat we were treated fairly.

Overnight the wind got up and, for atime (for those awake to it), the possi-bility of not entering harbour asscheduled was real. The morningdawned quiet enough, if a little wet,and we entered as planned, watched bycrowds ashore. The families streamedaboard as soon as the brows were out,and leave started as soon as possible.The wind got up and blew a gale fordays: how lucky we were!

Within a few days, Captain Robertsonleft and Commander R. F. White, whohad been organising the run-down pro-ject from the shore-side for severalmonths, took over as CommandingOfficer. De-ammunitioning started, andde-storing and de-equipping got underway, helped by a huge bridge - built byarmy engineers - that enabled transportto drive on and off the Ship. At the timeof writing, all was going smoothly andalmost too fast, thanks to the detailedforward planning and co-operationfrom all the departments concerned,both afloat and ashore.

Customs - grin and bear it

Entering Portsmouth, January 26th, 1972

The biggest brow ever is ceremoniallyopened (left) and de-storing starts (above)

Commander White greets the First Sea Lord who came to see 'The Bridge'

fifteen

The Far East Colour is laid up on returnto Portsmouth

REPLENISHMENT AT SEA

Used so frequently, RAS is a word in its own right, and it is an evolution that is carried out at least once a week (on Sundays) but usually everythree or four days (for fuel) and weekly (fcr stores). During the Commission, the weather has only once or twice delayed a RAS and, solids orliquids, rough or smooth, wet or dry, the evolution takes place and involves just about everybody on board. There are opportunities for humour,too -'We give Green Shield Stamps' flags have been flown and, on one occasion, the light line that makes the first physical contact was sent acrosson a golf ball hit by the Gunnery Officer, Lt-Cdr Pike (first shot, too!). Below is a selection of some of the ships that have served us over thepast year or two - featured are the Royal Fleet Auxiliaries TIDEPOOL, OLMEDA, LYNESS, RELIANT, RESOURCE and OLNA

sixteen

SEAMANDEPARTMENTSince the year `dot', when the firstship sailed the seas, there have beenseamen. Today, in modern warships,the seaman is one of the most versatileof sailors. Here in EAGLE it has been theseaman's lot to undertake a diversity oftasks ranging from the normal securingof the ship alongside or at anchor, toassisting the Weapons Electrical Party;filling allotted billets in the CommunalParty; firing the self-defence weapons;running the Ship's routine; compilingthe Action Picture for the Command;and many others. The seaman lives upto the title of `Jack of all Trades', andif he is `Master of few' it is because ofthe variety of tasks he is asked to dealwith. Here are but a few of the seaman'stasks explained in more detail.

The Boatswain's Party. This sec-tion of seamen was divided into twogangs, the Heavy and the Light.

The Heavy Gang was a small bandof happy pilgrims who operated fromthe smokey den situated on 3T1 boat-space. They could often be seen in thisarea during quiet periods. Their every-day work included the manufacture,repair and maintenance of the ship'srunning and standing rigging. But theone primary task was that of providing,maintaining and rigging the replenish-ment at sea (RAS) equipment. Thesewere the yellow-helmeted men you mayhave seen perched on top of the stump

The Boatswain's Party: * AB Terry TURNELL; AB Dago KITTS; AB Morty MOORTON; AB Des TICER;AB Peter BARCROFT; LS Taff THOMAS. ** PO Gerry Cox; CPO Sails PIDDINGTON; Lt Don MASON;PO Jim BOWMAN.

masts during a solids RAs waiting toconnect the jackstays. Or you may haveseen them swinging from a 'sky-hook' inone of the fuelling pockets, during aliquids RAS, waiting to connect the hosejackstay. Likewise, they were the menwho performed the duties of `buoyjumpers' whenever the ship secured tomooring buoys.

The pre-requisite for joining thissmall, hardworking and reliable teamwas a better-than-average knowledge of

seamanship; a hate for film-shows ormake-and-mends; the capacity for hardwork; and the willingness to wear over-alls when all your chums were wearingsparkling whites.

The Light Gang was an even smallerband of pilgrims: the Chief Sailmakerand his Mate. While it can be said that` Sails' was not actually required to makeany sails, there were very few othertasks involving the use of canvas, PVC,or fabrics, which he did not undertake.

Radar Plot - Port Watch : * AB Paddy SHIELDS; OS Bins BINLEY; JS Dickie HILTON; AB Dave PRICE; OS Johnnie HOUGHTON; AB Buster BROWN; AB DougieTASSIE; OS Middy MIDDLETON; AB Andy COUSE; AB Ivor LLOYD; AB Sharky WARD; AB Trey KEEBLE; JS Robert KELLAWAY; OS Shiner WRIGHT; AB BennyHARTY; AB Yorky HOPES. ** AB Peter BIGGS; AB Brian CRONIN; AB George RUNHAM; JS Steve NICHOLLS; AB Cassius CLAYTON; OS Barry SMITH; AB TaffWALL; AB Ginge BEARDALL; OS Jim HENDRY; OS Mac McCANN; JS Spud EDWARDS; JS Keith SAVILLE; AB Mick WALSH; AB Raymond TOWERS; LS JackDEMPSEY; AB Nocker NOLAN; AB John DOHERTY. *** AB Vic HAMPSHIRE; LS Terry LELLIOTT; AB Jan CHILDS; LS Noddy KNOWLES; PO Taff GOUGH;PO Ted CROZIER; PO Spider WEBB; PO Terry NEWLOVE; LS George MORRIS; AB Phil CAIRNS; JS Buck TAYLOR; LS Rick MAUGHAN. **** CPO Mick POOLE;Lt Chris EARLE; Lt-Cdr Tom TAYLOR; Lt-Cdr George ATTRILL; CPO Pete LAPTHORNE; Lt Brian WESTLAKE; Lt Robbie ROBINS.

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Also the pride of the WEL Dept, EAGLE'S4.5-in turrets fire a broadside to starboard.This picture is of the last firing ever in the

RN from such a highly armed vessel

The jobs ranged from supplying andfitting the canvas swimming-baths; thecourt costumes, and wigs, for the Cros-sing the Line Ceremony; providingnumerous backcloths and stage fittingsfor `Sods Operas'; to coachwhippingthe Commander's telescope. Apartfrom rabbit jobs, it was the task of thissmall gang to maintain and repair allthe canvas and PVC fittings onboard.Not much, you might think, until youcount the ladder screens; liferaft covers;weather deck screens; RAS chutes and,of course, the blue piping on the Cap-tain's bridge chair. All these tasks havebeen undertaken successfully and cheer-fully and one wonders who will replacethe sailmaker when the last of thesecraftsmen leaves the Service.

The Direction department was ateam of highly specialised seamen who

manned the eyes of the fleet, EAGLE'S

radar equipment. The team consisted ofsome ten Direction Officers (led byD - Lt-Cdr George Attrill) and up to95 Radar Plot ratings (led by theCPRI - CPO Peter Lapthorne). At seathe department worked as directed bythe Direction Officer, but in harbour,as they were all seamen, they worked asdirected by the First Lieutenant.

Due to the complex air radars (984,965R) and their associated computers(ADA system DAA) certain key officersand ratings joined before the Dockingand Essential Defects Period (DED)

in order to become fully conversantwith the overall system before the newteam joined during the DED. As seamen,most of the DED was spent in chippingand preserving the upper deck andpainting the boats. A display wasmounted for the MAYFLOWER ' 70 EXHIBI-

TION at Plymouth showing the capa-bilities of some of the ship's radars andhow the modern battle decisions aremade.

Towards the end of the DED, the usualround of Pre-Commissioning Training(PCT) on ADA started under the instruc-tion of the Deputy Direction Officer(Lt-Cdr Tom Taylor) and the CPRI.This was promptly followed by Com-mand Team Training (CTT) at Ports-mouth, and members of the AirSquadrons (the ones who would be

Operations room

controlled on the ship's radar) joinedin. During CTT the team was given avery good work-out on all the factorsof the Command and Control andutilised the new procedures that were tocome into the Fleet nearly six monthslater.

After the PCT and CTT the ship sailedfor trials in September 1970. This keptthe department very busy dealing withthe radar performances; checking themand the radios with fleet requirementaircraft; checking the computer systemout; and making sure all the equipmentwas in good working order. During thethree work-ups the team became moreand more proficient at its jobs so that atthe Operation Readiness Inspection, inFebruary 1971, it gave a good accountof itself.

Radar Plot-Starboard Watch: *AB Paddy POWER; AB Tug WILSON; JS Jan BUCKLAND; JS Paddy MCMASTER; LS Ginge BIHET; OS Alan WILLIAMS;AB Johno JOHNSON; AB Colin PRATT; AB Steve HUXTABLE; AB Tug WILSON ; AB Ginge TEAGUE; JS Jock CALDWELL; AB Dave SHIRES; LS Robbie ROBERTS;AB Bungy WILLIAMS; AB Taff MORGAN; AB Pat PATTERSON. ** AB Jim LACEY; AB Brum SHIELDS; JS Boris BEDALL; JS Martin PYRE; JS George WALSH;AB George BAIN; AB Ken KENNEDY; AB Alan FLEMMING; JS Tanzy LEE; OS Steve HAMMOND; OS Kevin CHATBURN; JS Steve GORE; JS H. T. HEIGHTON-TOWERS; AB John SEDEN. *** AB Raymond DOHERTY; LS Bungy WILLIAMS; LS John LANG; LS Jimmy GREEN; PO Father ROWLANDS; LS Wally WOLLINGTON;PO Pete BROADBENT; PO Tom SWEENEY; PO Tommy TUCKER; LS Sam MILLING; LS Shiner WRIGHT. **** CPO Mick POOLE; S/Lt Chris MASTERMAN; Lt ColinBONNER; Lt-Cdr. George ATTRILL; CPO Pete LAPTHORNE; Lt Clive CHANEY; Lt Garth MANNING; CPO Bill LEANING.

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Also during the Mediterraneanperiod, hidden talents were foundwithin the department, proving theycould play as hard as work. Membersof the team joined singing groups,organised cycle clubs, took up lots ofsports and eventually produced a sketchfor PANOMANIA with a cast of twenty.

Back at Plymouth for Easter and aSelf-maintenance Period, the team hadto undergo another PCT due to thechange-round Of D's and RP's. Withthis, and leave, completed, the shipsailed for a quick shake-down and there-embarking of the Air Group. Twoof the Squadrons had their own Direc-tion Officers; the fighters (899) Lt RonBrumhill, and the helicopters (826)Lt-Cdr Maurice Mayers. Once all wereaboard, the Ship set off for the Far East.

Flying and exercises were the team'sbread and butter whenever the shipwas at sea, and so it is not surprisingthat the trip to Singapore, via Cape-town, meant more work for the AirReporting Officers, POs Gough andBroadbent, and their assistants.

At Singapore a large number of shoreactivities were undertaken by the teamonce more. The new boys had to beshown round the sights; rabbits bought;sports played; and another show wasput on. `Vote for Crun' had fifteen ofthe direction team in it. Meanwhile,improvements in the system DAA werebeing made, and the results reportedback to the ADA Rule Writing Groupfor inclusion in future systems. Our` Link 14' - a system of transmittinginformation from the computer to smallships - was working overtime.

Next came the Australian and NewZealand exercises and once again theDirection Team, as they do in allexercises and operations, controlled theall-weather Vixen fighters against in-truders and strikes on the ship. Theyalso controlled the Airborne EarlyWarning Gannet aircraft that fill thegap in the ship's radar and the Anti-submarine Helicopters that hunt forsubmarines. They listened to theBuccaneer aircraft that stike the enemy.` D' and `D2' controlled the Air Defenceof the Fleet, using the radars, fighters,missiles and guns to ensure that noenemy aircraft or missile got throughthe air defence cover. Every memberof the team was vital to this task andwas continually alert. The surface sideof the team provided the Commandwith an up-to-date tactical picture ofthe surface and sub-surface continually atsea. During this period the team claimedtheir 1,000th successful interception.

The Direction Team were con-stantly trying out new methods of pre-senting the overall concept of both Air

Seacat Teams: * LS Ken VARDY; AB Polly POLLARD; LS Terry HICK; AB Smudge SMYTH; REMJimmy GREEN; AB SteVC MCQUEENEY; AB Dutchy MOULTON; LS Jed THOMAS; AB Taff TRAHAR.** OS Arthur FARMILOE; OS Reg FERGUSON; AB Jonah JONES (MJ); REM Les PATRICK; LS DickyDAWSON; LS Sharky WARD. *** LS Gilly GILBERT; LS Robbie BURNS; AB Yorky BARCROFT; AB MosesMoss; POGI Griff GRIFFITHS; Lt Chris MORGAN; AB Rigger MOORTON; LS Darby ALLEN; AB PaulEALEY.

Gunnery Control Teams: * AB Chris PEARSON; AB Bagsy BAKER; OS Jumper CROSS; AB YorkyWATERWORTH; OS Anthony BUTTLE; AB Topsy TURNELL; AB Yorky BARCROFT.

** AB Taff JONES( LM) ; AB Pete BOYCE; OS Taff UPHAM; AB Ted THAXTER; AB SteVe STEPHENSON; AB Keith HEXLEY;AB Barney BUSH; AB Jock BERTRAM; LS Johno JOHNSON. *** LS Jock DUNCAN; POGI Griff GRIFFITHS;PO Buster BROWN; POGI Chats HARRIS; S/Lt John NUNDY; CPOGI OZZY OSBORNE; PO John MAIDMENT;PO Gerry Cox; LS Dicky BIRD.

Navigation Division: * LS Jan GREEDY; LS Mick ROWAN; AB Neil RUTHERFORD; AB Lenny LEONARD;ORD Ron DOOLER ; AB Dad HADDON; ORD Pete PETERS; ORD Toz TOZER; AB Ginge PococK;AB Phil JAYS. **LS Mick PRESTWICH; LS Gilly GILBERT; Lt M. H. C. AYLWARD (N2); Lt-Cdr J. F. S.TRINDER (NO); PO Robbie ROBINSON (CQM); LS Sharky WARD; LS Dicky DAWSON. *** AB TaffHARWOOD; JS Shep SHEPHERD; AB George CHURCHER (Nav Yee); JS Daisy FURLONG; OS Dennis SNELL.

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Defence and tactical picture compila-tion to achieve greater speeds andaccuracy for the Command, and havejust completed trials on yet anothersystem to see if it is compatible in amulti-threat environment.

Both the Direction Officer and hisDeputy have been utilised as plannersby the staffs in the Far East as theyhave no direction expertise of theirown. This placed greater responsibilityon those further down the line in theteam, and it was gratifying to see thegood response from all the team to thisgreater responsibility. It is confidentlyexpected that 2,000 interceptions willbe completed before the end of thecommission, and the team will departwith the knowledge of having been in acomputerised Action Information Or-ganisation that holds its own againstall-comers from any Service and fromany nation.

The Upper Deck Division is thecomposite name for the seamen whowork in a seamanship job as well astheir subspecialist work as an RP, TAS,

or Gunnery rating. The work roundthe `Parts of Ship', as they are known, isdivided into Cable Deck (Lt DonMason and Petty Officers Brady andRayworth); Top -which includes allthe PV spaces and Fuelling pockets aswell as the booms and ladders for-ward (Lts Graham Churton and Clive

The Side Party - Hong Kong Style:

* ORD Tug WILSON; PO Tommy TUCKER; Lt Don MASON;Lt-Cdr Charles POPE ( First Lieutenant); Lt Colin BONNER; CPO David LOMAN; Capt 1. G. W. ROBERTSON;AB Paddy POWER; Lt-Cdr Tom TAYLOR ( Mate of the Upper Deck). **Jenny is standing next to PO TaffGOUGH ( Captain of the Side) who is just behind the cake with which she and her Side Party had beenpresented. *** LS Jack DEMPSEY; AB Brian GLEESON; AB Ginge MULLEN; AB Jock TASSIE; AB LoftyLOFTUS.

Chaney, backed up by Petty OfficersSweeney and Broadbent) Boats (LtChris Earle and Petty Officer New-love); and Quarterdeck (Lts JockMullen, Robbie Robins and JohnCorbet-Milward, and Petty OfficersMaidment and Crozier). All the teamare directed by the Mate of the Upper

Deck (Lt-Cdr Tom Taylor) and theChief Boatswain's Mate (CPO DavidLoman). Apart from the problems ofkeeping all the working areas clean -not an easy task in the case of a lady asold as EAGLE - the seamen run all theboats; put out the booms and ladders;provide the gangway staff to man the

Quarters Teams: * OS Martin BECKLEY; OS Shep SHEPHERD; OS Speedy HEELEY; AB Father HADDON. ** AB John TUDBERRY; AB Willy EVANS; AB BonzoBOYNES; AB David MANSELL; AB Butch HUXTABLE; AB Paddy GLEESON; OS Brum BARRETT; OS SCouse S. KING; AB Alan PARTRIDGE; AB Toz TOZER; OS NickNICHOLAS; AB Keith MURGATROYD; LS Joe GOWAN. *** OS Taff DAVIES; AB Butch SYMMONS; AB Burl IVES; AB Joe HOPE; OS Dick HUSSEY; AB YorkyBRAMMER; AB Barney BARNES; AB Mac MACPHERSON; OS Jock CLARKE; AB Jacko JACKSON; AB Smudge G. L. SMITH; AB Danny LEWIS; AB Taff KITTS; OSMichael TELFORD. **** AB Terry NURSE; AB Hutch HUTCHINSON; AB Dusty FOGG; AB George BRUCE; AB Chris MANSFIELD; AB Chris BAIRSTOW; AB LennyLEONARD; AB Jim DALE; AB Fred FITTON; AB George DOEL; AB Steve STEVENS; AB George DATE; AB Fess PARKER; AB Jonah D. D. JONES. ***** AB JimLACEY; AB Keith LAWLER; OS Ging ROAD; OS George DAYMOND; AB Taff PARKER; OS Kaboobi DOWNS; AB Desmond TICER; AB Stan AULTON. ****** AB

Jock KELLY OS Fred MCCARTHY; OS Steve PETERS; LS Father ROWAN; PO Blondie RAYWORTH; Lt-Cdr Owen PIKE; PO Perry MASON; LS Taff BOULTON;AB Arnie ARNOLD; AB Taff K. P. ROBERTS.

twenty

Seaman Department -continued

ladders; and keep the Quarterdeck ingood ceremonial state for our embarkedFlag Officer. At sea, seamen keep acontinual `Watch on Deck' that provideslookouts and lifebuoy sentries; mans theseaboat and, of course, ensures that thesplash target is working correctly. Ontop of this they man both rigs during a

RAS(s) as well as rigging the chutesdown the forward lift and pushing thelarge variety of stores down it, such asbeer, frozen meat, flour, and manyother items. RAS(L) also requires a setof seamen to connect the rigs and tendthe distance lines while all the relevantFFO, Avcat, Dieso and lub oils arepumped in. The Forward SteeringPosition is manned by the gangwaywatchkeepers and, when we are flying,the RPs (who come from the deckdivision) man-up the Operations Room.During Casexes the TAS ratings fromthe division man-up the Sonar ControlRoom, and during the shoots theGunnery rates from the division manthe 4.5-in guns, the Seacats, and thedirectors. The final part of the divi-sion's responsibility is that of the Ship'sside and liferafts - this is the domainof the Side Party (Lt Colin Bonner andPetty Officers Gough and Tucker).

This is the happy band of ruffians thatcan be seen manning the gash chute andswinging with breathtaking arrogancefrom nets that seem barely secured tothe ship's side. In harbour they are tobe seen covered in grey and black painteither adrift on a catamaran or in theSide Party Motor Cutter (although inHong Kong they used jenny's boata lot).

The Deck Division must have appliedmore paint and chipped off more rustthan the rest of the Ship put together,but statistics do not record the totals.A cheerful team, they have learnt a lotabout big ship seamanship that willhold them all in good stead in theirfuture ships.

COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENTThe Communications Department en-joyed the commission amidst piles ofpaper, principally produced for thebenefit of the flags: FOCAS, FOFWF,F02FEF, FOCAS again and FOF2 ina new hat all hung out those fab redand white tablecloths (consumablestores, rate book value £5.26) to helpthe fight against pollution by catchingthe soot from the funnel.

Hoisting The Flag'

It was fortunate that enough paperwas carried, as the amount that has hadto be pushed around the informationfactory surprised us all. The firstweeks after the DED showed the sadfact that signal traffic rises from year toyear throughout the service. Therefore,LRO Jan Creek, in charge of the storespalace down in to Echo, added a fewthousand sheets to the stationerydemand, and gave it to CY RobbieRoberts. He added a safety factorbefore it went up to the SCOs' office.The SCO had the last word by hasten-ing the demand by signal before goingon leave. In a few days the completedemand arrived, followed a week laterby the complete demand again as aresult of the hastener. We sailed, there-fore, with over five million sheets ofsignal paper to use in seven months.It is not going slowly; two million,four hundred and thirty-eight thousandsheets have been used so far.

The original figure was based onthe previous commissions' distributedtraffic record. Between May '69 andJanuary '70 the last commission handled2,300 signals a month (21,249 in all).Old two-commission salts like R02/RO1/LRO Ken Rowlands assure usthat they did work last commission. Onour first leg, from October '70 to May'71, we averaged 3,300 signals a month(26,159 for the period). Imagine thatthe patron saint of Communicationswas poised above the ship, as she sailedfrom Plymouth across the Equator, andcould no longer contain himself. FromJune '71 to November '71, a brief sixmonths, the average per month was7,300 signals a month (44,111).

This means our staff for this com-mission should have been paid morethan three times as much as the lastcommission's (based on productivity).We never had time to collect it.

These statistics are dull, so thinkinstead of the marriages and babies.LRO Tom Shawyer, RS Taff Kidney,RS Dave Mahy, LRO Paddy Gavin,RO(W) Mitch Mitchell and RS TugWilson all became proud fathers, butRO Taff Arthur beat us all by fatheringtwin boys. SCO (Lt-Cdr Goring) couldnot match that, although he tried hardwith a daughter in the Shake-downperiod and another daughter in theRun-down period. However, pride ofplace must go to SCO2 (you remember,the Killick Sparker when Nelson'sfather was a lad) Lt Gerry Reed whobecame a grandfather. He says it willnot affect his golf.

Other sports activity started off witha bang with a football match againstthe ladies of Bodmin (Cornwall), who

In the CCR

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Painting - in dock

beat us 5-1. Rugby was our next sportbut it was not quite the same thing.HMS DANAE beat us, and LRO BrighamYoung was only on the pitch threeminutes. Football was played in everyport, except South Africa with thenumber of wins and losses more or lesseven. Normally, `Communications' havebeen joined to the `Seaman Division' inmajor inter-departmental sports. How-ever, for the Sports Olympiad, we brokeaway to be the lead sub-department ofthe Miscellaneous Division. The bannerwas raised in the MCO, and the Regu-lating Branch, the Band, the Sick Bay,the Midshipmen and F02FEF Staffratings flocked to enter. Unfortunately,other members of the ship's companykept cheering us on as the `Gash' - butwe came well over half-way-up in thecompetition and entered every event.

Our success in other fields includedyoung (W) Stephen `Campers' Campionwho reported a Russian submarine. Itwas not detected in the Electronic War-fare Office, but `Campers' pointed outits periscope was following in the wakeof the ship. It was finally identified asthe splash target. On the Bunting side,an exasperated Scouse Barclay under-lined REYKJAVIK as an unintelligible

garble of a place-name. Sparker extra-ordinary Taff Jones was asking roundthe office (and looking at the worldatlas) to find TOTO . The signal hadsaid 826 Squadron were disembarkingin TOTO and he wanted to be first in thebuzz of future ship's movements.

Call-signs are always a problem, butthe following is an extract from theSubmarine Safety Net Log:

Whilst on passage from the SouthAtlantic to Portsmouth, EAGLE com-

f over sevendays working an HF MRL directly intoWhitehall TARE , the modern communi-cations computer. (In order for it tocorrectly digest and process signals, theinstructions that are sent must arriveperfectly - atmospherics usually distortsignals from ships. Even if only slightlycorrupt, the computer throws a fit.)This set up a record for a seagoing shipand is a communications milestone.EAGLE's traffic into TARE was constantlymonitored and its consistent highquality won for the ship a GOLD

COMSTAR award (commendation forsignals Transmitted Accurately andRapidly). This was the first-ever suchaward made to a ship and, in the Wordsof the Controller, Defence Communi-cations Network, reflects great credit onthe ship's Communications and WEstaffs. It may be bragging a little, butwe are proud to quote FOCAS, Whosignalled: `Very many congratulationson achieving this milestone as theculmination of your consistently highcommunications standard throughoutthis commission'.

Communication Division: * RO Lotty SHORTEN; RO Taff MORRIS; RO Bungy WILLIAMS; RO Alex BAXTER; RO Frankie VAUGHAN; RO Jim ROOT; RO RickSOUTHALL; RO Alf GARNETT; RO George HINDMARCH; RO Mitch MITCHELL; RO Jock GALBRAITH; RO Jamie JAMESON; RO Bas BARRETT; RO Kit CARSON;RO Jenks JENKINS. ** RO BUck TAYLOR; RO Ginge WAISTER; RO Taff SPRUDD; RO ScoUSe BARCLAY; RO SCOUSC WATERFIELD; RO Les JEAVANS; RO LesLANGRIDGE; RO Davey DAVIDSON; RO Speedy WEATHERSON; RO Tanzy MUTE; RO Paddy BUGG; RO Jaycee KERR; RO Taff ARTHUR; RO Robbie ROBSON;RO ScoUse BUTLER. *** RO Scoby BEASLEY; RO Nick NICHOLSON; RO Ken CRONE; LRO Tom SHAWYER; LRO Paddy DOYLE; LRO Ken ROWLANDS; LROTanzy LEE-HYNES; LRO Jan CREEK; LRO Jim JEFFERSON; LRO BUck RODGERS; RO Banjo BAJONA; RO Sticky PLAISTER; RO Doc MEADES. **** LRO BrighamYOUNG; RS Nick NICKERSON; RS Allan EVISON; CY Robbie ROBERTS; RS Dabs BARLOW; CY Pete FAIRCHILD; CY Mick RICHARDSON; RS Colin DUCKWORTH;RS Tug WILSON; RS DaVe HEPPER; LRO John VEAR; LRO Bart WELCH. ***** RS Taff KIDNEY; CRS Peter MCCOOEY; CRS Fes PARKER; Lt Jerry REED(SCO2); Lt-Cdr E. Y. C. GORING (SCO); S/Lt Arthur KERRISON (SC03); CCY Shorty SLATTER; RS Terry FISHER; RS Happy DAY. ****** RO Bungy EDWARDS;RO Les RICHMOND; RO Smiler HINDLEY; RO Smudge SMITH; RO Streaky BACON; RO Heiners COOK; RO Stan STUART; RO Steve CAMPION; RO Dolly GRAY;RO Doug BURNETT; RO Titch BEYNON; RO Taff JONES.

twenty-two

For many of us, EAGLE has beenour first Aircraft Carrier; for otherstheir first ship, and for some their last.The prospect of serving in a big shipusually meets with a lot of apprehen-sion. It was the same at first in thebig E, but most in the department willagree we have had a lot of fun and somereally great ports of call, where manynew friendships have flourished. Thereis one thing to be said for big ships,during rough weather they hardly everrock the coffee boat!

From (Call-sign SCYLLA), to (Call-sign

EAGLE)

` Why have you surfaced?'

From (Call-Sign EAGLE), to (Call-sign

SCYLLA)` Beyond my capability to submerge- you want (Call-sign FINWHALE).'

WEAPONS ELECTRICAL DEPARTMENT

Weapons Electrical Department -Officers, Group CPO and Office Staff: * OEA(L)1 TonyPOLMEAR (AC); REA1 Peter HUBBARD (Radar); CCEL Bryan CORK (Telex and Internal Comms);COEL Mac MACARTNEY (DOM L); COEA Geoff LLOYD (FDL). ** OEMIN(L)1 Alan SALES (DCL);A/L/COEA(O) Charlie YENDALL (Weapons L); CREA Dave GERREY (984 Radar); COEL Taff DAVIES( Regulating); COEL Trev JONES (WEOW); CREL Harry HARRIMAN (Radio). *** S/Lt P. A. LIVERTON( Control L); Lt J. EDYVANE (FDL & DOM L); Lt A. D. SEEPPEY (984 Radar); S/Lt R. H. ROBERTS( Weapons L); Lt A. W. JONES (DCL); FCOEA(O) John BIGGINS (DOM L). **** Lt P. J. M. TURNER( Radio); Lt-Cdr J. S. HOLMES (DLO); Cdr I. A. McLELLAN ( CDR L); Lt G. C. HERBERT (ACL); LtP. R. C. JOHNSTONE (Radar).

On right: Above - repairs aloft, Capetown; Below - Seacat firing

twenty-three

Now this is the tale of the last Commish,Of seventy/seventy-one,

When the Greenies have gone on doing their thingjust as they've always done.

What have they done to distinguish themselvesFrom those who have gone before:

The LOX plant fire ? That forced lube pump ?Or dear old nine-eight-four?

Now these were just a few of the thingsWhich were headlines for a while

When most of the time was the same old grindWith wiring by the mile,

And thousands of lamps and hundreds of fans,Motors and starters galore;

Two frigates of guns and fuses by tonsAnd missiles twenty-four;

Broadcasts and 'phones, radar and comms,Computers, batteries, boats;

Projector sights and flight deck lights,Catapult switches with floats;

Lifts for aircraft, lifts for bombs,Galleys with ovens and fryers;

Laundry machines, compasses, cranes,Heaters and coolers and driers.

There was AC(L); there was DC(L);

That's wiggly amps and straight.Whenever the steam was available

They contrived to generate.Their amps and volts went all over the ship

In the main by means of a ring,

But most of their time was spent down below(Is that wiring held up by string?)

They'd a very big part in the DED

When `Rotators' was the cry.They'll remember a Megator here and there,

And that FL PUMP in `Y';And those circulators; refrigerators;

In `B' the element drain;And AELs and telephone bells;

(Have they flooded that space again?)But it may be the thing they'll remember best

Is the sweat of a southern climeLike chasing an earth in a sauna bath

With continuous overtime.And others erected intercoms

And looked after the audio rangeLike films, SRE and Singalongs,

And that telephone exchange.Four point fives and Seacats each had a day

At the end of the DED.

They managed to clobber a Rushton apiece:There were quite a few TTB.

Then the fifty men who look after those thingsHad four hundred days to wait

Before they again had a chance to maintainA respectable firing rate.

The sonar was fine except for the timeWhen divers went down in the dome

To change the transducer: restored to the userHis underwater telephone.

Weapons Electrical Department - Weapons L, Control L and FDL Groups: * AB Jim DALE; AB Bert BERTRAM; ORD Arnie ARNOLD; AB Dusty FOGG;AB Taff TRAHAIR; AB Joe HOPE; AB Fred FITTON; AB Dicky DOEL; AB JOCk STEVENS; ORD Bungy WILLIAMS; AB Colin HUTCHINSON; AB Bagsy BAKER;AB Steve MCQUEENEY; A/LOEM Paddy MEGANNETY; AB Smudge SMYTHE; AB Alan PARTRIDGE; CEMN4 Butch CASSIDY; AB George DATE; OEMN4 Bill BAILEY.** OEM1 JoCk WERESZCZUK; AB Jacko JACKSON; OEM1 Titch ACOURT; AB Pelican MANSFIELD; AB Bimbo BAIRSTOW; CEM1 Taff WELBOURNE; REA App TANAH HIN; OEMN(O)3 George MAITLAND; CEMN3 Dave HAMLYN; OEMN(O)3 John DALTON; CEA2 SHEDDEN; REM1 Bill BASSETT; CEMN4 CUSHING; REMN4Dave LOWE; A/LOEM Jacko JACKSON; CEM1 Mark EMPSON; AB MCPHERSON; CEA App MUNRO; AB Bonzo BOYNES. *** A/POREL Larry EVANS; CEA2GOUDGE; OEMN(O)3 Steve WHETLOR; PO Buster BROWN; REMN2 HARRIS-SMITH; OEMN3 Sweeney TODD; CEMN3 SWIFT; CEMN3 Jeremy CHAPMAN;OEMN3 Alfie MARKS; OEMN3 Sid PAMMENT; PO MASON; OEA2 Ted HEATH; POREL KILBRIDE; OEMN(O)1 HAMMILL; REA2 MILES; REM2 MOONAN.**** LCEM MCINTYRE; OEM1 Kevin CULLUM; AB Moses Moss; ORD Butt BUTTLE; OEM1 John MUSSELL; AB Terry NURSE; A/LOEM Steve BROADY;LCEM Sandy SHAW; OEM1 Gary HIRD; OEM1 Mick COOKE; AB Ainsley EDWARDS; AB Colin DAVIES; CEM1 Dolly GRAY; CEM1 Dicky BOULTON; LOEMScouse HAWKES. ***** OEA(O)1 Alan PINNEGAR; OEA(O)1 CRAIG; OEA(O)1 Ted BURTON; OEMN(O)1 George SARGENT; CREL Maurice MERCY; OEA(O)1Reg IFOULD; CEA1 BLANDEN. ****** CEA1 PENNINGTON; CCEA BONNING; S/Lt P. A. LIVERTON; Lt J. EDYVANE; S/Lt R. H. ROBERTS; A/L/COEA(O) CharlieYENDALL; COEA(O) Geoff LLOYD; OEA(O)1 Albert BURDEN.

Weapons Electrical Department -Radio, Radar and Communal Groups: * JREM Mack MACKAY; A/LREM Shaun SLOAN; REMN App Sam SAMW ELL;REM1 Robby ROBINSON; CEM1 Taff JAMES; OE M2 Hebby HEBDEN; REA App TAN KAM Loo; OEM1 Rupert GROVES. ** REM1 Jonah JONES; REM1 BrianGOOCH; REM1 Cas STEELE; REM1 Nev RADBOURNE; REM1 Scouse LONGSTAFF; LREM Adam BAXTER; REM1 Mick SPROATES; REM1 Sharky WARD; REM2Jock STUART; REM1 Trev SHARP; LREM Darby ALLEN; LREM John BINGHAM; REA App Smiler ONG; REMN App Derek SIMPER; REM1 Sidney WIGGS.*** A/POREL Robby THEOBALD; A/POREL Graham HINTON; POREL Les WHITMEY; A/POREL Taff SLIGHT; A/POREL Brian VOCKINS; A/POREL LouBARRY; POREL Tony THOMPSON; REMN2 Tony FAKES; A/POREL Basher BATES; A/POREL Dave LoviCK; REA2 Ian DREDGE; A/POREL Dodger LONG;REMN2 Barry HUDSON; A/POREL Dave BULMER; REMN2 Clem GREENHILL. **** CREL Fred BURLETON; REMN1 Taff DAVIES; REMN1 Alan MEAD;REA1 Bill GARLICK; REA1 Bob HUBBARD; REA1 Chris ELLIS; REMN1 Doug MAYNARD; REMN1 Albert SIMCOCK. ***** CREA Dave GERREY; REA1 PeterHUBBARD; Lt A. D. SHEPPEY; Lt P. R. C. JOHNSTONE; Lt P. J. M. TURNER; CREL Harry HARRIMAN; CREL Steve BUCHANAN. ****** REM1 Fitz FITZSIMONS;REM2 Mac MCILWHAM; REM1 Jimmy GREEN; REM2 Buster BROWN; REMN App Dave VAUGHAN.

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Weapons Electrical Department: - DCL, ACL and DOM L Groups: * A/LOEM Ludo LAING; LOEM Fred BRISTOW; A/POOEL Mick CHERRY; OEM1Ken HAYWARD; OEM2 Paul MARKHAM; OEM1 NObby CLARK; OEM1 Dave RUDGE; OEM1 Bob WALLEY; OEM1 Dennis WHEATLEY; OEM1 Mick CHAMBERS;CEMN4 Lofty MINTY; REMN4 Sam GEER; A/LOEM Dutchy HOLLAND; LOEM Bob WARDLE; OEM1 Tony LOCKS; LOEM Steve BRIGGS; OEM1 Reg FARMER;JOEM Jock FALL; OEM1 Vie VICKERS. ** OEM1 Paddy GRAHAM; OEMN4 Jan CURRYER; OEM1 E. C. TONGS; LREM Johno JOHNSTON ; A/POOEL BrighamYOUNG; OEM1 Lawry LAWERENCE-BROWN; OEM1 SCOuSe LOCKTON; CEM1 Mac MCDONALD; CEM1 Steve PRICE; ORD Buster BROWN; OEM1 Bob GRAHAM;OEM1 Richard MALONEY; OEM1 Slinger WOOD; OEM1 Steve HUMPHREYS; OEM1 Sooty SUTTON; OEM1 Norm GILHAM ; AB Dutchy MOULTON; REM2 AndyANDREWS; REM2 Taff HOWELL; OEM2 J. BEST; REM1 Yorky PATRICK; OEM1 Stu EDIS; OEM1 Frank WORRALL. *** OEMN4 Jonah JONES; OEM1 BusterBROWN; OEM1 Phil ABBOTT; OEA2 C. KELYNACK; A/POOEL Bob ELLIS; OEMN(O)2 Chats HARRIS; A/POOEL Stew STEWART; OEMN(O)3 Tomo THOMPSON;POOEL Jan FLOOK; POCEL Brum WHITTAKER ; OEMN3 Topsy TURNER; Dinger BELL; OEMN2 Tansy LEE; OEMN3 Ginge BAMBER; A/POOELZiggy NEWMAN; OEA2 Wiggy BENNETTS; POOEL Greenie Bungy WILLIAMS; OEM2 Taff SCREEN. **** OEA2 John HEYWOOD; POOEL Sam SAWDON; OEMNISmudge SMITH; OEMN1 J. B. BRODHURST; OEMN(O)1 Henry STARTUP; OEMN(O)1 Rocky STONEMAN; COEL Jan TRUMP; OEMN2 Blood REID; OEA2Graham RICE; POOEL JOCk CAMERON. ***** OEA(L)1 Tony POLMEAR; FCOEA(O) John BIGGINS; CCEL Brian CORK; Lt G. C. HERBERT; Lt A. W. JONES;Lt J. EDYVANE; COEL Pete RAFTERY; OEMN(L)1 Alan SALES; COEL Mac MACARTNEY.

twenty-five

Then up in the Island were Radio Mechs,And others were down in 6N,

And the signals that flowed undoubtedly showedThe equipment was working like ten.

Some bested LORAN and closed circuit TV

And teleprinters to boot.Yet again it was ceded a RADHAZ was needed:

The aerials were covered in soot.IFFs a big if, and won't read out in SIF.

n.Here's a shot in the arm, CCAS like a charm,

But TACAN is blinking again.As for that time-delay and the AN-SPA display

just behind the Ops Room door,If it goes wrong again I'll just have to complain

For I'm basically feeling sore.And there's nine-eight-four which was young no more,

Things loosened at every jolt.It wanted some doing to keep it all going,

It very near shot its bolt!So they straightened the rack with an aircraft jack

And mostly it worked till the end.With the rest of our radar, and even our ADA,

Aren't we due for a make and mend?There were earlier hitches with catapult switches

But later a mod stopped the rot:It was worked out on board and won an award

From the Fund of the late Herbert Lott.Stabilised sights and innumerable lights

Kept the Flight Deck Team on the go,But most out and out was when winds were in doubt:

How fast and which way do they blow?

Now last but not least were that body of menWho looked after the lighting and vent

You'd hardly discount since we started to countThirty thousand more lamps have been spent.

Theirs was the work that could never be done,That Forth-Bridge-like task of DOM(L);

For it's hard to have everything, everywhere, workIn a thousand-room floating hotel.

When tragedy struck with the oxygen fire,Came with it the biggest task yet:

All sections, and airmen, restored things to rights;The challenge was very well met.

There's lots of additional things could be said:Of Hangar Displays and support

For four X-ray Oscar; for Eagle Express;And inter-departmental sport;

And regulating and maintenance plans;Expeds and spare gear store;

And we mustn't forget the guy who typesThere's probably many more.

Should you be a Greeny (including an Oily)And find that you're not in this time

Don't think that the reason's that you've been forgottenIt's simply that `Bomb Lifts' won't rhyme.

And if it should happen you sometime have waitedFor a Greeny who left you one night

And never came back in the morning: We're sorry,The user is always right!

SUPPLY ANDSECRETARIATLed by Commander R. Richards, theS and S Department supplied and secre-taried its way successfully through thecommission. Our quota of crises, spreadover these eighteen months, werehandled with the Pusser's customaryverve and vigour, while in lightermoments there was always time to havea laugh at the oddities, inconsistenciesand extraordinary incidents thrown upby the system and the people operatingit.

The Captain's Office fought theescalating bumf war with determinationand aplomb, aided by the Secretary,Lt-Cdr Brian Jones, whose endearinghabit it was to ditch half the ship'scorrespondence over the side theminute it arrived onboard. The Sec'srefreshingly practical approach topaperwork did not prevent mountainsof letters on a vast range of subjectsfrom finding their way through theDuke of Torpoint (L/Wtr GeorgeDriscoll) and Wtr Ken `Hollolegs'Holloway into the hands of Fleet ABBuster Brown, the one-man Post Office.It is to the Secretary's eternal creditthat only one Lieutenant, one CPOWtr, one PO Wtr, two L/Wtrs, twoWtrs and one Fleet AB wound up inNetley ... with him.

One young lady, seeking a pen-friendonboard, wrote to the ship enclosing aphotograph of herself. In her post-script she added the disclaimer, `Mylegs aren't different sizes, it's just theway I'm standing.' - a statement whichcaused much ribald comment amongstthe office staff.

It is a commonly held fallacy thatWriters can in fact write and spell.

Captain's Office: * AB Barny BARNES; LA JOE MARSHALL; Fleet AB Buster BROWN; L/Std GeorgeHARRISON; PO/Ck Wally WALTON; L/Wtr Glyn TASKER; Wtr Hollolegs HOLLOWAY; L/Wtr George,Duke of Torpoint, DRISCOLL; Wtr Charlie HARVEY. ** CPO/Wtr Ken SHOBBROOK; Lt-Cdr Brian JONES(Secretary); Captain I. G. W. ROBERTSON; Lt Martyn THOMAS (Assistant Secretary); PO/Std Pete HEAD.

twenty-six

If all the chips cooked on board during the Commission were laid end to end you can bet yourboots that some twit would slap in a food complaint to Cdr (S) faster than you could say

` Store Ship'

This myth was exploded by one of theirnumber onboard (who shall remainnameless) who awoke one morningafter a particularly heavy run ashore todiscover that during his revels, in amisguided moment, he had had himselftattooed with the words, `BORNE TO BE

WILD'. In vino veritas !

The Pay Office survived nine moneychanges and one new Pay Code seem-ingly unscathed, also decimalisationand devaluation of the Rand - thelatter happening as the money was en-route to the Ship. In addition to thenormal services, they also operated alocal savings scheme, the Bank ofEagle, to help people save up to meetCustoms Duty. So, while they dished

out the lolly over the Pay Tables, thePOSB and the Bank of Eagle were busyraking it in again; the differencebetween what went out and what cameback was, one imagines, equally divided

between Rabbits and Tigers.The Ship's Cooks, by and large,

kept us fat and happy, in spite of the

difficulties raised by an invasion ofrats and Rope Disease in the Bakery.PO Ck Bob Hamilton, in charge of theBakery, was kept pretty busy producingbread not only for EAGLE but for theships in company too. His real specialitythough, was iced cakes. The toothDeck Landing, Messdeck Rounds,Birthday or Christening - you name it,he had a cake for the occasion. After oneparticular spate of 100th, 200th, 500thDeck Landing ceremonies, it wasrumoured that the Bakery staff hadasked if they could have a Buccaneerwhen they baked the 1,000th cake.

D Day - at Villefranche

Ship's Company - Cooks' Division:

* Ck HANNAM; Ck LEE; Ck WILLS; Ck DYER; Ck DOBSON; Ck SOMERVILLE; Ck EAGLE; Ck STANLEY; Ck MARSH; CkPOOLE; Ck ROBERTS; Ck GRIFFIN; Ck DILLON; Ck V. WOOD; Ck ROBB. ** Ck WATT; Ck RUDGE; Ck HARTFIELD; Ck G. WOOD; Ck LOCKWOOD-LEE; Ck AVERY;Ck GILHAM; Ck MELVILLE; Ck BAINE; Ck MITCHELL; Ck TRAYNOR; Ck PHILIP; Ck GILSON; Ck BENHAM; Ck EARLS; Ck JONES; Ck OSMOTHERLY. *** L/CkDURRANCE; L/Ck HILL; L/Ck PORTER; Ck HEMBURY; Ck HICKMAN; Ck McNICHOL; Ck STONE; Ck POWELL; Ck BROWN; Ck MAZZONI; Ck ARTHUR; Ck KING;Ck TAYLOR; Ck MACDONALD; L/Ck AVERY; L/Ck PRATT; L/Ck WILD. **** L/Ck CUSSEN; L/Ck HUSSEY; L/Ck MURRAY; L/Ck HEWETT; L/Ck HENDERSON;L/Ck WOOD; L/Ck STEVENSON; L/Ck NICHOLLS; L./Ck COMBS; L/Ck JONES; L/Ck POTTER; L/Ck PEARCE; L/Ck BALDEN. ***** L/Ck CUMMINS; PO/Ck LEE;PO/Ck HAMILTON; CPO/Ck HALL; FCPO/Ck FIELDING; Lt W. M. JOHNSTONE (S); Lt S. F. T. COOKS (SCA); CPO/Ck THOMPSON; PO/Ck WHEELER; PO/CkROBINSON: PO/Ck TOSNEY.

Naval Stores - Stores Accountants and Pay Office Writers: *LSA JoCk BARRIE; SA Harry HARRISON; SA Andy PROBERT; SA Kegs FLOWERS; SA DannyTHOMAS; SA Shiner WRIGHT; Wtr Desperate DANN; Wtr John SWEET; SA Paddy MCCORMACK; Wtr Charlie HARVEY; Wtr Chad CHADWICK. ** LSA FatherREES; LSA Stumpy SIMPSON; LSA Jimmy JEWELL; LSA Dick CURTIS; SA Father FINDLOW; SA Shiner BRIGHT; SA Doc HALLIDAY; SA Rich PAUL; Wtr PaulGILGRAVEY; L/Wtr Ted RODRIGUES; Wtr Smudge SMITH; SA Robbie ROBERTSON. *** L/Wtr George STOREY; PO/Wtr Tomo THOMAS; PO/Wtr Pete VIGORS-EVANS; PO/Wtr Bungy WILLIAMS; POSA Ted HEATH; POSA Len HARVEY; POSA Alan DEACON; PO/Wtr Bryn THOMAS; LSA Jan DARKS. ****POSA WallyWALTERS; CPOSA Frank O'SULLIVAN; CPOSA Vince MATTHEWS; Lt John HARRISON; Lt Brian COGHLAN; CPOSA TOm MASTERS; CPO/Wtr Trevor CREALOCK;PO/Wtr John HAMOND.

twenty-seven

Wardroom Staff - Ship'S Company Stewards: * L,/Std Stumps HADLAND; Sid Bagsy BAKER; Std Topsy TURNER; L/Sid Alan MEYHEW; Std Mick FRANCIS;Std Norman ELVIDGE; Std Jim LIDDLE; Std Paddy SLATTERY; Std Mac F. MACKENZIE; Std Moses WRAY; Std Willy WILLIAMSON; Std Paddy BURROWS; L/StdMac MCINTYRE; L/Sid Tug WILSON; L/Std Scouse BATES; Std Ben BENHAM; L/Std Mama DUKES. ** Std Smudge SMITH; Std Bunny WARREN; Std Mac MACOY;L/Std Jed STONE; Std Brum RITCHIE; Std J. J. SMITH; L/Std Alan RICHARDSON; Std Scouse DRURY; L/Std Emma EMMERSON; Std Dave DEADY; Std Jan SPRY;Std Able KING; L/Std Bugs MORAN; Std Brigham YOUNG; Std Jock HARLAND; Std Jan STALLARD; Std Tug WILSON; Std DaVe BOSTOCK. *** Std Joe 90STEWART; Std Steve DAVIS; Std Roy GILL; L/Std Chris INCE; Std Ginge RUSSEL; Std Eddy NEWMAN; Std Johno JOHNSON; Std Robby ROBERTS. **** L/StdMarv BRIDGEN; Std Mario CATANIA; Std Mick CRAVEN; Std Mick CARROBOTT; Std Paddy HORAN; Std Knocker WHITE; PO/Std Shiner WRIGHT; PO/Std BruceHIBBERD; Sid Harry HOUSLEY; Std Amos BURKE; Std Ken RIDER; Std Mick WHEELER; L/Std Pricey PRICE; Std Clemm CLEMMETT; Std NObby CLARK. ***** PO/Std DaVe KANE; PO/Std Mick O'CALLAGHAN; CPO/Std Paddy MORTON; Lt Ray SAUNDERS (WRCO); Cdr R. RICHARDS (CDR(S)); FCPOSA ELWOOD; CPO/StdJumper COLLINS; PO/Std Jan WYATT; PO/Std Bob HAYMES.

The high point of the commissionfor the Chefs, of course, was theWestern Fleet Cookery Competition,where EAGLE pulled out all the stopsand carried away first prize in theShip's Company section and secondprize in the Wardroom section. Afterthe convincing win, it is said PO CkHamilton whispered in CPO CkThompson's ear `A piece of cake'.

Fleet Chief Ck Alfie Fielding, masterbuilder in spun sugar (who will knockyou up an edible Eiffel Tower at thedrop of a chef's cap) took charge of thecookery displays at the various ports wevisited, drawing crowds of droolingspectators to the S and S stand, wheremouthwatering masterpieces stood asmonuments to the skill and craftsman-ship of our chefs.

Also prominent on the culinary scenewere L Ck Mel Harper, who did a

CCY Slatter receives a cake from Cdr (S),in the shape of a boot, to mark the five-

hundredth S126 of 1971

twenty-eight

sculpture of the Captain in margarine;and Lt Cooke, the Ship's CompanyCatering Officer, who turned out to bea dab-hand at making models in marzi-pan.

Down aft in the Wardroom, theStewards handled an endless string ofMess Dinners, Cocktail Parties andHappenings of one sort or another withtheir usual panache. They, too, hadtheir fair share of amusing incidents;for example, you can imagine thebewilderment of the poor chap who wastersely ordered, early one morning, togo and do the shakes on one and twodecks! They also produced a fine cropof talent at the Ship's Saturday NightSingalongs. PO Std Shiner Wright,under the stage name of Ricky Dennis,had a large following for his impas-sioned renderings of well-known songs;and The Stewards, a popular group,provided music whose virtuosity wasexceeded only by its volume.

Between prolonged bouts of stock-taking, the staff of the Quarters Officesucceeded in flogging us tons of clothingand mess gear. CPOSA Ron Russelldealt with the many and varied prob-lems of the office with cool efficiency.He was not put out by the 30,000 papercups which were flown out, un-announced, to the ship while we were inHong Kong; stowing away a few largepacking cases was no problem. Whatcaused the consternation on that occa-sion was the fact that the wretched cupsall bore RAF crests.

SO (Q) himself, S/Lt Hunter, showeda fine sense of timing during one par-ticular RAS(S); patrolling the FlightDeck as the stores were being struckdown, he spotted a bag of flour whichhad burst on the canvas chute to theSick Bay. He immediately orderedwater to be poured down the chute tolubricate things a bit, and then followedthe water with another 56-lb bag,hoping to clear the resulting stickymixture. His plan succeeded well.Unfortunately, the PMO, poking hishead out to discover who was makingsuch a devil of a mess of his Sick Bay,was just in time to catch the gummybow-wave. The ensuing acrimoniouswords are mercifully not on record.

The Jack Dusties, ensconced intheir dungeons below sea-level, havemanaged to supply most of the nutsand bolts most of the time. Their chieftalent seems to consist of producingmore signal traffic than any otherdepartment, which at least keeps theCommunicators busy.

On the sports field, the departmentexcelled at soccer, with strong teamsfrom both 6F Mess (Scribes and JackDusties) and the Stewards. At othersports the department did moderatelywell. The supply officers were narrowlybeaten at the two skittles matchesagainst RFA RELIANT and, late in theevening of the return match, DSO

(Lt-Cdr Claro) was heard to mutterstrange things about life not being `allbeer and skittles'.

Wardroom Staff - Cooks: * L/Ck Premo MORRIN; Ck Geordie SNYDER; Ck Ginge FENWICK; Ck Norman POTTLE; Ck Fred DINSDALE; Ck George ARMSTRONG;Ck Thomo THOMSON; Ck JoCk SANDERSON; L/Ck Ginge KIDDELL; Ck Pedlar PALMER; Ck Russ RUSSELL; L/Ck Mal HARPER. ** LSA MAHONEY; Ck CookeyCOOK; Ck Dave OASTLER; Ck Taff LATHAM; Ck Keith DRAYCOTT; Ck George IRWIN; Ck Andy SHOREMAN; Ck Mac MCCALLION; Ck DaVe TOWNSEND; Ck TaffHALL; Ck Dodger LONG; L/Ck Charley COOK. *** L/Ck Coll COLLETT; PO Bob HERON; PO Bill CAMPBELL; CPO Dutchy HOLLAND; Lt Ray SAUNDERS; CPOS. A. MORETON; PO Mick DOOLE; PO Berrie BUCKLEY; PO Danny DAVIDSON.

Quarters, Catering and Naafi Staff: * AB Tomo TOMLINSON; AB Nobby CLARK; AB BungyEDWARDS; SA Stan LOWE. ** SA Pat LISTER; B. HANCOCK; M. WEBSTER; D. CHESSWORTH; R. GRAY;S. BROWNE; LSA Ken RIMMER; C. PIERCEY; T. PINK; R. FULLER; K. LUGG; SA Ollie OLIVE. *** DerekCROCKFORD; AB Burl IVES; AB Steve HUXTABLE; AB Brian SYMONDS; LSA Jessie OWENS; LSA Ron

BAILEY; CPOSA Ron RUSSELL; Mr Tom HOLLAND (Canteen Manager; S/Lt HUNTER; Lt-Cdr CLARO;CPOCA Rocky SWORDER; CPOSA John ROADNIGHT; LSA Bernie FENTON; LSA George COLEMAN.

Some of the cartoons, such as this, have beendrawn especially for this book: others haveappeared in the `Eagle Express' and areincluded here as a reminder of the servicesrendered to the Ship by Doodle, WAG, andthe many others for whom we have, regret-

tably, insufficient space

twenty-nine

NBCD Party, June 1971 : *POMEM BARNETT ; MEM WOODVINE; MEM PEET; MEM MEARNS; LREM(A) MORRISON; NAM BALDRY ; Lt-Cdr R. D. HARMAN(NBCDO); MEM MCNEILL; AB CLARKE; OEM GRAHAM; LA ADAMS; PO LAIDLAW' CMEM WILSON. ** PO BOWMAN; POMEM MARROWS; AB PASIFULL;MEM MCCARTHY; JS NICHOLS; AB KING; NA POET; MEM ROBB; NA WINTER; AB MENDAY; AB MORGAN; MEM FOSTER; POMEM SANSOM .

Watch below, a.m., Sunday 5 December, 1971: MEM STEPHENS; NA HAUXWELL; POMEM ANDREWS;MEM GREEN; OS MURPHY .

999 SQUADRON -THE NBCD PARTY

During the commission, 1 officer, 2Chief Petty Officers; 20 Petty Officersand 83 Junior Rates have worked, atsome time or other, for the Nuclear,Biological and Chemical Defence Party.Their main concern is one of vigilancefor watertightness and fire-hazard pre-vention. Occasionally they have beenrequired to deal with fire and flood.

Of the original party which joined on7 September 1970, only the NBCDO,Lt-Cdr R. D. Harman; PO `HamiltonLoch' Laidlaw; AB Dave King; ABJock Pasifull; MEM Dickie Peet, andMEM Ginger Foster have remainedthroughout. Chief MEM Tug Wilson

NBCD Party, a.m., Sunday, 5 December, 1971 : * NAM RYAN; POMEM BARNETT; NA FOSTER; MEM PEET; EM(A) CLARK; CEM WELBOURNE; MEMPEAT; Lt-Cdr R. D. HARMAN (NBCDO); MEM MCNEILL; AB DOUGLAS; NAM COSTON; LA ADAMS; PO LAIDLAW; CMEM WILSON; OEM BROWNING.** POAF JAMES; PO SMITH; AB PASIFULL; AB SKRIABIN; AB RUNHAM; AB KING; OS HENDRY; OS HARTY; MEM BRADY; MEM BENNETT; MEM SHAW; MEMFOSTER; POMEM MUSGRAVE; MEM HANDLY .

thirty

NBCD Party - continuedhas been the NBCDO's Assistant since6 February 1971, and other longtimersinclude POMEM Barnie Barnett;MEM Mac McNeill, and Leading Air-man Daisy Adams.

Apart from the occasional NBCDExercise, we have gone about our workquietly and mainly unnoticed exceptfor the passing by of a red-and-blackshirted figure wearing a blue helmet.Incidentally, since 8 September 1970,the NBCD Patrols from HQ1 (and,like the Windmill, we never close)have walked on your behalf 28,750miles just keeping an eye on things.

Regrettably, we have no records asto the number of `Local Fuel Danger'Pipes we have made, although we dohave the original shell-case. Any offerson paying-off? Did you know thatfitted in the ship are 284 Gas/WaterExtinguishers, 193 `Foamites', 256 C02Extinguishers, 351 Nozzles and 4 milesof hose carried especially for yoursafety ?

Other Departments can measuretheir effectiveness by the number ofsuccessful launches, recoveries, firings,etc. We cannot use this yardstick. Thefewer successful `actions' we have thebetter. Our job is primarily to prevent,although occasionally we have to cure.However, the LOX fire on 23 July 1971and the activities of person/personsunknown on 10 September 1971 inFremantle did not find us wanting.

We are glad to have been of service.You will be pleased to know that HQ1will remain open for normal serviceuntil the ship is handed over on com-pletion of de-storing.

DIVINGThe sixty-eight divers borne by HMS

EAGLE must constitute one of the largestsingle diving teams in the Fleet. Practi-cally every single branch on board isrepresented, and a hard core of keendivers has never failed to volunteer forirksome jobs out of working hours.

Routine jobs include standing by the` crash boat' organisation for therecovery of a ditched helicopter; sur-veying the Ship's bottom and takingreadings of the wear in the shaft bear-ings; underwater welding; and 'Opera-tion Awkwards', the searching of theShip's bottom for possible mines. Therehave been unusual jobs, too, such asrecovering valuable items lost over theside; unblocking the Ship's underwaterinlets; and, on two occasions, the divers

have been down to check for the navi-gator that the Ship has had the calcu-lated six feet of water under the keel.

Since leaving Devonport some recrea-tional diving has taken place, the high-light of which was the association withthe Atlantic Underwater Club of Cape-town. We were most hospitably lookedafter and had a few interesting daysfishing out of season for crawfish. Muchhas been learned and much achieved byEAGLE's diving team since those earlydays practising `Awkwards' for the ORI

in the cold and dark anchored off Port-land. The diving team was not calledon to enter the water for that evolutionduring the ORI, but two of the divingofficers were requested to simulateenemy attackers. Unfortunately, rum-our had it that the SBS from Gibraltarwere likely to be doing this `attack' andthe interrogation team did not seem torecognise their shipmates or show muchmercy. It was a good job the Admiral'sStaff were there to see fair play!

Many long hours have been putin by the supervisors - CPO King and,latterly, PO Trotter; the maintainers,under OA1 Burden; and the store-keeper, LS Johnstone.

Some of the Divers: * Lt J. CORBET-MILWARD; MEA(P) Kenny EVERETT; EA1 John CRAGGS; AA1Zeus HOLLOMBY; PO(Met) Bogey KNIGHT; POMEM Mick MEEKINS; POEL Henry COOPER; REA1Sharky WARD; POREL Skin SLIGHT; Instr Lt B. HARRISON.

** LAM Roy ROYAL; NAM HARRYHARRISON; LAM Bas DUNN; MEM Chick MURRAY; AB Lex BAXTER; OEM Jimmy JAMES; LS StickyGREEN.

Diving on the `Speedwell'

Checking the equipment

thirty-one

Our Chaplains: Rev Arthur NUNNERLY; FatherKenneth KING.

NEWS OF THECHURCH IN EAGLE

The Revd. Arthur Nunnerley, whorelieved the Revd. Alan Hewison,joined the ship in October 1970 andwill become Chaplain at HMS ROYAL

ARTHUR, at Corsham, in March 1972.The Church of Scotland and FreeChurch Chaplain, the Revd. DavidHuie, transferred to HMS ARK ROYAL inMay 1971 and we were joined then bythe Revd. Father Ken King. Afterleaving HMS EAGLE, Ken King will beserving at the Royal Naval Hospital atHaslar. Whilst we were in the Far Eastour Chaplains included HMS GLAMOR-

GAN in their parish and ministered tothem by helicopter. Whilst visitingAustralia and New Zealand the SmallShips Squadron Chaplains, Ian Hulseand Bernard Moore, were in companywith us.

It was very appropriate that theChaplains could visit Ascension Islandin June and spend a day with BishopCapper and the Island Chaplain. InAustralia, Cardinal Gilroy of Sydney,who once served at sea, was delightedwhen presented with a Ship's Crest byKen King and Ian Hulse. BishopMyles McKeon of Bunbury, who is incharge of the Stella Maris Clubs inAustralia, came on board in Fre-mantle. Bishop Gilbert Baker, Angli-can Bishop of Hong Kong, celebratedParish Communion in our Chapel and

Community carol-singing, Indian Ocean,1971

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confirmed Bill Wentworth, Robin Hal-ford, Bob Scott, Paul Raine, MichaelRowley and Malcolm Fuller. They werephotographed with the Bishop at aparty in the hangar after the service.Whilst we were in Hong Kong aJesuit Father conducted a MoralLeadership Course at Maryknoll House,Stanley: Kevin Meehan, ChristopherO'Connell, Frank O'Sullivan, PaulChapman and Martin Pyke attended.

HMS EAGLE has a fine Chapel, one ofthe best in the fleet, and it has beenwell used. Besides the usual round of

Sunday services there has been HolyCommunion and Holy Mass each week-day. The Chapel has never been closedand it has been available for prayer andquiet right round the clock. A Wednes-day night Bible Study Fellowship wasformed early in the commission and aregular study has been made of St.Luke's Gospel. A Monday night Dis-cussion Group has had quite a follow-ing, with lively interest in subjects suchas Christian Ethics, Evolution and TheBible, and also Heaven, Hell, Deathand judgment!

MARINEENGINEERINGDEPARTMENTComprising all those 500 members ofS.T.E.A.M. (Society for Tamperingwith Enormous Antiquated Machinery).

On 28 January 1972, with a big sigh,EAGLE'S machinery fell silent for thelast time after nearly twenty years of`burning and turning'. In fact, hereight Admiralty Three-drum Boilerswere first flashed in September 1950and they thus celebrated their 21stbirthday during the Fremantle toSingapore leg of the Ship's last com-mission. Of the 8 megawatts of elec-trical power that could be generated,500 kW was provided by each of thefour Metro-Vickers turbo-generatorswhich were built in 1926 and gavefaithful, if somewhat noisy, serviceright to the end.

No more will 120 MEA(P)s, Mech-anicians and MEMs change the watchevery four hours, and no more willthose engaged on rounds climb up anddown 4,000 feet of steel ladders in themachinery spaces, through endlessarmoured hatches and doors, designedas protection against the attack whichfortunately never came.

This will be regarded by many as nosmall blessing, although there is nodoubt that there will be a considerablefeeling of pride as they relate to theirgrandchildren tales of how they sweatedit out, at 127`F (54°C), in the machin-ery spaces of one of the last of the real` big ships'.

Maren 'A' Unit: * MEM Derv RicHARDSON; MEM Kathy KIRKBY; LMEM Slinger WOODS; MEM Jock ANDERSON; MEM Otti OTTENSEN; LMEM GingeHEAD; MEM Jan BINDING; LMEM Paddy CONNOLLY; MEM Jim CRANSTON; MEM Taff DAVIES; MEM Chelsea MALYON; MEM Brum SELVEY; MEM JockFINDLAY; MEM Jock FLOCKHART; MEM Mac McKLUSKIE; LMEM Ollie HOLLINGSWORTH; MEM Brum OFFLEY; MEM Chick HENDRY; MEM Jenks JENKINS;MEM Basher BALLARD; LMEM Andy NAILOR. ** LMEM Higgy HIGSON; MEM Ted HAYFORD; MEA3(P) Mick O'BRIEN; LMEM Jimmy BOND; MEM TomNEASON; MEM Catweazle THORPE; MEM Joner JONES; MEM Brad BRADY; MEM Tweeds TWEEDY; MEM Stevie STEPHENS; MEM Paddy CASEY; MEM JockJOYCE; MEM Robbie BURNS; MEM Smudge SMITH; MEM Ronnie WEST; MEM Gunny HOBBS; MEM Charlie WADHAM. *** MEM Johnne JOHNSTONE;MEM Duncan MACKENZIE; MEM Fred BARKER; MEA2(P) Kenny EVERETT; MECH2 Ken RIBBONS; MEA2(P) Sharkey WARD; MEA2(P) Jan BREWER; POMEMJonah JONES; POMEM Jimmy GREEN; POMEM Jan HOWE; MECH2 Sooty BLOWER; MEM Moxley MORON. **** MEA2(P) George STUART; CMEM TexHAYMAN; CMEM Jim TERRY; MEAl(P) Phil MARRIOTT; CH.MECH John LINKSTON; S/Lt D. BUCKLER ('A' UO); CMEM Bob BRENCHLEY; MEAl(P) KeithBOXALL; MEAl(P) Nobby CLARKE; MEAl(P) Dave JOHNS; MEAl(P) Bagsy BAKER. ***** LMEM Nutty HATCH; MEM Tug WILSON; MEM Dips DIPROSE;MEM Tich HORBURY; LMEM Father WITTINGHAM; MEM Monkey MONK; MEM Shan SHANANHAN; MEM Spaz SPARROW; MEM Crazyhorse HARDACRE.On Watch: POMEM F. S. FULLER-SUTHERLAND.

Marine Engineering Department - Officers: * Lt R. F. DALE (OSMO); Lt P. M. K. DODGSHUN;Lt K. F. WARD (FDE04); S/Lt M. COWELL (Assistant Shipwright Officer); S/Lt C. A. Nix (TLO);Lt R. CORSER (Senior Watchkeeper). ** FCMEA(P) P. ALFORD; Lt D. J. CRITCHLEY (XUO); Lt R. M.VOTE ( MARENTO); S/Lt D. A. RAPKINS (Personnel); Lt J. V. WRiGHT (DBO and OSM 11); S/LtS. P. EDGAR (BUO); FCMEM N. MUSK; FCMEM(H) HUSBAND. *** Lt-Cdr A. A. TEAPE (FDEO);Lt-Cdr J. L. L. GADSBY (DCEO); Cdr P. G. HOWARD (MEO); Lt-Cdr J. G. DINNAGE (Senior Engineer);Lt-Cdr E. J. J. WADY (Shipwright Officer).

The beginning of the end of EAGLE'S

last commission was in March 1970when the ship was hauled into No.10dock for a six-month DED (` Dockingand Essential Defects') - Maren's Mo-ment in the limelight. In what seemedno time at all, the Double BottomsParty had rigged their spaghetti offire-hoses in the dock bottom and theatmosphere was filled with the clamourof windy chisels.

Pieces of machinery came and went,as did many members of the depart-

ment; even our temperamental steer-ing-gear, which used to break downregularly twice a week, was sent toHasties for rejuvenation and managedto bear up under the strain on itsreturn.

The DED saw the first test of NBCDknowledge for many of the newMareneers with a serious fire in 4SOmess which took an hour to locate andfour hours to extinguish. Of all thosewho did an excellent job of tackling it,CMEA(P) Birch deserves a special

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Outside Machinery and Double Bottoms Division: * App Tom TAYLOR; App Eddy McKERR; LMEM Spider WEBB; MEM Pinky PERKS; LMEM JohnDENNIS; MEM Arthur SILLS; LMEM Daisy ADAMS; MEM Danny KAY; LMEM Terry JEFFRYES; MEM Wally GLENN; MEM Joe BEAVER; App Harry HARROP;MEM WILES; MEM Blondie KNOWLES; App Keith McDoNALD; MEM Aggis LIGERTWOOD. ** MEM Pansy POTTS; LMEM Mick MAPLESDEN; LMEM JumperCOLLINS; LMEM Adrian ELVIN; MEM Keith HUTCHINS; MEM Dicky DREW; MEM Aggie BULPIN; LMEM Dave MANLEY; LMEM Terry AUSTIN; MEMBoggy CAMPBELL; MEM Flo FORD; MEM Joe MERCER. *** MEM Denis LAWLER; POMEM Father DOWELL; POMEM Ginge CORNEY; MECH Nobby HALL;POMEM Mick HORNER; POMEM Roger CRAGG; MECH Bill JONES; MECH Bunny WARREN; MEA(P) Bas GEACH; MEA(P) Ian MURRAY; MEA(P) WoodyHERMAN; CMEM Tug WILSON; MEM Paddy HYNES; LMEM Sam WELLENS; MEM Red REDSHAW. **** MECH Jed HEWITT; MECH Roger SHOREY; CMEMLes SUTTON; Lt R. M. VOTE (MARENTO); Lt J. V. WRIGHT (DBO & OSM II); Lt-Cdr J. L. L. GADSBY (DCEO); Lt R. F. DALE (OSM I); CMEA(P) PeteWOODYARD; FCMEA(P) Pete ALFORD; MECH Dusty MILLER; CMEM Bob BARLOW. ***** LMEM Smudge SMITH; MEM Harry JONES; MEM Ernie PREECE;JMEM Jock WRIGHT; LMEM Roy PEATMAN; MEM Gareth EVANS; MEM Ruby MURRAY; MEM Jan RYDER; MEM Fish BRADFORD; MEM Andy ANDERSON.On Watch: POMEM John HILTON; LMEM Pert PERTILLER; MEM Brum HARDACRE; MEM Pedler PALMER; MEM Ginger CHILDS; MEM Pincher MARTIN;MEM Ginger WADE.

mention for pulling out two membersof the fire brigade who had been over-come by heat .

The DED also saw the ship's company

moved into CENTAUR, the end of RumIssue, the dock strike (and all ourvisions of driving cranes and shuntinglocos), and CMEA(P) Dorrington's

` D' Tours operating at full strengthwith two of the most notable being theevening at Lopwell Dam and the even-ing on the ferry up to Calstock.

Maren'B' Unit: * MEM Mick STOKES; MEM Frank CoovES; MEM Paddy RODGERS; MEM Steve COURSE; MEM Woody WOODVINE; MEM Brum MADDOCKS;MEM Mac MCCONKEY; MEM Sharkey WARD; MEM Taff MACPHERSON; MEM Jack SIMMONS; LMEM Taff EVANS; MEM Dave HUNT; JMEM Ted EDWARDS;MEM Mat MATTHEWS; MEM Tansy LEE. ** MEM Tiny TIMMS; MEM Icky HICKMAN; MEM Taff WALTERS; LMEM George BLAKEY; MEM Doc FOSTER;MEM Pincher MARTIN; MEM Parky PARKINSON; LMEM Scouse OAKLEY; LMEM Elmer MURTON; LMEM Ken PRICE; MEM Jock PETRIE; MEM TommyMUDD. *** MEA(P)2 John TURFREY; MEM Charlie WATT; POMEM Duke WELLINGTON; MEA(P)3 Dai EvANS; MECH3 Noddy PEEL; MEA(P)2 Bill LETTCH;POMEM Basher BRIGGS; MEA(P)2 Bri WHAPPLES; MECH2 Barny BARNES; MECH2 Mick CARNEY; MEM Dick PEET. **** POMEM Pete PRICE; MEA(P)Phil BASTOCK; MEA(P)1 Taff PoTTS; MEA(P)1 Brian LAMBERT; CMEA(P) John HAYES; S/Lt Sam EDGAR; CMEM Bob FITZER; MEA(P)1 Dick ROWAN; MEA(P)1Donald DUCKETT; MECH3 Bob HoPE; MEA(P)1 Charlie MUNN. ***** MEM Jona JONES; MEM Brum LILLEY; MEM Jock MITCHELL; MEM George THOMAS;JMEM Angus MCCANN; JMEM Taff MELD; JMEM Nobby NELMS JMEM Scouse SYMS; MEM Sugar KANE. On Watch: POMEM Chick MURRAY; LMEMGeorgie BEST; LMEM Taff DAVIES; MEM George ASLING; MEM Paul BELGRAVE; MEM Ches CHESWORTH; MEM Knobby CLARKE; MEM HoppyHOPKINSON; MEM Shady LANE; MEM Arty SHAW; MEM Whisky WALKER.

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In September (just as we werebeginning to get the caisson openingtimes weighed off) the DED came to anend, and on the 26th we sailed fortrials: without leaving `Y' Unit on thejetty, as had been suggested!

Then followed a Full-power Trial;noise-ranging trials off Portland; andtwo weeks of tightening-up nuts andbolts and restoring the machinery to aship-shape condition before returningto Guzz on 9 October.

It was while entering Guzz that asmall disturbance in `B' and `Y' engine-rooms marked the loss of several bladesoff their respective propellers as theship touched the bottom. 21 October

saw EAGLE once more tucked into No.10 dock, after a very disgruntledBULWARK had been pulled out of thedock half-way through her refit, and itwas there that EAGLE had to suffer theindignity of being fitted with an oddthree-bladed propeller. (It was widelyrumoured that whilst the ship was indock again, FDEO actually found theGolden Rivet - it had popped out ofthe bottom of one of the avcat tanks.)

A week after entering dock, DBS onceagain cleared up their spaghetti, thedock was flooded and we were off to theMoray Firth, in the beginning ofNovember, before a visit to Southamp-ton. Southampton holds bitter-sweetmemories for the catapult crews, whospent the whole period sorting out

sealing-strip problems on the catapults,but for all the others it made a welcomebreak from trials and work-ups.

October saw Cdr Howard relieveCdr Dennison as the MEO and inNovember many states Amber andRed during the second work-up in theBristol Channel. It was during onesuch state Amber that the Maren De-partment was rocked to its foundationsby a young Greenie who came downto the MCR and asked if there were any` L' defects for him to fix!

After Christmas at home and anotherAMP, EAGLE sailed for the Mediterran-ean. First stop was Gibraltar for a quickrabbit-run, but it turned out to beremembered more by the Mareneersfor their part in fighting the fire thatswept the superstructure of the BYZAN-

TIUM - a Cypriot cargo ship at thedetached mole. It was with greatenthusiasm (and, no doubt, visions ofvillas built with salvage money) that thetechnical boarding parties and HQ1staff humped tons of foam, hoses,extinguishers, and such like equipmentby boat across to the mole. (Talking ofsalvage money. . . .)

And so, via Villefranche with itssplendid (but slightly blurred) memor-ies, to Malta. On the way, a full-powertrial was held during which `B' unitstruggled valiantly to keep their end upwith their three-bladed disadvantage,and the Badgers caught the COD: the1,000th recovery since the DED.

It was on the way back to Plymouthafter the self-maintenance period inMalta that the following conversationtook place, the bridge having tele-phoned the EOOW in the MCR: OOW(on bridge) -'Are we in fact doing 108revs on all shafts?' EOOW (in MCR) -

' Yes, doing 108 on all shafts.' OOW(after pregnant pause) - 'Well, we arenot going as fast as we usually do for108 revs; can you see if you can doanything about it ?'

Maren `X' Unit: * LMEM Yorky Lamber; MEM Dodger DRODGE; MEM Oscar RIDLEY; MEM Father GOBBETT; LMEM George CARR; MEM Paddy HANLON;JMEM Steve BINNEE; LMEM Jasper COLLER; JMEM Ganges DAMES; MEM Taff LAKE; LMEM Soapy WATSON; MEM Reg WHITEHOUSE; MEM Quas ABBOTT;LMEM Mick GOODE; MEM George TURNBULL. ** JMEM Tiny HAYWARD; MEM Ginge FOSTER; MEM Jim GREEN; MEM Mick WEBBER; JMEM SkinHEASMAN; MEM Dolly GRAY; MEM Robbie ROBERTSON; MEM Lorry LORENTSEN; MEM Dave GUNTER; LMEM Bogie KNIGHT; MEM Patch MORRiS.*** MEA3(P) Graham STOKES; MECH2 Curly HOWARD; MECH2 Slim MAcDONNOUGH; POMEM Max BRAND; MEA2(P) Jock FORRESTER; MEA2(P) ShagTUCKWELL; MECH2 Dicey TRAYNOR; MECH3 Florrie FORD; MEA2(P) General CONEY; MECH2 Speedy SPENCER; POMEM Jan MEEKINS; POMEM GeorgeROUTLEDGE; POMEM Jan THOMSETT; POMEM Steve DYBALL. **** MEA2(P) Reg HARDY; MECH1 Fred GASKILL; MEA1(P) Pete BRYANT; MECH1 PincherMARTIN; CH.MECH George SCOTT; Lt D. J. CRITCHLEY (`X' UO); CMEM Terry MORIARTY; MEAI(P) Chris HIBBS; MECH1 Bungy EDWARDS; MEAl(P)Dave VINES; POMEM Tug WILSON. ***** MEM Whisky WALKER; JMEM Buck TAYLOR; MEM Ernie BECKETT; MEM Scouse MCCALLEN; MEM Dai JENNINGS;MEM Bungy EDWARDS; MEM George BENTON; JMEM `Big Jock' CAMPBELL; MEM Gibbo GIBSON.

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After yet another assisted mainten-ance period in Devonport (AMP, threesmall letters, but oh, what a wealth ofmeaning to the Maren Department), wesailed for the long leg of the commission- to the Far East.

The first run ashore was in Cape-town, where all those who had neverbeen before were able to put its reputa-tion for hospitality to the test. By allaccounts, it passed the test admirably,and it was with dark rings under theeyes that we sailed for Singapore for ...yes, another AMP.

It was on the passage from Singaporeto Sydney that the tragic explosion andfire occurred in the Port Lox plant. Tomost onboard the prospects of runsashore in Sydney, Wellington and Fre-mantle were looking decidedly dodgy;but, in the end, the programme re-mained unchanged, and it was a ques-tion of `take your jacket off' as theShipwrights, Greenies and Badgersknuckled down to repair the damage -no mean task, and one which kepteveryone busy almost until the secondvisit to Singapore.

In Sydney, JMEM Slattery, theyoungest junior rate onboard, presentedthe flowers to Elizabeth McCrakenwhen she came onboard: which re-minded us that Maren has the youngestjunior rate, the oldest junior rate(LMEM `Sticky' Bunn) and the longest-serving rating onboard (MEM `Danny'Kay, who has served in EAGLE since

July 1965).

` OK, Chief, slap her into third and put yourfoot down'

After Sydney, the Badgers had to dosome quick maths and consultedgraphs and tables before recoveringand launching some Australian Sky-hawks and a Tracker, while on the sameday most of them saw their first `live'barrier run, as we caught a Vixen witha collapsed port undercarriage.

Wellington will never be forgottenfor the incredible kindness of the NewZealanders; and Fremantle, the nextstop, for the Ship's Company dance.A marked lack of `birds', especiallytowards the end of the evening, reducedat least one divisional officer to holdinga divisional meeting in one corner ofthe dance floor. During the flash-up inFremantle, a request for permission toturn the shafts under steam was sentto the OOW on the quarterdeck. Thereply came back: `Yes, that's OK, butyou will only be turning the shafts, notthe blades, won't you ?'

From Fremantle it was back to thedelights of Tiger, Chinky Nosh, andBugis Street before dodging Typhoonsfor two weeks and then a 12-day SMPin Hong Kong (or the `all-time rabbitrun'). With the strenuous boat routineand choppy waters the shipwrights, whocould appropriately be called `thesplinter section' of the Department, hadto take time off from making picture-frames, Ship's crests and cement-boxesto repair the numerous battered Ship'sboats. Their diversity of trades afterHong Kong even stretched to catchingrats in the potato locker.

It was a long haul from Hong Kongto Durban - fifty-seven days (after thevisit to Mombasa had been cancelled) -but it provided opportunities for thewhite moles of the Maren Departmentto stretch their legs on the flight deckand catch up with the much-neglected`bronzing'.

Fifty-seven days at sea is one of thelongest stretches that the Big E hasever done without a maintenanceperiod, and so it is not surprising thatshe needed a rest every bit as much aswe did. The rest, if it can be called that,came in the form of a really tremendousvisit to Durban over Christmas and theNew Year. It is fitting that the last runashore should have been considered bymost of the Department to have beenthe best ever.

Then we set off for home - and evenon the last lap the old girl showed thatshe still had life in her as she was

Maren `Y' Unit: * JMEM Alex ALEXANDER; JMEM Frank SLATTERY; JMEM Pete HANDLEY; MEM Stan STANLEY; MEM Mac McKINDOE; MEM AlbertCOSTELLOE; MEM Phil McKINLAY; MEM Mick MCCALLION; MEM Ginge WADE; MEM Bing CROSBY; MEM Ginge PICKUP; JMEM Tug WILSON; MEMGeorge MELLETT; LMEM Robby ROBISON; MEM Buster BROwN; LMEM Oily HALFORD. ** LMEM Big Robby ROBINSON; MEM Fred FREESTONE; MEMWiggy BENNETT; MEM Badger BROOKE; MEM John BUFTON; MEM Pricey PRICE; MEM Brum MOLESWORTH; MEM Tab HUNTER; MEM Taff HEWETT; MEMYorky PREECE; MEM Jan COLEMAN; MEM Polly PERKINS; MEM Basher BATES. *** LMEM Bagsy BAKER; POMEM Sam SANSOM; POMEM Spike HUGHES;POMEM Brian HEWITSON; MEA2(P) Don DONALDSON; MECH2 Albert PEARSON; MECH3 Taff EVANS; LMEM Pug PEPLOS; LMEM Pincher MARTIN; LMEMIan NEAL. **** MEA1(P) Spud MURPHY; MEA1(P) Arty SHAW; POMEM Ken HUMPHRIES ; POMEM Bomber WELLS CMEA(P) Dave DA-SILVA ; Lt M. J.SHORT (Y U O); CMEM Buster BROWN; MEA1(P) Jim JEFFRIES; MEA2(P) Plod SPRINGER; MEA1(P) Dolly GRAY; MEA1(P) Dick COULSON. ***** MEM` H' HAZLEHURST; MEM Tich McKECHNIE; MEM Marty CROSSLEY; MEM Thatch THATCHER; MEM Cyril JACKSON; LMEM Jock DALY; LMEM JumperCROSS; JMEM Smudge SMITH; JMEM Waggy WAGSTAFF; LMEM Victor JOHNSON; JMEM Glyn MARK. On Watch: MEA2(P) Geoff ANTCLIFFE ; MEA2(P)Brian JENKINS; MECH2 George HODGSHUN; MEA2(P) Spike WHITLEY; MEMLouis SPENCER; MEM Dick COMBSTOCK; MEM Charlie ROBB; MEM2 ScottieSCOTT.

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Chippies' Division: * MEA(H) WATERS; MEA(H) BRENCHER; MEA(H) DAVIS; MEA(H) HARDY; MEA(H) BRIMBLECOMBE; MEA(H) BLACKBURN; MEA(H)VEAL; MEA(H) POTTER; MEA(H) HULBERT; MEA(H) MAYS; MEA(H) DONATI; MEA(H) WHITE. ** MEA(H) BEAL; MEA(H) ATKINS; MEA(H) COLLEY;MEA(H) MARLOW; MEA(H) CANDY; CMEA(H) GARTELL; S/Lt COWELL; Lt-Cdr WADY; FCMEA(H) HUSBAND; MEA(H) WARD; MEA(H) VOISEY; MEA(H)STORRS; MEA(H) CLEWES; MEA(H) SMITH. *** MEM BURTON; MEM PRICE; MEM MCINDOE; MEM MCKECHNIE; MEM WATSON; AB BANKS; JS MAULDON;JS MCMURDOE; AB TOZER; AB BRAMMER; AB FERRY; AB BRUCE; AB LACEY; MEM STAPLES.

required to steam at twenty-sevenknots for twenty-four hours. Every-thing, and everybody, got pretty hot,but all went smoothly and she made agreat impression all round.

During the last few months of thecommission the Maren Training Sec-tion managed to put some of thestragglers through the hoop to bringthe grand total of those who havequalified for advancement (all rates) tojust over 200, not including all thosewho acquired their boiler watchkeepingcertificates and AMCS.

We obviously cannot close withoutdelving into the mine of useless infor-mation: 100,000 tons of furnace fueloil, and 20,000 tons of AVCAT were

burned up, while the evaps managed topush out something over 200,000 tonsof fresh water, all since the DED . Cometo think of it, the oil companies still oweus 10,407,128 Green Shield stamps fromthe first half of the Commission alone....

From Hong Kong we were on theway home - but, in spite of this, `Y'unit still had the dubious distinction ofbeing trailed more miles than any otherunit, and had its shaft locked more timesthan any other unit. Their MEA(P)sspent more hours inside a steam drumat 130'F than any others, but by theend of the Commission the stokers,MEA(P)s and mechanicians gave theimpression of being the most experi-enced (or so they say), the fittest, and

perhaps the happiest onboard. Theydid become, however, prone to breakinto hysterical laughter occasionallyand `Y' unit officer was heard walkingaround muttering incessantly some-thing about wishing the wizzer wouldfall off the end so that he could turn infor an hour or two.

Before long, EAGLE will be no morethan memories to all who served in her.For the Maren Department she willconjure up memories of the Auto Con-trols Workshop, middle watch sarnies,funnel smoke, limers, Harry BoilerFronty, DCEO's voice, endless RASing,zizz, pipes, bumph, boat routines,painting and cleaning, rounds, theAuto Controls Workshop....

Badgers Division: " MEM MCILROY; MEM TUCKLEY; LMEM DEAN; MEM. JACOBS; NILM RUSSELL, MEM DANGAR; LMEM VINN; MEM E. T.JONES; MEM ROBINSON; MEM ANDERSON; MEM A. JONES; MEM HOWARTH; MEM DEMPSTER; MEM J. D. REILLY; MEM PIATOWSKI; MEM WIGZELL;MEM JELLICOE; LMEM R. J. A. BARKER; MEM MCINTYRE. ** MEM MILLEN; MEM JENKINS; MEM E. J. JONES; MEM GEEN; MEM GILES; MEM MARGAN;MEM R. A. SMITH; LMEM GRAY; MEM CLIFTON; MEM SKIBINSKI; MEM BLANCHE; LMEM WILSON; MEM DURNFORD; LMEM SAUNDERS; MEM.GILL;MEM JOHN; LMEM KELLY; LMEM BRIGGS; MEM DOLLEY; MEM FISHLOCK; LMEM GIBBONS. *** MEM REFFELL; MEM ATKINSON; MEM MUTTICK;LMEM DENNENY; MEM BEARDMORE; MEM WILD; LMEM RENDELL; POMEM TODD; POMEM STRUTTON; POMEM NEWLANDS; POMEMMOULD; POMEM STOKES; LMEM WHITTHREAD; LMEM P. BARKER; MEM FULLARTON; MEM FRASER; MEM SAMS; MEM LEACH; MEM LONG.**** MEM LECKENBY; MEM NICOLL; POMEM ELDER; MEA(P) FRIER; MEA(P) LAY; MECH WARK; MECH JOINER; MEA(P) MOYLE; MEA(P)VAUGHAN; MEA(P) STUBLEY; MECH WILBRAHAM; MEA(P) ROGERS; MEA(P) STAPLETON; MEA(P) VOISEY; POMEM BRAZIL; POMEM McGLOIN;POMEM GALLACHER; MEM MANSFIELD; MEM BROTHERS. ***** MEA(P) ELLIOT; MECH LUNN; CMEM THOMSON; CMEM BRAY; S/Lt WARD;Lt-Cdr TEAPE; Lt WILLINGALE; S/Lt RAPKINS; CMEA(P) OLD; MEA(P) GRABHAM; MEA(P) PARKINSON. ****** MEM ADDIS; MEM FILLINGHAM;MEM COUNIHAN; LMEM BOYD; LMEM KING; MEM MORTON; MEM MILLER; MEM CUSSELLE; MEM M. REILLY; MEM DANIELS .

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THE AIR ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

The role of the AED is to co-ordinate themaintenance of the squadrons, supportthem and provide a link with the ship.

The responsibilities of the depart-ment include Aircraft Control on theflight deck and in the hangars; SafetyEquipment; Air Engineering Servicesand Support; Air Ordnance; Air Elec-trical and Air Electronic Workshops.AED also co-ordinate and control thenumerous engineering reports andreturns made by the squadrons.

Aircraft Control is the section ofthe department where the link-upbetween the squadrons and the ship isthe most obvious. In addition to beingresponsible to the AED, the section hasresponsibilities to the Air Departmentand co-ordinates all movements ofaircraft and equipment on, around, andto and from the flight deck and hangars.`If asked a question you should knowthe answer' seems to be the key tosuccess for the section's memberswith the divers problems and require-ments that are thrown in their directionthere are times when making the flyingprogramme work is the least of theirproblems.

Backing up the Aircraft Controlsection are the Hangar Parties . Theseare the men who are responsible forthe security and safety of everything in

the hangars. Their primary job is themovement of aircraft in the hangars sothat serviceable aircraft are available atthe lifts to go on deck and spaces areavailable for unserviceable aircraft thatrequire to be worked on in the hangars.This requires a considerable amount oforganisation and co-ordination. Theultimate test of this organisation camewhen the ship's port liquid oxygenplant caught fire and the hangars hadto be emptied of aircraft `at the rush'.This was achieved in a most profes-sional manner, very quickly, with nofuss and no damage to aircraft.

Also working in the background ofthe hustle and bustle of flying stationsis the Safety Equipment Section ,which is responsible for servicing theparachutes and life-rafts (with theirassociated survival packs) and workingthe miracle of actually putting quartsinto pint pots. The majority of theequipment used is serviced every four-teen weeks, so the task is almost non-stop when considering the 56 ejectionseats of the jet squadrons, 15 staticseats of the Gannets and 24 static seatsof the Sea Kings, not forgetting alsothe SAR Wessex Flight.

The Air Engineering Servicessection is responsible for the directservices from the ship to the squadrons

on the flight deck and in the hangars.These include fuel, air, electricity andalso the filling of liquid oxygen packsfor the use of heavy breathing Vixenand Buccaneer aircrew and providinggaseous oxygen for the more sedateGannets. The section also provideshydraulic pressure by means of a ringmain with 24 consoles to facilitate theground testing of aircraft hydraulicsystems.

Other direct services come under thecollective heading of Ground Equip-ment . This covers a multitude ofitems, including the supply and servic-ing of 9 mechanical handlers, 17 power-driven hydraulic rigs, 50 jacks and 22replenishment cans and trolleys.

The section is also responsible for themaintenance of the ship's motor trans-port (three Land Rovers) and also thecrash and salvage equipment, includingJumbo - the large, yellow mobile crane.

The Support Section of AED pro-vides support for the squadrons whilethey are away from their parent station.Although squadrons are consideredfully equipped and self-contained units,to enable them to be fully independentwould mean a vast increase in the sizeof each squadron. As each squadron'sbasic requirements are the same, thisservice can be condensed into this one

Air Engineering Department - Services; Support; Safety Equipment; Aircraft Handlers: * NAAH HARRISON; NAAH COPELAND; LA HARRIS NAAHBEARD; NAAH WHITE; NAAH SOANES; NAAH BOWMAN; LA CAHILL; NAAH WOOD; LA NEWSOME; LA PRING; LA MCQUAID; NAAH STEVENS; LA ELLIS;NAAH DUNNE; NAAH AHERN; LA MEENAN. ** LAM COLLINS; NAM RYAN NAM BALDRY NAAH STEWART; NAM HILL NAM TITT; NAM WOOD; POAFACTON; POAF PESKETT; POAH HIGGINS; NAM PETERS; NAM JOHNSON; LAM BRETTELL; NAM GRODEN; LA SEALY; NA HILL; NAM NA RIPLEY; EMA BUTLER.*** LEM(A) DALE; NAAH CURD; NAAH CARUANA; NAAH CURLING; NAAH MCCONNELL; NAAH THOMPSON; NAAH MCQUIRE; NAAH PALMER; NAAHTHOMPSON; NAAH COOKE; NAAH FLICK; LAM SYMES; NAM COSTON; LAM Cox. **** POAF ROWE; POAF ECCLES; POAF MONAHAN; AM2 BOHILL;POAF ALEXANDER; CAF NEWHAM; AM1 LIDDLE; CAA TRAPNELL; AA1 SINCLAIR; AAl DAVEY; CAF KELLY; AA1 JOHNSON; AM1 WEIR; POAF OLIVER.***** AMI YOUNG; AM1 THOMPSON; S/Lt D. MCFADZEAN; Lt B. GODEFROY; Lt-Cdr J. N. NUTTALL; Cdr J. E. HOMMERT; Lt G. L. STEPHENSON; S/Lt P. J.MOLLOY; S/Lt J. S. CANT; CA MANSLEY; AA1 YOUNG. ****** LAM REDMAN; NAM WILSON; NAM TAYLER; NAM BREMNER; LAM MCNALLY; NAM DEANS;NAM PUHLHOFER; NAM ROUND; LAM EVANS; LAM CLARKE.

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Air Engineering Department: Ordnance - Electrical - Radio - Guided Weapons: * LAM(O) PRESTIDGE; NAM(O) MITCHELL; EM(A) BIDDER; REM(A)REEL; LEM(A) FALLON; EM(A) SMITH; REM(A) TIMOTHY; LAM(O) BALDWIN; LAM(O) MARSH; REM(A) DABELL; AB SIMMONS; LAM(O) GARNER; NAM(O)REYNOLDS; OEM(A) KNOX; LAM(O) WHITWAM. ** RELMN2(A) SAUNDERS; ELMN1(A) CUFF; POREL(A) LILLEY; POEL(A) WHITWORTH; OELMN2(A)DAVEY; ELMN2(A) SWAN; POEL(A) FURNEAUX; POREL(A) CHILTON; POEL(A) SMITH; POAF(O) JAMES; POEL(A) JONES; POEL(A) COOPER; NAM(O)CLAKE. *** EM(A) GAWTHROPE; REM(A) CURTIS; LREM(A) McEWEN; EM(A) BLOOR; REM(A) WHOTTON; EM(A) HAMILTON; LREM(A) PARRY; LAM(O)HUTCHESON; LEM(A) DAVISS; LREM(A) MORRISON; LAM(O) HUFTON; OEM(A) PITT; NAM(O) DAVIES; EM(A) LEE. **** REA1(A) WARD; REA1(A) POTTER;REAI(A) EDGINGTON; ELMN1(A) CAMPBELL; REA1(A) CROOKS; REA2(A) JOHNSON; POREL(A) WHITE; EA2(A) GLASS; POOEL(A) TITLEY; POAF(O) OLIVER;POAF(O) ALEXANDER; EA2(A) STURGESS; RELMN2(A) GRANT. ***** CEL(A) HOLLAND; CRELMN(A) EVANS; CREA(A) ROBBINS; Eng S/Lt R. S. LANGTON;Lt-Cdr R. M. KENNEDY; Cllr D. A. JONES; Eng Lt J. CHAMBERS; Eng S/Lt J. F. B. GALE; CELMN(A) MARRIOTT; CAA(O) HUGHES; COEL(A) CARROLL.****** NAM(O) McGUINNESS; LAM(O) DEACON; OEM(A) DUNNINGTON; LAM(O) KINCH; LAM(O) CLARK; NAM(O) AMSCHL; OEM(A) STOCKDALENAM(O) COLLIER; NAM(O) SCOTT; LOEM(A) KENNEDY; LAM(O) FORSTER.

section. It provides a large workshopfacility including hydraulic bay; tyrebay; expert welding; sheet-metal re-pairs; fitting and turning; and a sectionwhich has had a steadily increasingtask - the engine repair section.

One aspect which is sometimes wel-comed is the Inspection Section or` The Friendly Policeman', whose mainaim is to ensure correct standards andpractices are maintained by the squad-rons and by the AED itself. This sectionalso provides the expertise as far as flawand crack detection is concerned, usingthe very latest methods available.

Last but not least, in the SupportSection is the Head `bumf' Office,co-ordinating all the many records,returns and information required bythose in their many offices in UK.

Fifty people work in the ElectronicsMaintenance Room (Air) and itsassociated departments and yet it is aplace about which an alarming numberof visitors have said `I never knew itexisted'. Situated at the rear end of thelower hangar, behind two small doors,the normal work in the EMR involves themaintenance of electronics and radarfrom all types of aircraft. In addition,the EMR has been responsible for therepair of watches; cameras; copyingmachines; typewriters, etcetera - justanother of those back-room sectionswhich go unnoticed but is essential forEAGLE'S operational efficiency and theeffectiveness of her aircraft.

Safety Equipment Section: * NA GRODEN; LA EVANS; NA PITTS; NA WALKER; LA THOMAS.** LA KLAR; CA MANSLEY; Lt-Cdr NUTTALL; LA SEALY.

Finally, let us not forget that air-craft and all their associated equipmentare only platforms from which to launchweapons. The Air Ordnance andWeapons Section is responsible forservicing the squadrons' armamentequipment and ejection seats. Although

the armourers have been depleted innumbers, and face redundancy on theship's return to Portsmouth, they haveshown loyalty, professionalism andenthusiasm of the same calibre as therest of the AED right up to the end of thecommission.

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Air Department: * LA HALES; LA HOWIS; LA ANDERSON; NA FLETCHER; NAGOALBY; NA PENMAN; NA HART; NA MCCULLOCH; LA SHERBURN; NA;NEEDHAM; LA MITTON; Pte COX; CPI MORRISON; NA CROWN; NA HALLAM; NA GRIFFITHS; NA ROWLEY; NA MCCULLOUGH; NA SHAW; LA RAESIDE;LA SIMPSON; LA BALSTON; NA CUNNINGHAM; LA PRIESTLEY; NA WILSON; LA SQUIBB; NA HARDYMAN. ** NA SWAFFIELD; NA LAING; NA MARR; NAMARRISON; NA POET; NA JACKSON; NA HODGSON; NA GILCHRIST; NA HOSKING; NA MOWAT; NA CULLEN; NA DRAPER; NA CARROTT; NA BODNARCHUK;NA BLUNDELL; LA DEWIS; NA KEENAN; NA CONNER; NA JONES; NA CAMPBELL; NA TURNBULL; NA MULHERN; NA GRIFFIN; NA HAY; NA PATCHING;NA FORD. *** LA MARSHALL; LA HORSPOOL; LA HATHWAY; LA PERRY; LA DALY; LA GRAINGER; LA WOODHEAD; LA FRASER; NA BARCLAY; NA YOUNG;NA RUSHFORTH; NA MARRIS; NA KORTH; LA HOWELL; NA HEAD; LA SLOMAN; LA BAILEY; LA FURNISS; LA DAVIS; LA RICHARDS; LA BLACKER. **** POGRIFFITHS; PO SMALLEY; PO WILSON; CA EVISON; Lt GLENNEN; Lt GOMM; Lt FULLER; Lt BATES; Lt RAINE; S/Lt PARRACK; PO BUNN; PO BARNETT; FCPOCOLLINS; PO KNIGHT; CA MILLER. ***** LA DEBENHAM; CA JENKINS; Lt BEATTIE; Lt HARDAKER; Mjr CRICHTON; Lt-Cdr FRASER; Lt-Cdr WALSH; Lt-CdrGRIER-REES; Cdr YOUNG; Cdr DACAM; Lt-Cdr PINNEY; Lt-Cdr THORPE; Lt-Cdr PORTWINE; Lt-Cdr SIDFORD; Capt SCARLETT; Lt LAURIJSSEN; Lt SULLIVAN;Lt HAWKINS; NA WINTER. ****** NA WALSHAW; NA DOCHERTY; NA IRWIN; NA McFARLANE; NA BISHOP; NA MARSHALL; NA KEDDY; NA WILLIAMS;Sgt JOHNSON; NA KEIRLE; NA MCPHERSON; NA HALES; NA BAMFORTH; NA McENANEY; NA ROBERTS; NA SMITH .

AIR DEPARTMENTThe Ship's Air Department is headedby Commander (Air), CommanderB. G. Young, RN, and consists 0f theFlight Deck Handling Parties plus apot-pourri of smaller sub-sections(Photographic, Meteorological; Opera-tions, and so on). We were first flungtogether in those far-distant days ofAutumn I970 during the work-ups inthe Moray Firth and in the BristolChannel. Everyone was given a chanceto find his feet - not to mention hissea-legs! Since then we have not lookedback and, although names and faceshave changed, the initial impetus hasnever worn off and the value of thework-ups has come to be appreciatedby all.

The department as a whole is madeup of 20 officers and 112 ratings. TheFlight Deck Party accounts for fourof the officers and 73 ratings. Theyprovide the expertise and manpowerrequired for the positioning and movingof the aircraft on the flight deck. Forthose interested in statistics this com-mission has seen about 3,700 launchesand arrested landings, although notall of these were by EAGLE's aircraft. Inthe spring 0f 1971 we recovered andlaunched a Trader aircraft from theUSS FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, and whilstwe were exercising off the coast ofAustralia in the summer we had Sky-hawk and Tracker aircraft of the RoyalAustralian Navy operating from ourdeck: a good demonstration of opera-tional flexibility. The Flight Deck

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Parties work even when there is noactual flying taking place, and it isworthy of note that quite often, whilea lot of us have been tucked up in bed,they have been working away on theroof preparing for the following day'sflying.

Needless to say, all this activity onthe flight deck has had to be pre-served for posterity. Did you knowthat every launch and recovery isrecorded on cine film by a photo-graphic rating from the roof of FlyingControl? Any event on board ofparticular interest is attended by aphotographer, and there has alwaysbeen a comprehensive selection of stillsof all the places we have visited and allthe things we have done available from

Skyhawk launch

the Photographic Section. Everytime we enter a harbour a colour cinefilm is taken for use by the UK TV news.

A good example of action photo-graphy was the rescue by helicopter of41 members of the crew of the SS STEEL

VENDOR when she ran onto a reef duringa typhoon in October 1971. Some of thepictures taken from the air of thatrescue would do any newspaper proud,and they were circulated to the inter-national press by the Associated Pressnetwork. (See page ten.)

The weather we have experiencedduring this commission has not alwaysbeen calm. Typhoons Elaine, Faye andGloria in the South China Sea wereonly part of the story, and the Meteor-ological Office has certainly had its

The Flight Deck parties ready for any eventuality as a Sea Vixen with a faulty wheel assemblymakes the only `barrier landing' of the Commission

moments. Ironically, the worst weatherwe encountered was off Land's End inthe autumn of 1970 when force 11winds were recorded. Even though thenormal jokes are cracked about theweather men the forecasting in EAGLE

has been most accurate. We have notbeen able to change the weather buthave always had plenty of warning tolash and stow when storms have beenon their way. In addition to the routineweather forecasting for the ship, theMet Office has often had to produceindividual long-range weather briefsfor our aircraft making long-distanceflights for mail, transfer of men incompassionate cases, or the collectionof stores.

Many hands make light work - the met staffprepare a balloon

Apart from producing our No 1popularity programme Eagle Round-upon the Main Broadcast every day, theOperations Section has gone to greatlengths to ensure that we don't run

out of such things as FFO, AVCAT,

strops, and, oh yes, beer! (So all thoseReplenishments at Sea were not justcoincidental as some of us thought!)The Operations Team has religiouslyproduced Flying Programmes and hasplanned our programme down to thefinest details such as flying bread, mailand movies around the fleet. In fact,the Operations Desk looks more like atravel agency than anything else.Everyone on board has to thank theteam for keeping us regularly suppliedwith mail in whichever part of the worldwe have been operating. Just think howgrim life would have been without allthose frequent letters from home.

In addition to (allegedly) gettingmore than their fair share of mail, theCarrier Controlled Approach Teamhas `done its thing' at regular intervals.Along with `talkdowns' in foul weather,all-night recoveries to the deck aremade by the CCA, and each landing ispersonally debriefed by the pilot, thelanding safety officer and the talkdowncontroller. The CCA team also man thesafety cell in the operations room andthe local controller's position in flyingcontrol. Rumour also has it that the AirTraffic Control Officers have alsoorganised ( ?) the Ship's transport; theAir Office; the Chinese laundry crewand the Ship's furniture and `rabbit'store.

The Air Department also plays hostto the British Army's contribution toEAGLE as far as the Carrier Borne

63 Carrier-borne Ground Liaison Section:* Sgt JOHNSON; CaptainSCARLETT; Major

COX.

Ground Liaison Officer and his menare concerned. Apart from their greatlove of initials and their normal duties(co-ordinating army support exercises,forward air control and rangework),they have spent many hours workingfor the THRASH ( Telephoning Homes,Rendering All Sailors Happy) organisa-tion which comes into its own duringour visits to foreign ports. The ship hasbeen inundated with many private in-vitations which were received in SouthAfrica, Australia and New Zealand.The CBGL team is also responsible forthe topographical map store and theyare certainly well prepared, having atany one time over twelve tons of mapsavailable - more than 150,000 sheets.

Every empire has its Mecca and oursis naturally enough the Flying Con-trol Position, otherwise known asFLYCO or the First-Floor-Front. Con-trary to popular opinion, naval airmendo not remove their shoes on entry andadvance on their knees ... not quite!From here every launch and recoveryis supervised; the end-result of thework that is going on behind the scenesall the time.

Flyco

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A Hawker Osprey Mark 1 of 800 Squadron flying past HMS COURAGEOUS in 1933, and a section of four Buccaneers overfly` Mother' in 1971

800 NAVAL AIR SQUADRONAs the premier squadron in the FleetAir Arm, 800 has probably featuredmore than any other squadron in booksof commissions. It is hard to believethat (short of a major reversal of defencepolicy) this is to be 800's final appear-ance.

It started way back in 1933 flyingthe Hawker Nimrod and Osprey. Therewere twelve aircraft then (nine Nim-rods and three Ospreys, at an approxi-mate cost of £8,000 each), thirteenofficers and about fifty ratings. Be-tween 1933 and the present day, thesquadron has flown thirteen differenttypes of aircraft. It has been basedon eleven different aircraft carriers,and HMS EAGLE has been `Mother' since1964. Seven parent air stations havehosted us, the longest host beingLossiemouth, where we have beensince 1959.

In actions, 800 has won its spurs onnumerous occasions. To prove thepoint: it has been awarded elevenbattle honours, four more than HMSEAGLE, which has a history dating backto the seventeenth century; the othersquadrons embarked can only mustertwelve honours added together.

Here we are now, some forty yearsafter we started, with fourteen Buc-caneer S2s at a cost of approximatelyone million pounds each, enough to buya squadron of Nimrods at 1933 prices.During this commission we haveaveraged 30 officers and 230 ratings,over four times as many as the originalsquadron.

With the demise of the fixed-wingcarrier, and more especially that ofHMS EAGLE, 800 slides, albeit notquietly, into oblivion, leaving the roleof the teeth of the Royal Navy to ourarch friendly rival 809 Squadron.

What about this last commission ?Love is a four-letter word, so is Wrenor Spey. Ever since the arrival of the

former, we have had nothing buttrouble with the latter. Lt-Cdr DickieWren took over from Big Joe Billinghamin January 1971: shortly afterwards wehad our first engine `failure'. By thetime we arrive home one year later inJanuary 1972 we estimate we will bewell over the 100-mark in enginefailures. This approximates to oneengine for every two flying days, theworst case being of six in one day.This is neither the time nor the placeto labour the point, but it can be justi-fiably said that this is the one factorthat has dominated 800 throughout thecommission. Nevertheless, the factthat we have fulfilled our commit-ments and we are a fully operationalsquadron must be entirely due to themaintainers, who have worked doggedlythrough long frustrating hours to keepthe aircraft in a serviceable state. Notonly have they maintained the aircraft,the most praiseworthy fact is that theyhave somehow managed to maintaintheir equanimity.

Celebrating the fiftieth change

Enough on engines!The squadron re-embarked in Janu-

ary 1971 for the third work-up prior tomoving south to the sunnier climes ofthe Western Mediterranean. Apartfrom the aforementioned bete-noir,which occasioned Buccaneers to bespread liberally around our variousdiversions, events progressed asplanned. Lts Lockley and Hill decidedthat a variance of Uckers, Boo-style,was in order, and both ended up witha double ECU change. Fg/O Walmsleytried to prove King Canute wrongand ended up wet. Our erstwhileMonte Carlo rally team of Lts Reardonand Collins mistook a brick wall fora road, carrying out considerabledamage to the wall. Were there a prizefor the greatest number of injuriesduring this period, the aircraft wouldonly beat the aircrew by a short head.

The last week in March and first weekin April saw Buccaneers in variousstates, and via various routes, returningto Lossiemouth for a well-deservedleave. Following a month's good dayand night flying at Lossiemouth, were-embarked all fourteen aircraft at theend of May and, after five days in theChannel, set off southwards for ourOriental cruise.

We had the odd day's limited flyingbefore and after a week's sojourn inCapetown, but it was not until the Shiparrived off Penang in early July that wewere able to get down to concentratedflying again. However, enough isenough, and we were all glad to get toSingapore a week later, with the luckyones disembarked to RAF TENGAH.

To say we left our mark in Singaporewould be the understatement of all time.The H1-F1 industry would have quitehappily gone into voluntary retirement;red hats at CHANGI pool became a legendin their own time; the girls at the Hyattsaw the same lecherous faces all night,

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Evening land-on

every night; and Jimmy kept us a per-manently reserved table in Bugis Street.Even the Boss splashed out and boughta camera, although at the time of goingto print its main driving force, a cock-roach, is way behind on its FLEXOPS.

We left Singapore and started chasingwinter around the Southern Hemi-sphere. The weather became less reli-able than the engines, and many goodflying periods were completely lostthrough high winds and heavy swell.

For those not suffering from theafter-effects of a boxing match, and whocould get ashore, Sydney proved ashospitable as ever. There followed a

week's very successful flying duringwhich time some were introduced to theterrors of flying from the deck at night.

Our next port of call, Wellington,turned out to be perhaps the highlightof the commission. The `Great Escape'took place, and the aircrew for one werenoticeable by their absence, beingscattered all over the North Island.Nothing was too much for the locals,and whether it was pig-hunting, bare-back riding or other diversities, ourstrangest whims were eagerly met.

The planned flying between NewZealand and Fremantle was againdogged by weather and, to a lesserextent, serviceability. After Fremantle,however, the Gods were in our favourand a few much-needed flying dayswere achieved whilst in transit toSingapore. On 19 July we disembarkedsix aircraft to TENGAH, which nowbelonged to the Singapore Air Force,and spent two weeks morning and nightflying, and, of course, revisiting oldfriends and places of enjoyment.

In and out the houses

The most intense and productiveflying period of the commission wasplanned to take place off the Philippinesin October. This was hampered by thepresence of three females called ElaineFaye and Gloria, who were about asfeminine in temperament as a vitriolickai-tai.

Hong Kong is a favourite haunt forthe sailor, and we were not dis-appointed. Some people more fortunatethan others had their wives out andlittle was seen of them for two weeks.

800 Naval Air Squadron - White Watch: * LA Topsy TURNER; NAM(AE) Paddy HOUSTON; LEM(A) Ken ALDER; LA Ginge WALSH; EM(A) Fitts FITTON;EM(A) Paddy POLLOCK; NA Tex SHAW; NA Ken LLOYD; NA Duncan McDONALD; NA Jan COLE; NAM(AE) Pete FULLER; NA Gerry LONIE. ** LREM(A)Ginge BEADLE; LREM(A) Dabs DABREO; LAM(AE) Brian GALLIGAN; LAM(AE) Mac McLAUGHLAN; LAM(O) STEVENSON; NA Eric HABEL; NA Dumpy BROGAN;L/Wtr Colin BROWN NA Albert TONGS; NAM(AE) Pete O'MALLY; NA Speedy WALKER. *** LEM(A) Tony WILKINS; LSA Scott CURRY LAM(AE) KenBARKER NAM(AE) BROWN; NA GARDINER; POEL(A) Lofty COURT; POAF(AE) Terry CROWTHER; AA2(AE) Brad BRADSHAW; AA2(AE) Ian LOWRIE; LAM(AE)Rodge BARKER; NAM(AE) NAM(AE) Al NEVETT; REM(A) Douggy LEAL; NAM(AE) Les IVESON; LAM(AE) Mac McNEIL. **** REM(A) Paul MYATT; EM(A) AndyFLEMING; EM(A) Jim CAMPBELL; NAM(AE) Mac McGUINNESS; NAM(AE) Ginge BROMLEY; OEM(A) Mac MCSWEENEY; NAM(AE) Paddy GALLOWAY;NAM(AE) Scouse KELLY; NAM(AE) Olly HOYLE NAM(AE) Tess O'CONNOR. ***** REM(A) Steve PLATTS; NA Al BATTY; LA Jim SPEIRS; LAM(O) BomberBROWN OEM(A) Sharky WARD LREM(A) Fred SHIBOO; NAM(AE) Stew FORBES; NAM(AE) Tony ELDRED; LA Taff EVANS; NAM(AE) Smudge SMITH;LAM(O) Dave SYMINGTON; REM(A) Mel PEARSON. ****** AM1(AE) Andy McMAHON; AAl(AE) Zoose HOLLOMBY; CEL(A) Ken STOYLES; REA2(A)Malcombe LIDDLE; REAl(A) Jim SMART; AM1(AE) Roy COOKS; ELM2(A) Scouse DEARY; OELM1(A) Reg JOBLING; RELM2(A) Shep WOOLEY; AA2(AE)Dave FORSYTHE; ELM2(A) Dennis DEARING. ******* Lt I. G. MILNE; Lt M. J. PRIESTLEY; Lt D. H. J. OWEN; Lt D. D. HILL; Lt-Cdr I. A. CAMPBELL; Lt-CdrR. WREN (CO); Lt A. S. LEEMING; Lt M. B. TATTERSALL; F/O R. P. KEMP; S/Lt A. H. DAVIES; Lt T. W. LING.

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We left there for a whole six weeks atsea en route to Mombasa. There was anamazing lack of razor-blade usage onboard, and facial growth appearedeverywhere, except for CAA Jacksonwho was told to shave off by the PMOand then the next day told to grow itagain.

Apart from the fact we were at seathe whole time, November turned outto be the best month of the commission.We flew well over 300 hours anddropped the greatest weight of bombssince the TORREY CANYON episode.There was no let-up on engine failuresand general serviceability, but the boysin the shed did their stuff and kept thebirds in the air.

At the beginning of December theIranians decided to show a bit of politi-cal aggression, which was enough tokeep us in the vicinity of the PersianGulf and cancel our visit to Mombasa.The Durban visit was not endangeredand we duly arrived there after fifty-

six days at sea, on 22 December.Christmas away from home and familiesis never ideal, but, if we had to do itagain, Durban would indubitably be thesquadron's choice. The hospitality wereceived was boundless and, with noimminent flying period, everyone hadthe opportunity to take some leave andget in some genuine R and R. Thesquadron disbanding party at theAthlone Hotel was generally held asbeing the best thrash of the commis-sion, and everyone from the Bossdownwards got as wet outside as theydid inside. Many were sorry to leaveDurban but, having rounded the Cape,we are now heading northwards on thefinal leg and look forward to a welcomehomecoming at the end of the month.800 Squadron has not just beenactive in the flying sphere on board.The Family Edition Of EAGLE EXPRESS isdispatched, thanks to Fleet ChiefLockwood and his team of stalwarts inthe Staff Office. Radio 4XO has two

keen volunteers in Lt Dick Stephensonand King EL Nevitt. Lofty Court,Slatts Slater and Shep Shepherd dotheir thing with various noise-makingpop-groups. The way he sells horses,Nick Toner should get a job at anybloodstock auctioneer's. 800 ran theEAGLE AID PROGRAMME in Wellingtonand was highly successful thanks toFleet Chief Lockwood and his band ofvolunteers.

We have also made our mark in justabout every sport on board. ColinScully, Pincher Martin and ScouseDeary all represented the Ship at soccer;whilst at cricket we had Robin Cox,Dick Stephenson, Spud Tate, TuggWilson and Eddie Race all poundingthat funny little red ball around aim-lessly with a piece of wood. Ourswimmers were Nige Garbett, TinyMarshall and Chris Walsh, who allplayed water-polo for the Ship. ScottCurry, Malcolm Beech-Allen, and eventhe Senior Observer, when he could

800 Naval Air Squadron - Red Watch : *NAM(AE) Scouse HARRISON; NAM(AE) Taff MORGAN; REM(A) Brian PETRIE; NAM(AE) Chris WALEH; NAM(AE)Bob HETHERINGTON; EM(A) Brian MASSIE; NAM(AE) Al PACKER; LEM(A) Paddy NELSON; LAM(AE) Bill GRAINGE; LREM(A) Windy WINDSCHEFFEL; NAM(AE)Jock McGREGOR; LAM(AE) Nobby CLARKE. ** NAM(AE) Joe AITKEN; LREM(A) Alec GAULD; LAM(O) Colin SCULLY; LAM(O) Chico KERR; NAM(AE)Geordy HADDON; NAM(AE) Paddy HOSKER; NAM(AE) Mario DE-MARCO; LEM(A) Keith DUGAN; NAM(AE) Tony WIFFIN; NAM(O) Scouse ALDRED;NAM(AE) Tam BAIN; NAM(AE) Ron LEWIS; EM(A) Scouse HUSSEY. *** LM2(A) Lee HAZELWOOD; EA2(A) Pete MORRIS; LM2(A) Andy RUSSELL; EA2 (A)John WEIR; AM2(AE) Tammy ADAMS; POEL(A) Ian DuNCAN; POAF(AE) Pat PATERSON; CEL(A) Innes GRANT; POAF(AE) Paddy DOWLER; POAF(AE) HenryWALES; OELM2(A) Dave MORTON; POOEL(A) Jess JESSETT; POAF(O) Bungy EDWARDS; POAF(AE) Ivor MILSOM; POREL(A) Pete MINTER. **** EM(A) ScouseMCWILLIAMS; NAM(AE) Tommy SMYTH; NAM(AE) Scouse BOWNESS; EM(A) Ian PARK; NAM(AE) Duncan LEECH; REM(A) Dinger BELL; NAM(AE) LesSLATER; LAM(AE) Taff PERKINS; NAM(AE) Nigel GARBETT; NAM(AE) Steve JONES; NAM(AE) John LAWS. ***** POEL(A) Mick JAYNE; AM1(AE) PaddyHOOD; AM2 Mick WILLOUGHBY; POAF(AE) Al Summers; AA2(AE) Basher BATES; AA2(AE) Fred GRIFFIN; LM1(A) Sid CLARK; POREL(A) Andy AVERY;POREL(A) Red SKELTON; CAM(O) Mac MACKENZIE; CEL(A) Brian REEVE; REAI(A) Jan Toms; POREL(A) Dave CHRISTIE. ****** POREL(A) Shep SHEPHERD;RELM1(A) Dennis BROOKS; CEL(A) Peter KEMP; AM1(AE) Don SMITH; CEA(A) John FEWSTER; AM1(AE) Nick TONER; CAF(AE) Tom MARGETSON; AA1(AE)Dave NIVEN; CAF(AE) Paddy JACKSON; EAl(A) Hugh MALTBY; REA1(A) Nag PRIVETT; RELM1(A) Cyril CRAW. ******* CAF(O) Doug DALTON; F/O J. D.WALMSLEY; Lt P. A. J. COLLINS; Lt A. G. FRANCIS; Lt-Cdr P. T. LIBBY; Lt-Cdr J. L. WILLIAMS; Lt C. R. W. MORRELL; Lt R. A. LOCKLEY; Lt R. P. COX;FCRELM(A) Arthur LOCKWOOD; CAA(AE) Colin JACKSON.

forty-four

summon the energy, were seen topound little white balls around aim-lessly on the hockey pitch. One couldgo on naming people endlessly, vir-tually everyone had something to offerin one sphere of life or another; how-ever, we have to draw the line.

Let us close with a few simple facts.This year we have flown about onemillion miles; that equates to fortytimes around the globe or to the moonand back twice. We have used about2,000 tons of fuel, which would keepan avcat-driven car going for about1,500 years at 10,000 miles per year.We have dropped over 2,000 bombs andover 3,000 rockets on poor unsuspectingtargets.

Well, that just about wraps it up. Ithas been an often testing but successfulcommission. Just about everything thatcould go wrong, went wrong; yet wecame out of it with flying colours and asense of pride in our achievement. Wewould thank everybody who has beenin this final commission of the premiersquadron and wish them the very bestfor the future.

800 Naval Air Squadron - Blue Watch: * NAM(AE) Mick SHANLEY; NAM(AE) Dave LEES; REM(A) Rosco Ross; REM(A) Brian COPPARD; LAM(O) BillSCOTT; LAM(AE) Tiny MARSHALL; NAM(AE) Jimmey SHAND; Std Cameron McDoNALD; Std Johno JOHNSON. ** LREM(A) Keith KIRKLAND; LAM(AE)Simmo ROYAL; EM(A) Keith RODCERS; REM(A) Alec DUNN; NAM(AE) Mac MACLEAN; OEM(A) Mac McDDONALD; NAM(AE) Jim MURISON; Std Nick NICOL;Ck Chris CAVANAGH; Std Andy LE GOAZIOU; Std Marty ALLESTON. *** EM(A) Jonah JONES; NAM(AE) Robbie ROBERTSON; NAM(AE) Bagsey BAKER; NAM(AE)Mick BRINKLEY; L/Std Boggy BRUCE; NAM(O) Ginge MOLLISON; NAM(AE) Charlie ALLPORT; LAM(O) Pincher MARTIN; NAM(AE) Happy HAPGOOD; LAM(O)John HALLAM; Ck Jimmey GREEN; NAM(AE) Scouse YARWOOD; EM(A) Mick DILUCIA. **** OEM(A) John HEMINGSLEY; NAM(AE) Allan HARDEN; LAM(O)Jan McKIRDY; Std Paul CHAPMAN; NAM(AE) Tim MAEL; LREM(A) Fred HAYNE ; EM(A) Ginge MUIR; NAM(AE) Mel LEACH; REM(A) Tony CAMMACK;LAM(O) Eddy RACE LAM(O) Ginge DICK; LEM(A) Tommo THOMAS. ***** POAF(AE) Ken BULLER; REA2(A) Derek TATE; POAF(AE) Buck TAYLOR;POAM(AE) Trevor JAMEs; REA2(A) Wurzell STENTIFORD. ****** CREL(A) Neil PURGE; AA2(AE) Mick WOTTON; AA1(AE) Bob BROAD; AA1(AE) BrianDAVIES; AM1(AE) Mick WILLIAMS; EA2(A) Jim WILSON; LM2(A) Ginge COOKE; AA2(AE) Mick WARNES; POOEL(A) Chick HAYES; OELM2(A) GrahamSEDDON; POAM(AE) Nibbs FARMER. ******* AM1(AE) John TIGWELL; F/O M. D. BEECH-ALLEN; Lt M. J. CUNNINGHAM; Lt M. J. MASON; Lt W. R. H.NEILSON; Lt-Cdr J. J. R. TOD; Lt S. J. KERSHAW; S/Lt R. D. STEPHENSON; Lt C. CULLEN; EA1(A) John CRAGGS; RLM2(A) Jim BATCHELOR. ******** LAM(AE)Trev REES; LAM(AE) Bill GAW; LAM(AE) Mac McDONALD; LEM(A) Gass GORRY; LAM(AE) Jacko JACKSON; Std G. B. FERGUSON; Ck John BLAKEY; StdAlan SCOTT; Std Fred Guy; Std Peter WRIDE; Std Ron Ross.

Buccaneer tanker giving fuel to a Sea Vixen on combat air patrol over the Indian Ocean

forty-five

826 SQUADRONOn 25 March, 1970, the Squadron leftEAGLE with Wessex HAS Mk. IIIsdestined for Culdrose. On 2 June, 1970,the Squadron recommissioned with 6Sea King HAS Mk. Is, and the work-upcommenced.

The aircraft was put to the testoperationally in the CASEVAC role whenthe Master of the AGIOS GIORGIOS waslifted off his ship near Bishops Rockand flown to Penzance Hospital formedical treatment.

The Squadron enjoyed a change ofscenery in August when four aircraftflew to Bergen in Norway for ExerciseVENDETTA ALPHA, when the aircraftwere employed in the anti-submarineand anti-fast patrol boat roles in con-junction with British and Norwegianforces. After a very enjoyable fortnightin Scandinavia, the Squadron returnedin time for the Squadron OperationalReadiness Inspection. During the work-up, 826 were `privileged' to become thefirst to carry out a `wheels up' landing.The Squadron finally embarked inEAGLE at the beginning of Novemberand spent the remainder of the periodprior to Christmas exercising fromboth EAGLE and RFA TIDEPOOL.

After re-embarkation, 826 enjoyedthe delights of Gibraltar, Malta, Ville-franche and RAF hospitality at LUQA;

this was interspersed with the ship'sORI; CASEXES with the nuclear sub-marine WARSPITE; and trying to befilm-stars for a Westland's film team.

The ship sailed home for Easter and,

826 Naval Air Squadron: * Lt J. B. SARGENT (DAEO); Std Bill BAILEY; LA Tomo THOMAS; L/Wtr Mac MCINTOSH; LREM Gerry CAULFIELD; LA JohnHILTON; LAM John CORDNER; LAM George CASPER; NAM Ian FULTON; EM Jan PRATT; Ck Smudge SMITH; LSA Colin BONE; NAM Jan COWEN; NAMBomber BROWN; NAM Luke LUCAS; NAM Keith STROUD; Std Rocky HUDSON; PO A1 PRICE; CPO Jan HowE. ** Lt-Cdr H. B. TATTON-BRowN (AEO);PO Jack NEWSON; LEM Percy GARRETT; LAM Dixie DEAN; LREM Bob HUNT; POAM John CLARKSON; POAF George GOLDSMITH; POEL Passer HILL;AA2 Robbie REASON; POREL Lofty HERRIDGE; POAF Brian HOUGHTON; LEM Brian ASTON; LA John WATT; LREM Bert RING; LAM Jacko JACKSON; NAMMick LUMSDEN; Lt C. C. COOTE (AE03); AA1 Geoff KEY. *** EA2 Paul COFFIN; ELMN2 Dasher DE CENT; POAF Tony ENGLAND; POREL Ted SHORNEY;AMNI(O) Peter CURTIS; AMN1 Bill DAVISON; CEL Plum PLUMMERIDGE; AMN1 Ron HOULCROFT; CAA Neddy SPARKES; RELMN1 Bob SAVAGE; CREL FrankPRITCHARD; EA1 Tony BARTLETT; REA2 Mick CRABTREE; REA2 Robert BRIMSON; POEL John GOODALL; POAF Pete LILLEY; LAM Bat MASTERSON. **** StdJohn ELLERY; NAM Titch MOYES; EM Jock GRANT; REM Mick STURMEY; EM Slinger WOOD; NA Gary JONES; REM Steve DYSON; EM Bob SHARKEY; EM AlBARKER; NAM JoCk MILNE; Ck Les HEREWARD; NAM Alfie POTTER; NAM Waggy WAGSTAFFE; Std Dave QUARTERMAN; Std Jim ROLLINGS.

fo rty-six

The Squadron disembarks

as usual, we disembarked to Culdrose.After the leave period, apart from con-tinuation training the Squadron starredin another film; collected the KelvinHughes Trophy for accuracy in sub-marine attacks; and carried home a sickWhirlwind helicopter. One of our`lighter' moments occurred during ademonstration for the Royal College ofDefence Studies, when an AfricanGeneral inquired, `How does the radarshine under water?' The Squadron isstill looking for an enlightening answer.

At the end of May we re-embarkedagain and the ship sailed for the FarEast, but not before we had lifted Speyengines to the ship from RAF ST MAWGAN

for our sick Buccaneers. Our first callwas at Ascension Island where the`Flying Chacons' of 826 ferried some100 passengers. One Sea King took on

an even more rustic guise and was usedto move topsoil to an experimentalfarm on the top of Ascension's GreenMountain. On the same day, ChiefTASI `Sugar' Bush logged his 2,000thflying hour.

The voyage to the Far East continuedand, after a pleasant visit to Capetown,the ship headed for Penang, off Malaya.It was here that the Sea King was givenits first-ever practical test of operatingin tropical conditions and lived up to allexpectations. Thence to Singaporewhere HMS SIMBANG became our homefor the duration of the visit.

After leaving Singapore for Australia,HMS ALBION was privileged to operatefour of our Sea Kings during ExerciseROUND-UP, where we flew seventy hoursin one and a half days. The next port ofcall for the ship was Sydney, but again826 were working, this time with oursalesman's hats on, disembarking toRANAS NOWRA for three days of sub-marine exercises demonstrating thevirtues of the Sea King to the RoyalAustralian Navy.

We reluctantly left Sydney to takepart in Exercise SOUTHERN CLIME I andagain showed off our expertise to theAustralians. SOUTHERN CLIME 1I, thefollow-up exercise, was brought to agrinding halt almost before it began,because o f the worst winter storm forsome years; however, this did notprevent the ship entering Wellington,New Zealand, for the official visit.

After a fast passage to Fremantle,four aircraft disembarked to RAAF

PEARCE for a week before the ship

826 Squadron Aircrew: * LS John CHARNLEY; AB Norman DARBY; LS Dave PARROTT; Lt P. A. FISH; S/Lt M. C. PEAKE; Lt C. W. WAITE; LS Dick GODLEYPO Larry LARCOMBE; LS Norman CHROSSAN; LS Buster BROWNE; LS Sid SHARMAN. ** S/Lt J. R. PRIcE; Lt A. B. VEALE; Lt A. B. ROSS; Lt J. B. HARVEY;Lt D. H. BESWICK; Lt I. C. DOMONEY; CPO(TASI) Sugar BUSH; Lt J. G. EACOTT; Lt E. J. DOBINSON; Lt D. S. DOUGLAS; S/Lt C. D. FERBRACHE; S/Lt B. D.HILL; Lt I. THORPE. *** Lt K. G. LAMPREY; Lt A. SOMMER; Lt P. J. G. HARPER; Lt-Cdr I. A. SOMERVILLE-McALESTER (SOBS; Lt-Cdr H. A. MAYERS (XO);Lt-Cdr R. E. VAN DER PLANK (CO); Lt C. L. L. QUARRIE (SP); Lt C. P. YOUNG; Lt C. R. A. HILL; Lt J. E. V. MADGWICK; Lt D. A. RAINES.

entered harbour. After a hectic visit,we were once more back to work withDANAE'S ORI which turned into aSUBMISS when one of a submarine'sindicator buoys came adrift. Thesubmarine surfaced happily a fewhours later, in complete oblivion of theconcern above the waves.

Back to Singapore and SIMBANG

where the bachelors and unaccompaniedmembers did most of the work, theothers having their wives with them.Again our talents as salesmen were putto the test demonstrating the SeaKing's Search and Rescue capabilitiesto the Singaporeans. A week later theywere to hear of an excellent example ofthe aircraft's capabilities.

We were to carry out an exercise inthe Subic Areas, but because ofTyphoon ELAINE'S presence, it wascancelled. During the storm the shipreceived an SOS from Mv STEEL VENDORaground on a reef and breaking-up.Four aircraft were scrambled and theMaster and crew of forty men were backon board EAGLE within three hours, theship having been seventy miles awayat the time of the distress call. Our nextport of call was Hong Kong where onarrival the ship was presented with asilver tray by the members of theAmerican Sailors' Trades Union for ourpart in the rescue. During our stay wecontinued flying in yet another role,lifting building materials for the HongKong Government and the RoyalEngineers. ( Photo, right.)

On leaving Hong Kong we lookedforward to six weeks at sea. We werekept fully occupied during this time,which involved an unprecedentedamount of flying. Our first task was tolead the helicopter formation flypastfor the departing Commander-in-Chief,Far East, at Singapore. Then followedExercise CURTAIN CALL which was twoweeks of intensive anti-submarine andanti-FPB exercises split up by an enjoy-able and relaxing week-end on thebeaches of Langkawi.

After a fast passage westwards, wecarried out another week of exercises offGan.

From Gan we journeyed to Masiraand, because of the political situation inthe Middle East, the planned exerciseswere cancelled and only limited flyingwas carried out. Our intended visit toMombasa was also cancelled and weremained off Masira until mid-Decem-ber. It was then decided that three air-craft with five crews should be detached

to HMS ALBION to assist in the evacuationof foreign nationals from East Pakistan.By the time ALBION had reached thesouthern tip of India, the evacuees hadalready been flown out. After a briefvisit to Gan, ALBION sailed for SouthAfrica where the three aircraft wereflown back to EAGLE in Durban harbour.For the crews and aircraft that hadremained in EAGLE a reasonable amountof flying was done, including the lastCASEX of the commission.

A very enjoyable Christmas wasspent in Durban with hospitalitylavished upon the squadron. The lastleg of the commission included a visitto Ascension Island to collect anddeliver mail and to make a photographicsurvey for a new golf course. Then afinal `rabbit' run in Gibraltar prior toreaching Culdrose, where the squadronfinally disembarked complete with anenormous number of `rabbits'.

Now the inevitable statistics to datesince receiving the new aircraft: Wehave flown 4,500 hours, taken part in95 Casexes, carried 2,000 passengers,taken part in 6 Casevac operations, andlifted 17 Spey engines for our friendlyBuccaneer Squadron. We have also hadthe pleasure of carrying COMFEF,FOCAS, and FO2FEF and `sinking'8 British, 2 Australian, 1 American and2 Norwegian submarines. Apart fromEAGLE, we have also operated fromsix other ships and 45 different air-fields spread all over the world fromNorway to New Zealand.

forty-seven

849 NAVAL AIR SQUADRON, D FLIGHTDuring the summer of 1970 the Flighthad an almost complete changeover ofPersonnel. During the Brawdy run-down period we had to get to know notonly each other but also the improvedversion of the APS 20 radar w ith whichour AEW3s were equipped. In October,a single Gannet was embarked inEAGLE for deck trials whilst we foughtto keep Brawdy open for just one morenight flying period. By the time S/LtNoel Pinder had returned the decktrial aircraft, S/Lt Brian Hardy hadjoined us, having taken over the dutiesof AEO from Lt Mike Kerry.

We finally left Brawdy for the lasttime on 9 November for the first work-up flying period, disembarking to ournew base at Lossiemouth exactly onemonth later.

After re-embarking in January withLt Ken Patrick as new COD pilot, wemade our way to the Mediterranean,the ORI, and Villefranche. An excellentrun was enjoyed in Villefranche, andtwo parties of flight officers and ratingsdisappeared on expeds. Lt McGhee'sparty returned with monstrous hang-overs and CAM Wentworth's withblisters. After we left Villefranche we

forty-eight

lost Lt Pearce, who will always, infuture, check the security of deadlightsbefore looking out of scuttles! We arehappy to relate he has now recoveredand is flying again. 073 had a nastybump as well, and Lt Steadman andSOBS flew it back to UK. They returned,some considerable time later, to Malta,after an epic journey during w hich theyencountered most of the emergenciesin the book: low cloud and gliders inFrance, and snow at Hyeres and Sar-dinia. The ubiquitous Welgate Travelhad meanwhile managed to ferry outvarious wives and girl-friends whoappeared in summer cottons to a windy,wet and cold Malta. Nevertheless, thedisembarked flying at LUQA provideda change, and some NAVEXES wereflown to Sicily. A good flight run wasorganised, and the soccer team sur-prised everybody. 073 (new) was finallypatched up enough to return on board;wives and girl-friends were flown home;and we embarked for the final spell.

After Malta we had a further flyingperiod during which the Senior Pilottook the COD to the USS F. D. ROOSEVELT

and returned without the use of a cata-pult. Whilst off Gib, the Vixens and

Gannets put on a `shop window' whenwe managed to get all five Gannetsairborne. Needless to say, all fivemanaged to disembark to Lossiemouthagain for leave; maintenance; instru-ment ratings and a couple of distilleryruns.

Buzz and counter buzz had beenflying round, but not until Capetownw as it obvious that the Far East reallyw as our destination. On the operationalside the flying before and during theSingapore SMP was fairly uninteresting;however, both aircraft and men re-mained fit and thrived on Tiger andsunshine. The SPLOT also enjoyed buy-ing us drinks with his £500 GrandDraw prize. There was still a Lightningsquadron at Tengah, and 849, with899, were able to thoroughly confusethem and the radar unit at BukitGomback from time to time. We thenembarked for our Australasian tour.However, one AEW3 diverted withassymetric flap. Eventually, after fur-ther Alarums and Excursions, weheaded for our second winter that sum-mer.

The mammoth fly-past at Sydneybehind us, we secured down under

849 `D' Flight: * NAM Cliff PARKES ; LA(AH) Blood REED L/Std Terry RICE; REM(A) Mid MIDDLETON; LEM(A) Tony WEBSTER; LREM(A) Harry TAYLOR;LREM(A) Dennis HAYNES; LEM(A) John SCHOFIELD; LAM Ken BICHARD; LAM Ed JONES; LREM(A) Paul BESTWICK; NAM Merve NASH; EM(A) Taff HALE;EM(A) Isaac NEWTON; LAM John RAWLINGS; LAM Doc VASS; NA(AH) Paddy COSGROVE. ** LSA Dusty PILLING; Std Dave WARNE; NAM Mick PARKES;LAM Ray MURKIN; REM(A) Collin ASHWORTH; Std Ginge O'Brien; NAM Dave CLACHAN; REM(A) Tom CHESHIRE; EM(A) Ian DIMBLEBY; LEM(A) BiffBURTON; LA(SE) Jock KLAR; Std T. C. COONAN; LREM(A) Lofty DAVIS; REM(A) Mick SEABROOK; NAM Nelie COOMBES. *** LMN2 Fred BROWN; PO(AH)Spike HUGHES; REA(A)2 Pat CAMPBELL; AA2 Pete FRENcH; CAF John PERKS; REA1 John PURDY; CAM Bill WENTWORTH; CEA(A) TOm WINN; POEL(A)Ned DRAPER; POREL(A) Jan WOOTTON; RMN3 Bill BAILEY; LMN(A)2 Terry MORGAN. **** NAM Ginge LEWIS; CAF Mac MACFARLANE; AA1 Tony LAMBERT;Lt Noel PINDER; F/Lt Al BRUYN; Fg/O John (Min) McNEIL; Fg/O Chris (Max) O'CONNELL; F/Lt Bill FOXALL; Lt Jim LAW (USN); S/Lt Brian HARDY (AEO);CAF Stan FULCHER; AMI Dave BROWN; Std Ken HOLLOMBY. ***** Lt Kevin MEEHAN; Lt Nigel HAYLER; Lt Ken PATRICK; Lt Peter MOULDING (SOBS);Lt-Cdr Keith HARRIS (CO); Lt Doug STEADMAN (SP); Lt TOm McGHEE; Lt Rodger BOWLES; Lt Al GRIFFITHS. ****** EM(A) Terry CONWAY; LAM GarethTUCKETT; Std Frank GALLAGHER; L/Wtr Scribes WILKINSON; EM(A) Basher BATES; L/Ck Chris BENNET; NAM Benny HOWARTH; LAM George BOYD; Std JoeHADLEY; Std Fred GREEN.

849 'D' Flight - continued

near the still unfinished Opera Houseto 'recharge our batteries' and acquireLt Peter Moulding, our new SOBS,

losing 'Rusty' Gealer to the USA. Theday of sailing plunged us into Exercise

Southern Clime, part 1. Part 1 wasfrustrating for us tactically; but plentyof day and night flying was logged.Part 2 was plagued by weather which,however, enabled the diverted aircrewto enjoy a sample of Kiwi hospitality.Despite the weather, we managed afly-past in Wellington Bay and beganthe wonderful visit with some goodpublicity. The Kiwis obviously liked849.

All good things come to an end, andsoon we headed West, having reachedthe easternmost point of the commis-sion. With batteries further exhaustedby Fremantle, we found ourselves backamongst our old Hunting Grounds inSingapore. This time a number of thewives were with us by courtesy ofCrabair. This meant that many of usgot further afield than the nearest barand saw some of the country. Aninteresting flight run was drunk (whoDID produce that brandy?) in the Half-way House, Bukit Timah.

And so to Hong Kong via any Ty-phoons we could find, while some wivesbraved the trip in the appropriatelynamed SS TYPHOO(N?) SHAN. We dis-embarked two AEW3s at Kai Tak andthe flight split up, some ashore andothers on board. An excellent visit,with members going as far afield asMacau and Wanchai. Lt-Cdr Tom

899 NAVAL AIR SQUADRON

Take 14 Sea Vixens, 215 first-classmaintainers, an assortment of aircrew,throw them all together on HMS

EAGLE and you get 'The Bunch with thePunch'; 'The First Division'; or 'MontyRedwood's Flying Circus'. Whateverthe name, the result means professional-ism, and that is 899 Squadron.

The story of this commission reallystarts on 11 November 1970 whenmost of our aircraft embarked and thework-up got underway. 'Six days shaltthou labour', and on the seventh finish

Lowrie left at this juncture to join theteam waiting in a bar somewhere for anAEW Shackleton to happen, and all theofficers at the top took one step up withLt-Cdr Keith Harris taking over as CO.A new crab joined us, and we now havethe Biggest, Smallest, Brainiest andMost Senior Crabs in the ship. Withour leaving Hong Kong, we closed achapter of British History and weheaded for the Indian Ocean, pausingbriefly to bow out of Singapore. A veryuseful period of flying followed offPenang with exercise Curtain Call; weleft the Far East fully worked up andready for the final phase of the tour.The flyex off Gan showed us thatthings could still crumble, and weexchanged some shell-cases for nomarine markers with our friends at

flying, sail to Southampton and rest-the aeroplanes, that is.

To continue the work-up, the shipsailed into the Bristol Channel, withthe main aim of the Squadron being tofire as many missiles as possible onAberporth Range. However, the bigFlyco in the sky had a different fly-proto ours and, on several occasions,weather, ships in the range, and targetunserviceabilities, caused us to cancelmost of the firings. Nevertheless, w henit came to disembark for Christmas, wehad more than justified our existence onboard and were looking forward to whatthe New Year would bring: that is,the two-thirds w ho had the good luckto remain with us!

The first two weeks of 1971 werespent at Yeovilton, introducing the newmembers to the Squadron; re-formingthe aircrew; and generally clearingaway the alcoholic haze and other left-

Over Sydney

Gan. At the time of writing we are justgetting stuck into the final major flyexbefore our visits to Mombasa, Durbanand, finally, Gibraltar, for last-minuterabbits and a quick dive into the ErosClub.

Once it is all over, most of us willlook back on an interesting cruise w herewe have seen a medley of faces andplaces; but, professionally, it mightperhaps have been a bit frustratingand a bit sad to have ended our era.We have, in just over a year, seen theend of Brawdy, EAGLE, 'D' flight and thebeginning of the end of Lossiemouth.However, men and aircraft have heldtogether and standards maintained tothe end and, with luck, we will be theonly fixed-wing squadron to fly offexactly what we flew on last May.

overs from leave. On Tuesday, 19 Janu-ary, all aircraft were onboard again;but, owing to bad weather, instead ofoperating in the English Channel, wemoved north to the Isle of Man andcommenced hitting the splash (well,nearly) with 2-in R/P.

With the GPO strike in full swing atthis time, another role was added to themany of the Vixen - that of mail van -and, on several occasions, the 899 PonyExpress could be seen on the bow cata-pult with its dashing riders (normallythe Senior Pilot) raring to go.

Better weather enabled us to achievesome night flying and, on the 31st, wemade passage south for Gibraltar; alas,only for one day before we were straightinto the Ship's ORI. This meant twoCAP airborne throughout daylight hours,a commitment which was fulfilled com-pletely. The reward was another visitto Gibraltar.

forty-nine

899 NAS - continuedIt was back into the Med. on 8 Febru-

ary and for four days our main taskswere AI and 2-in R/P attacks. Duringthis period an old hulk, FRESHNER, wasto be used as a target for Ship's gunsand Seacat, but '99 were kindly givenfirst shot with R/P. Of course, it sank!That's what we are here for, but therewere a few red faces in the planningoffice afterwards.

A quick visit to the Cote d'Azur wasfollowed by exercise `Perfect Princess'in the waters off Sardinia, which pro-vided us with a diversion and some veryinteresting TAC-R routes. On completionthe ship sailed towards Malta wherethree weeks ashore at Luqa awaited,plus, for some, wives as well.

March started with an achievementunsurpassed by any other fighter air-craft. The Squadron had accumulated20,000 flying hours since February 1961when it formed with Sea Vixens. Withan average of 10 aircraft on the Squad-ron at any one time, each aircraft hasaveraged 200 hours per year. TheQueen of the skies is aptly named.

Our visit to Malta coincided with theleaving of the CO, Lt-Cdr M. H. G.Layard, destined for fishhead duties,and a welcome was given to his replace-ment, Lt-Cdr F. Milner. The usualrun on the island was enjoyed by all,but eventually the roads took their toll

on the hired cars and it was safer andcheaper to return on board and sailinto combat with the American CarrierFRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT. EAGLE struckfirst and remained ahead. The strikerole was also allocated to '99 as theother squadron had a slight crumble.With the war being brought to a suc-cessful conclusion, we started home-ward, with the usual stop at Gibraltarfor rabbits, and to pick up Lt Burnside,who joined us on April Fool's Day.

Just before leaving the Med., a fire-power demonstration was organised,which turned out to be an 899 Squad-ron benefit day as the bomber squadronhad already disembarked. Then into theAtlantic, fly off, and fight our waythrough Customs before taking twoweeks' leave. At this time we lost somenotable aircrew, including the AWI,Lt Mike Garlick, who appeared to havea change of heart and left the Navy togo and heal. Fortunately for the humanrace, his activities will be directedtowards the animal kingdom.

On 26 May we re-embarked, and thiswas followed by five days' intensive dayand night flying to work-up both Shipand Squadron to their former peak. Itwas then south to Capetown where thatgood ol' trophy appeared again. Ourstay in South Africa was short butmemorable. Next, we took part in a flypast off Mauritius, quickly followed by

a beat-up of Diego Garcia and fourdays' day and night flying in the Penangarea before disembarking eight air-craft to Tengah.

Thus commenced two weeks' plea-sant flying in and around Malaysia andSingapore. During this period Lt-CdrW. L. T. Pepe assumed the duties ofSenior Pilot. The old Splot was dinedout in the best '99 tradition: ten-courseChinese meal followed by the usualTiger hunt. Talking about sport, itmust be mentioned that the Squadronhas an outstanding record on the sportsfields of the world, and we also havePO Cronin who has been selected forthe English Karate Team: no meanfeat, as most of his training is done onboard. (We often wondered who crackedthe boom of 122.)

Unfortunately, all good things haveto come to an end and we set sail on21 July. This was followed by two days'flying, mainly CAS, 250 miles north ofthe ship. As luck would have it, we wererequired in Sydney on 4 August andfor a fly past the day before, so again wecrossed into the Southern Hemisphere.Five days in Sydney soon got rid oftanned skins, to be replaced by the usualsquadron brand of night-club pallor,but exercise Southern Clime Part Oneawaited, so we went back to sea tooppose the R.A.A.F.

With Part One under our belts, Part

899 Naval Air Squadron - Daymen: * Std CATANIA; LREM FERRIDAY; L/Std MOFFAT; Std POOL; LA HOLLOWAY; NAM BUSH; Std VEASEY; EMA BREWARD;LA PUGSLEY: NA WILKINSON; NAM BUCHANAN; NAM BIRD; LAM BADHAM; NA WAREHAM. ** Std MOULD; Std O'NEIL; L/Std KEIFER; Ck STUART;A/PO/Wtr PAYNE; LSA KELLY; OEM BETTS; LAM WHEELER; NA MASON; Ck BRITTON; NA SZYCAK; EMA REID; NAM BYRNE; LREM VAN DE CAPPELLE;Ck ROUGHT. *** Lt BRUMHILL; F/O PARKER; Lt ALLAN; POAF BURLINGHAM; CAF MORRIS; RELMI FRASER; EA1 BARTLETT; AA1 COX; FCEA REDWOOD;CREL TROW; PO/Sid BREMNER; POAF RICHARDS; RELMI JOHNSON; POAF BUSH; CREA MARGETTS & Lt SCOTT; CEL ASHFORD; CAF COPESTAKE; RELMITAYLOR; EA1 PRATT; CAA WILLIAMS; F/O WISTOW; Lt BROCK. **** Lt DIcK; Lt CHAPLIN; F/O LAWTON; Lt LLOYD; Lt EITZEN; F/O McNAMARA; LtWHALEY; Lt-Cdr TAYLOR; Lt-Cdr PEPPE; Lt-Cdr MILNER; Lt-Cdr WATERHOUSE; Lt FULLER; Lt ALDRED; F/O SHELBOURN; Lt NEWSON; Lt GAVIN; F/OWHITTLE; Lt SHARMAN; Lt EDWARDS .

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Two commenced, but, owing to badweather, most of it was scrubbed. TwoVixens flew to OHAKEA in New Zealand,the next country to have the pleasure ofour company, where they were, un-happily, grounded for two days, aswere the aircrew - happily.

We arrived in Wellington shortlyafterwards and this visit will probablygo down with Durban as one of thebest runs of the commission. It was sogood that a replacement pilot from UK

was immediately made Duty Boy,because there was nobody else onboard and if there was they were sixfeet up, conserving with one lung shutdown and the alcoholic suction pumpgoing at full stroke. Not many of ussaw the ship on 26 August but some-body said that we had to be in Fre-mantle on 9 September and who werewe to complain?

Fly? Only three days of it beforeentering Fremantle and two days en-route to Singapore where we hoped tohave a rest from all the work we wereputting in. But it was not to be, becausesome had their wives out from UK,

while the rest had to make the usualsocial calls on the pools at TENGAH,

TERROR and CHANGI, plus the night-spotof the Orient, Bugis Street. Neverthe-less, in between times the aircrew werekept in practice in the aircrafts' numberone role, AI, and on several occasionsHunters of the SAF and Mirages of theRAAF became missile fodder.

On 5 October all aircraft re-embarkedsuccessfully and, despite many difficul-

ties, such as the lorries being unable tocarry enough, all the rabbits werestowed on board before the ship sailedfor the Philippines.

This next period at sea should haveseen all the aircrew firing missilesagainst targets provided by the Ameri-cans from Cubi Point, but Typhoons' Faye' and `Gloria' reigned supreme inthe area and, after persevering withflying in very difficult conditions, wefinally gave up and sailed for HongKong. We put five aircraft ashore toKAI TAK for continuation flying and,during this period, took part in thefarewell salute for the retiring Governorof Hong Kong and also a fly past inhonour of Princess Anne who was visit-ing the colony.

Again, there were no complaintsabout the life ashore even though somehad their wives and girl-friends to lookafter them. But standards were notallowed to drop, not even on the foot-ball field, where the Ship's Trophywas won by our goal-happy footballers.Sadly, however, on 27 October, the shipsailed south-west for the Singaporearea followed by exercise `Curtain Call'off Penang and so starting a period of56 days continuously at sea.

By this time several members hadleft for the UK; 'arry had gone, but` Taff' took over, the only differencebeing the accent; George (SD) Phepoenever recovered from his leaving run inHong Kong and was seen leaving theship with tears streaming down hisface; and `definitely 25th for the next

launch' Wheeler left leaving all his pensto the aircrew.

`Curtain Call' found us pitting ourwits against the Malaysian and Aus-tralian squadrons based at BUTTER-

WORTH and also against the ever-elusive splash targets at which we werenow firing 2-in R/P. The night-flyingprogramme was also put into full swingand a regular eight Vixens launchedeach night on Lepus strikes and avariety of AI sorties. Most returned backon board as planned but one night theship took pity on our aircraft having tobe at sea for such a long time and sentthem ashore to BUTTERWORTH overnight.The aircrew, deeply distressed at thethought of being on dry land again,drowned their sorrows in typical fashionat the Ambassador Hotel.

The next stop was at Gan for sixdays' and nights' flying, and then wewent into the Gulf area. With the flyingdays now numbered, we looked forwardto the visits to Mombasa (alas, we nevergot there) and Durban, where the hos-pitality and friendship shown over thefestive period was fantastic. We sailedon 4 January for the UK via Gibraltar.After a short visit there, the aircraftwere catapulted off the ship for thelast time, and there our tale endsbecause on return the last remainingVixen Squadron will be no more andthe number 899 will be parked. How-ever, we can be sure that the Squadronwill go out in style. Just like that rundown Bugis Street in '71: `Yes, I re-member it well - I was on '99 at the time!'

899 Naval Air Squadron- White Watch: * LREM FERRIDAY; EMA KNELLER; REM URWIN; A/LAM BARNES; EMA HARPER; OEM CHAPMAN; A/LAMCHAMBERLAIN; NAM ALLEN; LAM CLARKE; REM HAUGHEY; REM COUSINS. ** OEM GOODBY; NAM GREHAN; A/LAM RACHER; NAM O'NIELL; NAMREYNOLDS; EMA GREEN; NAM GROOMBRIDGE; LEM RENSHAW; REM STEVENSON; LAM BOND; LAM WATERS; LAM BARANSKI; NAM DOWNEY; NAMMAHONEY; EMA STEWART; NAM LITCHFIELD; NAM HARMER. *** A/POOEL O'KILL; POEL MABBOT; AA2 DIXON; LM2 SANDERS; POREL KNOWLES;AA1 CROFT; POOEL KEATING; EA1 COLE; EA2 COOPER; A/POREL CASSAR; AMN2 KAVULOK. **** CAF(O) RUTHERFORD; EA1 MOORE; Lt BENNETT; LtROWELL; AMN1 CLARKE; CAF(AE) THOMAS; RMNI MOORE.

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EAGLE SEARCH &RESCUE FLIGHTDuring the summer of 1970 the flighthad a complete change-over of per-sonnel. This was followed by our ownwork-up and ORI, before we joined theship in September with two WessexMk. I aircraft.

Friday, 13 November, 1970, producedour first, and happily our only, aircrewrescue job when a Vixen crashed off thebow catapault. Since then our excite-ment has all come from the many oddjobs we are called upon to do, such asVERTREPS; VERTREVS (the Sunday morn-ing padre transfers); passing the tow;mail and passenger flights.

We disembarked to Culdrose forChristmas leave before heading for theMediterranean and the ship's ORI.

While anchored in Gibraltar Bay theSAR was scrambled to take a firesuitmanand extinguishers to SS BYZANTIUM, amerchant ship on fire alongside themole. On completion of the mission theaircraft was unable to return to theship owing to dangerous turbulence, sodiverted to North Front for what,perhaps only, the crew considered awell-earned, crafty week-end, ashore.

After a splendid visit to Villefranchethe ship proceeded to Malta, where ourhighlight was a scramble to assist thecrew of ss P OPI which had run agroundon Comino, a small island betweenMalta and Gozo. However, we werenot needed as the crew were able tostep off the fo'c'sle onto the shore.

We again disembarked to Culdrosefor Easter Leave when the ship returnedto Plymouth, and re-embarked withthree aircraft on 25 May. Our thirdhas been kept mainly in reserve but hasproved invaluable in keeping us on thejob during our various maintenancecrises: notably six engine and two maingearbox changes.

In Capetown, Rear-Admiral Williamsjoined us, and we had our first experi-ence of being the Admiral's Barge: ajob which has kept us quite busy eversince. On arrival at Singapore we dis-embarked to SIMBANG for continuation

SAR Flight: * LAM Andy ANDERSON; LAM Ken MOORE; POAM Chris GRANT; POEL Ian ARTHURS;POAF Roger HENLEY; POOEL Flipper OLKES; NAM Jan GIBSON; AA1 Tug TUDGAY; LS Alf TUPPER.** EA1 Charles ABRAHAMS; Lt Mike LAWRENCE; Lt Alex MARSH; Lt Buzz BARR; AM1 Robbie ROBERTSON.*** NAM Al PUNT; LAM Stew CROWTHER; POREL Gerry STEPHENSON; LREM Ken MOULTON;LREM Don MCKENZIE; LEM Tug WILSON; EMA Trev LUCAS; NAM Willie LYNES.

training, after which we had to leaveone aircraft there for a major corrosionjob to be carried out for us by MARTSU

while we paid our respects to Australiaand New Zealand. On return we dis-embarked again and found the thirdaircraft ready and waiting for us.

THE FLEET CHIEF PETTY OFFICERSOn 24 May 1971 the Fleet Chief PettyOfficers, long talked about under othernames, came into being. Aboard HMS

EAGLE there were twelve promoted atthat time and since then two othershave been promoted.

They occupied jobs within the shipfrom flying to eating and supplying tosteaming. The Captain approved thatthey should have their own mess andthe first and probably the only Presi-dent at that time of a Fleet Chiefs'Mess was FCMEM Lilley. When hewent on to his new appointment atLOCHINVAR, his position was taken overby FSCA Ellwood. On both occasionsthe Vice-President has been FCMEA(H)

In Hong Kong we were able to assistthe local inhabitants by lifting severalloads of playground equipment froman MFV to an inaccessible site on a hill-top, and we also joined in the farewellflypast for the departing Governor-General.

HusbandThe Fleet Chiefs have played impor-

tant roles in the various sections asManagers and Divisional Officers andthe Ship's Company are slowly begin-ning to appreciate their wide experiencein and out of their own departments.

Not only have they left their markupon the Ship's Company of HMS

EAGLE but upon the various ports thatthey have called in; in particular, Well-ington, where they were known as `TheDirty Dozen' (affectionately, of course).

All in all, it was a notable and enjoy-able commission for all of them andwill long be talked about in days tocome.

Fleet Chief Petty Officers and Senior Chief Petty Officers: CRS PARKER; Mr MUSK; CCY SLATTER;Mr FIELDING; Mr WILKINSON; Mr COLLINS; Mr ALFORD; Mr LOCKWOOD; SBM TOMLIN; Mr REDWOOD;Mr PEASEY; Mr ELLWOOD; Mr BIGGINS; Mr HUSBAND.

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THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT` The Emergency Ward 10 Of HMS EAGLE,

where steely-eyed teams of skilledMedical experts work long hours intothe night resuscitating the intrepidaviators and dissecting other unfor-tunates to remove their elusive appen-dices.' A description of the Sick Bay?Well, not quite, but we do have ourmoments, and HMS EAGLE's last com-mission has not been at all uneventful,medically.

The new Sick Bay team had mostlyjoined by May 1970 and smoothly tookover with capable guidance fromCPOMA `Wally' Soulsby. Surgeon LtGibson was still on board, and thePMO, Surgeon Cdr Adamson, was stillin overall charge as he completed hissecond year in EAGLE. The PMO in fact'signed on' for this commission andwill have served four years continuouslyin EAGLE by the time he leaves in 1972:such dedication.

Our Physiotherapist, MT2(P) Wood-mason, was `made up' about halfwaythrough the commission and, in con-trast to the last Physiotherapist, shavedhis beard off. He now looks about tenyears younger. Laboratory work hasbeen capably undertaken by MT4(L)Iorns, whose services were naturallyheavily in demand in the Far Eastflesh-pots. He also was made-up fromActing MT4 to MT4. The ward hasbeen run by MT3 Nickson, who joinedus originally as an MT4. He is ourState Registered Nurse.

The commission began inauspiciouslywith a six-month docking and main-tenance period in Devonport Dockyard.This produced the usual mess and upsetall departments, not least the MedicalDepartment. Whilst EAGLE was inDock, we were all accommodated inCENTAUR, and the new Sick Bay teamwas faced with the problem of runningtwo Sick Bays.

EAGLE's Sick Bay was also being re-furbished and looked like a disasterarea most of the time. In addition, thecockroaches were found in many partsof EAGLE, and there were outcries fromall over the ship. It was pointed outthat an old lady of EAGLE's vintage hadby this time built up a sizeable cock-roach population, which can never becompletely eradicated. The situationregrettably worsened in the Far East.There was at least a ready source ofsupply for Cockroach Races.

Dr Stronge had already gone off toHASLAR to get married (and to work,presumably) and the PMO found thingsbusy when Dr Gibson was called awayto HMS RALEIGH on two occasions for atotal of about six weeks. Surgeon Lt

Rendall, our new Anaesthetist, cun-ningly delayed his joining date untilSeptember and so missed the chaos.During the maintenance period, MAsWatt and Edwards and MT2(P) Wood-mason were married; nothing like theprospect of a few long weeks at sea toaccelerate the decision.

On 26 September 1970 EAGLE was atlast looking ship-shape and sailed o ntime. Everyone was glad to get to sea atlast, although we soon became familiarwith the appalling chaos caused byRAS (solids) every few days, with flourand peas floating around the maincorridor o f the Sick Bay in CourageNo 1 or Tiger Beer. These RASs wereoften enlivened by the Flight DeckParty `lubricating' the canvas chuteswith buckets of water, which added

nicely to the melee down below. TheShake Down Cruise gave everyone achance to really get to know the ship;find out the duties of a Flight DeckMA, and try to find space for theinnumerable Medical Stores.

The First Work-up was an instruc-tive time for all of us, and a casualtyfrom a ditched Sea Vixen provided uswith a genuine Medical case. He laterturned out to have a crushed vertebra(from ejecting), but fortunately made afull recovery. The first visit of thecommission - Southampton - was en-joyed by all, and relations were cordialwith RNH HASLAR. Parties of MAs andNurses came to visit the Ship from theMedical Training Division. The latterwere much appreciated by everyone.

Dr Rendall joined the bandwagonand got married during ChristmasLeave. MA(O) Neal and MA Edwards

left us in January 1971 and werereplaced by MA(O) Nelson and MAMcLaren.

January saw, at last, the start of ourMediterranean Cruise. We had onemore work-up to do before our Opera-tional Readiness Inspection. After thiswe were all allowed to relax and enjoyGibraltar, Villefranche and Malta.Malta was a busy time for the SickBay, and we were ably helped by theDavid Bruce Hospital (RNH M'TARFA).

Dr Rendall and Dr Gibson both wentto RAF LUQA to help with the extra workcaused by our squadrons, as did MAWatt. MA McLaren, MT2 Woodmasonand MT3 Nickson on the other handdecided to do their Commando bit atGhain Tuffieha camp and seemed tosurvive. During the Mediterranean

Medical Department:

* MA Mac McLAREN; MA Alan WATT; MA Colin WASLEY; MA GeorgeBRADLEY; MT4(L) Bob IORNS; MA(O) Tony NELSON; MA Danny Ross. ** A/POMA John HAMLIN;MT2(P) Geoff WOODMASON; Surg Lt C. M. S. RENDALL; SUrg Cdr R. J. W. ADAMSON (PMO); SUrg LtD. W. R. GIBSON; FCMA Peter PEASEY; MT3 Nick NICKSON.

Cruise we inoculated the wholeShip's Company against Cholera forwhat amounted to be a false alarm.This disease was apparently raging inall areas east of Gibraltar, but a weeklater was not! However, once started,we decided to carry on with the six-monthly booster jabs as they would beneeded later in the commission anyway.The PMO celebrated the fiftieth appen-dicectomy he personally has performedat sea, just before Malta. The rest of theShip's Company buckled their trouserstighter and steered clear of the Sick Bayfor a while.

Easter at Devonport saw mountainsof dressings and drugs littering everyconceivable space in preparation for ourFar East trip. They were eventuallydisposed of one way or another. ChiefWally Soulsby left the ship in May andwas appointed to RNH GIBRALTAR in

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June as a Fleet Chief MA. Chief PeterPeasey arrived in May to replace thebold Wally and was rapidly elevated toFleet Chief MA on 24 May, two daysprior to the Ship sailing to the mys-terious Orient.

During the trip, various members ofthe Sick Bay Staff were summoned toKing Neptune's Court as we crossedthe line, including the PMO completewith his lovely blond wig, and JMAStatham, fresh out from HASLAR, andthen the youngest member of the Ship'sCompany. We arrived at Cape Townand our first night in Port as far as theSick Bay was concerned could be aptlychristened the `Battle of Capetown'Make and Mends were well deservedthe next day.

The PMO had `contacts' in CapeTown, and several Senior Consultantsfrom the Groote Schuur Hospitalvisited the ship, including ProfessorJannie Louw. MAs Nelson and Wattwent up to the hospital to witness openheart surgery: a fascinating day forthem.

Singapore was remarkable, from amedical viewpoint, for the incrediblenumber of ear infections: the dreaded` Singapore Ear'. On the worst days upto fifty people a day were having ear-drops put in four times a day.

The Antipodean leg of the commis-sion proved interesting to all, and thehospitality was particularly good inWellington. Also in Wellington, BruceMills, a young Maori boy who wasparalysed from a spinal tumour, visitedus and enjoyed being shown around theShip. Afterwards he was fed with hugehelpings of ice cream and fruit in theSick Bay by MA(O) Nelson. In Fre-mantle, MT3 Nickson was given thetask of organising the final Ship'sCompany Dance, which was held in thePagoda Ballroom. He made a greatsuccess of this and it certainly set thevisit off with a swing.

The Australasian trip was marred bythe LOX Plant fire, when the two badlyburned men came under our careinitially. It made us all realise thateveryone was needed for the intensivecare of just two casualties. We werethankful that there were no more. TheLox fire also burnt out both DentalSurgeries and the Dentists were loanedour Emergency Operating Theatre.Later, the forward Dental Surgery wasre-equipped for the Dentists, and theafter one was then used to house themedical stores previously stored in theEmergency Operating Theatre .

After our final Far East visit, thistime to Hong Kong, the Sick Baylooked like a departmental store withcamphor wood chests, tables and

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bicycles stowed in every nook andcranny. Nightly games of Mah-jonggmade the Sick Bay sound like a Chinesesuburban flat with the rattle of thetiles. After Hong Kong we were slowlyhomeward bound, but with much sea-time to go first. MA Watt had to be leftashore at Hong Kong with severe con-junctivitis and did not rejoin us for aconsiderable time.

During the commission we had visitsfrom: Surgeon Lt-Cdr Martin, RNR

(a gynaecologist!); Surgeon Lt Fraser,RNR; Surgeon Lt Clarke, RNR; and,last but not least, Surgeon Lt-CdrFrank Golden, RN, an Aviation Medi-cine Specialist, and an Irishman, whoproved very interesting with an inex-haustible fund of flying and non-flyinganecdotes.

Statistics? - Well, just a few takenover a fairly representative six months

of the commission from May to October1971. During that time we got through20,000 Penicillin tablets; 40,000Aspirinand Codeine tablets; 8,000 Cholerainjections; 30,000 gauze swabs; and50 gallons of rot-gut mixture. In addi-tion, four people had appendices re-moved and seven circumcisions weredone. The total number of appendi-cectomies since DED at the time ofgoing to press was seventeen.

Finally, although we would hate any-one to think that we cannot deal withany medical situation, we have leftpatients in Lossiemouth; Gibraltar;Malta; Ascension Island; Cape Town;Singapore; Sydney; Wellington; Fre-mantle; Hong Kong; Penang; Gan;Masirah; Mombasa; Durban and, ofcourse, Plymouth and Portsmouth. Welike to do the best thing for our patients.

REFLECTIONS IN A DENTAL MIRRORThere are 75,000 teeth carried inHMS EAGLE, give or take a few: wehave done both. The mammoth taskof making the ship's company dentallyfit was started in Devonport on boardHMS CENTAUR during the DED. Treat-ment was carried out in rather crampedand archaic conditions by SurgeonCommander Gregory, assisted by PettyOfficer Marshall and Leading MedicalAssistant Matthews. The return to`alma mater' at the end of July was awelcome event.

The dental team was completed bythe arrival of Surgeon LieutenantHargreaves shortly before the shipsailed for sea trials. The new manmoved straight into a newly furnished,well-lit surgery: the dental departmentwas now fully operational. With the

Dental Department: * MA D. HUGHES;POMA G. MARSHALL. ** Surg Cdr (D) W. J.GREGORY; Surg Lt (D) J. HARGRAVES.

embarkation of the squadrons the taskbecame even more formidable, butafter three months in the Mediter-ranean great progress had been made.

During the passage to the Far East,Lt Hargreaves was detached, with aportable unit, to HMS GLAMORGAN toattend to the dental health of 550 moremen.

Shortly after sailing from Singaporethe disastrous fire occurred in the Lox

plant immediately below one dentalsurgery, which was completely gutted.The other was badly damaged, and atemporary dental surgery was openedin the Emergency Operating Theatre.The portable unit was flown back fromGLAMORGAN, and further stores wereborrowed from the Royal AustralianNavy on arrival in Sydney. After muchhard work by the Shipwright and Elec-trical Departments, one of the surgerieswas reopened early in September. TheDental Department was once againfiring on all cylinders.

Since the DED, treatment carried outincludes over 4,000 fillings; 250 extrac-tions; 550 scale and polishes; 200 newdentures and over 40 dentures repaired.There have even been three pairs ofspectacles mended. Over 5,000 an-guished visitors have been treated: afew only came to see the pin-ups on thedeckhead; one admitted coming onlyto see the model railway.

LMA Matthews left the ship inAustralia and was replaced by MedicalAssistant Hughes. Petty Officer Mar-shall, and the ship, was honoured when,on 14 August, 1971, he was presentedwith the Sick Bay Petty Officers'Efficiency Medal.

THE WEAPON SUPPLY PARTY - GREETHAM ' S GORILLASWhat is the Weapon Supply Party ?The snappy catch answer would be toask the Weapon Supply Officer - butit's the Weapon Supply Officer askingthe question! After five confusedmonths on board I still have not readone of these magazines that go therounds everyday. So far I've gatheredthat WSO II rides bicycles when notcounting fuzes; Chief Arnott flogscrests, probably stolen from the ship'sboats; Chief Ashby - he's a bar mana-ger or something; PO Lloyd sits andgrowls at WSO II, muttering 'redun-dant' to himself; POs Brown andSavage (a right name for a gorilla) dowatch and watch about sunbathing onthe roof. Then there are the twomysterious Americans who marchround the ship - GIs they call them -what they have to do with weaponsupply is anyone's guess. I think theyflog crested paper, or something!

The rest 0f the party spend all daytransporting 2 x 1,000-lb bombs; 2 x500-lb bombs, and 2 Lepus up anddown Nos 1, 2 and 3 bomb lifts. Theytell me they do this for two reasons.One is to make the command thinkthere are lots of these down below; theother is that it disturbs the ACRO, whoobjects to holes in his playground. Iknow there's no bombs down below.For one thing, no one would allow theWSP to play with live explosives, andthe other is that K section is an illicitstill and T section a motor-cycle garage.

As for supplying Weapons - that's alaugh. The 4.5 guns have a taperecorder in the barrels that makes bangsounds (or is it G3 quoting the gunnerymanual in his dulcet tones?) and thesmoke is really the exhaust from thatgarage in T section. As for supplyingAir Weapons - well, they put G2 0n

Midshipmen ( December 1971): * R. P. HODGSON;R. S. KENNAN; R. M. L. BURROWS. ** V. S.JAMES; W. J. KNIGHT; J. P. MILTON-THOMPSON(Senior Mid); S. C. MARTIN. Absent: R. S.CRIGHTON; N. P. GARWOOD; C. J. BROWN.

Weapon Supply Party: * AB Bwyan RODGERS; LAM(O) Legs ORDERS; NAM(O) Holly HOLLINGS-WORTH; NAM(O) Mick WELHAM; AB YOrky BRAMMER; OEM(A) Chris BLOWERS; LAM(O) Olly OLIVER;LAM(O) `5T3' BLAKEMORE; LAM(O) Steve HEMMING; LAM(O) Steve STEVENSON. ** OS John HEELEY;AB Nick NICHOLAS; AB Fess PARKER; AB Father O'KELL; AB Ted THAXTER; AB Jim HATTON; AB ChrisPEARSON; AB Phill FLAKE; AB Spider KELLY' AB D. D. JONES. *** OEM(A) Fanta SCOTT; NAM(O)Danny KNOWLES; LAM(O) Fred FURNESS; NAM(O) Stu STAPLEFORD; OEM(A) Paddy WALKER; LAM(O)Bungy WILLIAMS; NAM(O) Wraz WRAZEN; LAM(O) Annie OAKLEY; NAM(O) Sleepy GLEESON; LAM(O)Brum DAVIES. **** LS Scouse LONDON; POAM Derek SAVAGE; CPO Norman ARNOTT; Lt C. S. C.MORGAN (G2); Lt-Cdr F. O. PIKE (GO); Lt E. W. GREETHAM (WSO); S/Lt J. A. NUNDY ( WS02);POOEL Mick LLOYD; POOEL Bomber BROwN. ***** 1,000-lb Bomb, No. 742.

top 0f FLYCO with a pair 0f binocularsand told him if he looks long enoughhe'll see the nudes of Cote d'Azur. Hethinks we are in the Med (mind you,with WSO II watchkeeping, we couldbe off the South 0f France!). Heshouts peculiar numbers into a micro-phone: I think it is to the tick-tackmen in yellow coats on the flight deck.

In harbour the WSP drive the cranes;for this they take their percentage ofall stores loaded onto the ship: it'squite a big cut as they have to keepBig G happy. They seem to know whenhe's happy: he wanders round the shiploaded with paper saying `Fantastic' toeveryone.

During my five months on board,theWSP achieved a record: 1,000-lbbomb No 742 had its 5,000th trip upto the flight deck. They held a specialceremony for this and gave the LiftGod a human sacrifice. They threw medown the lift! At least, I did give theWSP one thing. My name. No I didn't.They even stole that. Nothing is sacredto these gorillas.

The WSP have worked out to a finedetail the de-ammo at Porstmouth.They are off loading their six `weapons'on the port side, quickly taking thelighters to the starboard side, bringingthem back onboard and repeating thewhole operation for two and a halfweeks. They won't even be there to doit: they'll have the rest of the ship'scompany doing it. If they don't let meout of this padded cell on 25 FebruaryI can see de-ammoing of EAGLE takingyears! It will not worry theWSP. Theywill either be working rackets on other

ships or will be outside (inside if I canprove certain things).

The question, `What is the WeaponSupply Party' still remains a mysteryto me, but I'll stay quiet as long as theyvisit me every day.

LAUNDRY CREWA few words from the Laundry Crew, writtenshortly before the ship reached Hong Kong.

We, laundry crew, every day workfrom 7 am in the morning till 10 pmin the night. That's up to how manylaundry is handed in. Of course somedays we finish the work in midnight,especially on Mondays, Tuesdays andWednesdays.

Twenty-three persons form the crew.The oldest of us is Mr Keung, theNumber One Boy. He is sixty. Theyoungest one only twenty-two. Ofcourse our hobbies are different fromeach other, but usually we like to play` Mah-Chung' a Chinese game whichtakes four persons to play. We likedrink tea, coffee and beer 0f course,but we don't like steak and chips so wehave our own cook to cook our ownfood every day.

We are all come from Hong Kong,and we are now looking forward to goingback to Hong Kong for some of us notsee their family more than three years.

We receive six to seven hundredbundles of laundry every day, notincluding the officers'. There must besome mistake between us, so we hopethe Ship's Company will excuse us,and we always try to do our best.Thanks very much.

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MET OFFICEProviding weather all day long to suitall tastes is more in the Padre's line ofwork, but unfortunately the Met Officeis expected not only to do this but alsoto write forecasts and get them right.We could tell you how we have never(well, hardly ever) written a duff fore-cast, but no one would believe us.However, we do handle more signalsthan the Communications Centre, andhave not yet failed to provide sufficientlygood weather to enable the ship toenter harbour on the right day. Wenever close, like the bars in Wanchai,where sometimes the overnight charthas been drawn up.

Ours is a small office with two fore-casters: the Senior Forecaster (or DuffGen Leader, as the aircrew call him),and Forecaster (Duff Gen 2), PettyOfficer plus five. We make up for whatwe lack in numbers by technicalexpertise and sheer efficiency. Theefficiency and speed of response when`Secure from flying stations' is pipedis almost unbelievable. The technicalexpertise is provided by the SeniorInstructor Officer, Commander Dacam,who also subsidises his runs ashore fromthe wardroom accounts.

Lt-Cdr MacDonald, or `D.D.' to hisfriends, took the ship to sea, but soonwore out under the strain of his beard'seffect on the Captain, and his habit ofhaving a cigar at breakfast. Leaving inSingapore, along with NA Plackett, theonly baldheaded teenager on board, hewas replaced by Lt-Cdr Sidford, whoonly appears to be here for the beerand is seen wandering vaguely aroundthe ship modelling the latest in maxi-shorts. Lt Sullivan, as Met 3, developed

The Met Office and Education Department show their teeth: * Instr Lt BINKS; NA GOALBY;LA HALES; PO KNIGHT; LA SQUIBB; NA HARDYMAN; NA BURGESS; Instr Lt HARRISON. ** Instr Lt-CdrSIDFORD; Instr Cdr DAGAM; Instr Lt SULLIVAN.

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an insatiable appetite for (among otherthings) coffee, and spent half a fortuneon Hi Fi, but can't remember, or won'ttell, where the other half went.

PO Knight, that ace diver of thecrew, also runs the office coffee boatwith such efficiency that it subsidisedan office movie run in Singapore: butthat's another story. Suffice it to saythat no one was actually caught by thepolice. Also a diver, LA Burgess isreported to have spent a fortune insticky greens in the Wanchai, and histattoos have to be seen to be believed(once is enough, though). NA Hardy-man, a quiet, well-liked lad, but for thedemon drink, did his thing in the RoyalGuard at Singapore and is spreadingthe rumour that he was asked to repeatthe performance outside BuckinghamPalace in time for Christmas. Also keenon sport, LA Hales regularly plays for

EDUCATION

the Ship's 2nd XV and is also a keensupporter of the Bugis Street team.LA Squibb has more than a lingeringmemory of Capetown and Fremantle,and NA Goalby referees FA matches(for a consideration) in spite of hiswooden leg.

Men always find it more difficult tostudy than they think: filling in anapplication form for a correspondencecourse does not get the work done;enrolling for maths classes does notproduce an `O' level certificate bymagic within a month or two. As thehundreds who have tried it couldtestify - it's a long slog that requiresquite a sacrifice of time.

The early DED days were especiallydifficult since students had to trekacross from work of one kind in EAGLE

to their studies in CENTAUR. The school-room in CENTAUR was ideally situated,just aft of midships on the most fre-quently used deck. In EAGLE, the firstlesson any new pupil has is that offinding 7E1. ` You know the canteenflat?' - Always a good teaching pointto work from the known to the un-known - 'Just forrard of there is thebakehouse, and opposite is a ladder.Go down two ladders and turn right inthe messdeck and down another one.It looks like a laundry down there butturn right and you'll find it.' Withroom for about twenty, seated, at apinch, the ventilation was never reallyadequate. The fog clouds of tobaccosmoke rolled in as the topic of the daydeveloped, be it long division withdecimals; quadratic equations; thedesign of the vacuum flask; or theadventures of Drake. Small classeswere always a blessing to take.

Education - continuedThe regular round of the Naval

Maths and English Test every fourmonths, and of the GCE Ordinary Levelsevery five or seven, made routine land-marks for the staff: for the pupils theseevents invariably arrived too quickly.Instructor Lieutenant Harrison, theEducation Officer, has been on boardfor over three years now and hasbattled with countless NAMET candi-dates, who are often reluctant to cometo school - the prospects of cash andpromotion never seemed as motivatingas the metaphorical boot of the divi-sional officer.

At the time of deployment to theFar East, the main problem was that ofkeeping the Maths `O' level class to amanageable size. There were days when,in two sessions, sixty men weresqueezed into the narrow box pastwhich the bow wave could usually beheard sloshing. `Come early and get aseat,' was the cry, and the keener oneswere doing just that, arriving early instandeasy to get a seat in the front rowstalls. (Of the original sixty, about twen-ty fell by the wayside, another scoredecided to wait awhile before takingthe exam and, of those remaining, nine-teen passed.)

With eight months away from home,and much of that at sea, classes werefairly popular. Not only did InstructorCommander Dacam and InstructorLieutenant Sullivan make the time toteach, along with their meteorologicaland other duties, but we were able toemploy Instructor Lieutenant Braleyfor the first few months. Spared fromthe wilds of CALEDONIA for a short timeonly, he took his leave in Wellington,

Royal Marines Band: * Musn Nobby CLARKE; Musn Dicky VALENTINE; Musn Bert PARTON; MusnSmiler RUMMING; Musn Andy MYTUM; Musn Max HILL; MUsn Oscar PETERSON; MUsn Ray SMITHSON;Musn Harry MARTINSON. ** MUsn Alan UPTON; Musn Mick MURRAY; Musn Gazz DAVIES; MusnPete KING; Musn Geoff McGARR; Musn Pete SCOTT; Musn Taff JONES; Musn Tug WILSON. *** BugAlan BROOKER; B/Cpl Jim MCMEEL; S/Bd/Mr Jack TOMLIN; Captain I. G. W. ROBERTSON; Lt C. E. G.BONNER; B/Sgt Wally WALTON; B/Cpl Dave FILLINGHAM. **** Bug Plum PLUMMER; Bug Jan BETTINSON.

to to replaced by Instructor LieutenantBinks, who managed to take timeenough off from drumming-up en-thusiasm amongst his NAMET candidatesto find out all about the computers onboard - his next appointment is todevelop them for future ships. Forthose who have been able to make theeffort and sustain it, the reward ofobtaining an `O' level or two, or thedesired grade in NAMET, has been worthwhile. Maybe it has meant writingfewer letters, or playing less cribbage.

If the appeal to study has not beenthere in every case, the need to thinkto the future has meant that severalhundreds of men have sought resettle-ment advice, especially with the re-dundancies declared in the Fleet AirArm. Men have shown interest ineverything from lighthouse keepingand applications for Government Train-ing in sheet metal work to physio-therapy in New Zealand. And thepotential emigrants have had a goodchance to job-hunt round the world.

Royal Marines Beat Retreat on Ascension Island

THE ROYAL MARINES BANDSince the Band embarked on 1 Septem-ber, 1970, we have given you musicalentertainment whenever possible. Wehave done this with one or other of ourseveral variants - the 16-piece DanceBand; the 7-piece Dance Band; theMilitary Programme Band and, of

course, the now very popular 'Straw-berry Jam Factory'.

We have provided a Band Display forOfficial Cocktail Parties in every port ofcall, and we also visited AscensionIsland to Beat Retreat. In Wellington,we went to Wanganui where we BeatRetreat and also gave a Military Bandand Dance Band Concert in aid of theCommonwealth Games Appeal Fund.At the Governor's Farewell Celebra-tions in Hong Kong we took part in amassed band display with bands fromthe Hong Kong Police, Gurkhas andRoyal Welch Fusiliers.

Many of you are probably unawarethat we also have an Orchestra whichusually provides music for WardroomDinners. While in Singapore we wererequired to play for a Farewell Dinnergiven by The Commander, Far EastFleet.

It has also been our pleasure toprovide music at Ship's CompanyConcerts, Ship's Dances, SundayChurch Services on the Quarterdeckand the Concerts in the Junior Rates'Dining Hall. Seen, but not alwaysheard, we have also played a few tuneson the flight deck during RAS(S).

At Action or Emergency Stations ithas been our job to man the First AidPosts and provide Gunnery Recorders.

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REVUES, PANTOMIMES AND ALL THATIn March 1971, ashore at Malta, theEAGLE PLAYERS were busy putting thefinal touches to what turned out to be avery professional performance. `Pano-mania' was the name for the revue inwhich all the ships of the Western Fleetcurrently in Malta took part. EAGLE's

contribution was a fast-flowing forty-five minutes' worth of thrills, spills andfun all neatly woven together into non-stop entertainment by the producer,Lieutenant Peter Turner. The two-actrevue was given a necessary touch offeminine charm by Pan's People of theBBC, flown out for the occasion. Theprogramme announced that it was aguide as to what might happen, but ithappened as planned and was a greatsuccess, thanks to the talents of thedirector of the whole show, Lt-CdrPeter Nightingale of the FOFWF staff.EAGLE's contribution was aptly de-scribed by the Captain when he said,`I was very impressed with the extreme-ly high standard of EAGLE's contribu-tion to Panomania. It would have beena frail show without the Big E. Welldone, everyone.'

In July, `Vote for Crun', a musical com-edy, gave another demonstration ofEAGLE talent in the Sultan Theatre inSingapore. It ran for three nights, butwas poorly attended: those who saw itwere most impressed, but the Playersenjoyed it, and that was the main thing.Written by Tom Taylor and PaulHaines, it was a lively, very entertainingshow combining a selection of well-known tunes with well-chosen skits onthe words. Tom Taylor, who playedthe lead part, also directed the 'song-sters', and the overall production andthe acting out of the plot were underthe direction of Peter Turner. It was awell-polished and slick show, and theexpert playing of the Royal MarinesBand was a main contribution to it.

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Sounds Fayre at Malta

On 23 and 24 November, whilst atsea, an EAGLE REVUE was put on. `Theevening's entertainment was as freshand sparkling as any bunch of amateurscould concoct on a village hall stage: todo so well in a desolate hangar on afloating airfield-cum-factory does greatcredit to all concerned.'

-EAGLE EXPRESS.

`The show was put on stage, and tosay it was "good" would be a grossunderstatement.'

-EAGLE EXPRESS.The Ds, 800 squadron, and the

artists who had been steadily makingthemselves well known and popularthrough the weekly informal 'Sing-alongs', put together a splendid even-ing's entertainment. The Ship's groupsby that time had settled down well:the jam Factory; Sounds Fayre; theYellow Boot; the `B' Unit Choir; eachperformed its own type of specialitywell. There was individual talent in

abundance, too: James Bond; RickyDennis; Nelson and Hardy. And theaudience was not left out, and theyjoined in heartily with the choruses.

The Christmas pantomime, CINDER-

ELLA, was written and produced byJohn Laurijsson. It was to have beenheld in Mombasa, again with the helpof Pan's people. Instead, it was per-formed in the Upperanger Theatre.Busty Den Wright and miniskirtedClive Cheney as the ugly sisters (howugly can you get ?), and Chris Master-man as Cinderella, were helped out bysome other gorgeous females. Manypeople were surprised at the effect thata wig, a couple of old socks, a yard ortwo of pusser's bunting and six weeksout of sight of land could have! Thebirds were stunning. The rest of theshow went off very well, too, with all theusuals and several other excellent sub-sidiary acts as well. Buttons (MalcolmFuller) looked remarkably like a golli-wog, and Brian Taylor, as PrinceCharming, brought the house downwith his mime to the strains of `SomeEnchanted Evening'. The plot workedout its inevitable spell only too quickly,and the size twelve steaming boot wasduly fitted (with the help of Dandini,Colin Bonner), leading up to the finalchorus, superbly led by Mick Ficklingand Bungy Edwards. The backstageteam, under the charge of John Nundyand Trevor Ling, worked as hard asever - and thanks went out, as always,to the nameless, faceless multitude whodo the chores . . . shipwrights, elec-tricians, AED workshops, hangar con-trol, sailmaker, and so on. It was asplendid final evening's entertainmentfrom the EAGLE PLAYERS who haveserved the Ship so well during thecommission.

Line-up at the panto

If there is one man who is delighted that the Commission is overit is the Editor of the EE. His duties embraced just about every-thing short of editing: Censor, ghost writer, cajoler, persuader,recipient of many broken promises - yes, even troublemaker attimes (as when we printed RAS times half an hour later than theyshould have been!) -all those odd jobs have now, with thelast-ever issue, been laid to rest. No one will miss the paper -for it was only ever published to cover those times when therewere few other substitutes.

After the DED, as the new Editor tookover, things were a bit of a struggle fora while. Tugg had `made' the previouseditions with his prodigious output(now he can be seen by all in the DailyPapers). Without the assistance of theCBGLO section, who had previously runthe paper entirely, things were verymuch a one-man band for a while.Wag and Doodle made those earlyissues well worth while with theirexcellent cartoons. The Welfare Com-mittee were then approached andagreed to pay a wage to helpers whogave up time regularly to do chores.The `style' of the paper was changed:a new heading, in the same style type-face later adopted by the Daily Mirror,was made up; a new shape of page(even though it meant a special deliveryof a lorry-load of paper rushed downfrom the makers and delivered the daybefore we sailed); special supplementswere prepared prior to every foreignvisit; a weekly version was produced,pruned of all double entendre and suit-able for sending home if you wanted to;a Families' version was produced, too,and mailed home automatically to thosewho subscribed the cost of the postage.

Assembling the `FAMILIES'

TOO BLUESometimes there were complaints aboutthe articles that never quite made it:` Well, I'll never do another one foryou.' The criterion for what was overthe mark was the letter from an Aus-tralian farmer replying to a final taxdemand. It was over the mark andnever got published. It contained justabout every swear-word known to Jack- anything less potent usually got intothe paper. The Editor still has a file ofmaterial that is regarded as being `tooblue'. If he can get it past the Customs,he'll be offering it to Lord Longford.

MERCENARIES

Wes Wescott, Bungy Edwards andDave Manley have typed regularly.Chats Chater has printed, helped outby Barny Bush. Cliff Mills and BungyWilliams have managed the small anddevoted team of staplers. As long as thecash was there, so were the helpers.They were a dedicated band of mer-cenaries. The object of their dedicationmay have been in doubt at times, butwithout it there would have been nopaper. Nor would there have been sucha good one without the efforts of theEditor, Instructor Lieutenant `Berny'Harrison, and, of course, the manyauthors and contributors, both knownand unknown, famous and infamous,on the ship and off it, whose work wasplagiarised, hacked, or stolen but aboveall very much appreciated by everyoneboth on board and in the many ships incompany.

The printer and his machine

To the best of our recollection,no one ever complained thatthey had read the stuff they sawin the EE before in the `Reader'sDigest', `Week End', `Reveille',`Tit Bits', `Playboy', `Who'sWho', `Mayfair', etc.; but therewere complaints when we re-printed articles that had beenpreviously run in the EE - evenif they had been used more thana year ago. From these facts weconclude that there are somepeople on board who not onlyread the EE and digested it all -they read nothing else either!

The last staple is driven home

FAR-SIGHTED

The ship has nearly always had apaper of some kind. EAGLE EYEdeveloped into EAGLE EXPRESS,but there was never anything par-ticularly farsighted or speedy aboutthe paper. 'Yesterday's news to-morrow' was the motto, and theEE never pretended to be a news-paper. It set out to entertain. Itsucceeded, as these press cuttingsshow ...

'Brilliant, scintillatingly funny . . .'- EAGLE EXPRESS

'Jokes getting a bit near the border-line again . . .'

- BRIDGE WEEKLY

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Radio 4XO Disc Jockeys : " Dave Gerry (Manager); Chris CAVANAGH; Tams CLARK; Dave (Waz)LOVICK; Ken Ross; Dickic DALE; Taff EVANS; Tony FRANCIS; Tex SOMERVILLE; Ivan HILL; DickSTEPHENSON (in charge);. * * Dave BULMER; Chris SYMES; Dave DONATI; Jack DAVISON; Ken MOULTON.

CHILDREN'S PARTIESMention the awe-inspiring words,` Children's Party', to any EAGLE sailorand you will have a cringing, whining,blubbering heap who would rather gothrough shot, shell and Jutland overagain `free' if he could persuade hisdepartmental regulator not to volunteerhim as a pirate.

But Jutland, the King's Cross patrol,grippos and even duty watches have alltaken second place to pirate's duty atsome time or other. No sooner has thecry of `Not me again, Chief' echoedthrough the ship than Jack has brokenout his No I pirate dress and is readyto put on a brave face and entertain.

We have thrown seven children'sparties in places as far apart as South-ampton, Villefranche, Malta, Sydney,Wellington, Perth and Durban. Some1,200 under-privileged children havevisited the ship.

On a typical fateful day the piratesmuster. At 1400, dead on the knocker,along the jetty comes this horde oflaughing, screaming, piccaninnies, in-fants, bairns, juveniles, and children -invariably led by a nun. They descendinto the bowels of the ship and are sub-jected to all the develish means ofpiratical torture that could be devised:swings and roundabouts; tea andstickies; Tom and Jetties; rides on` Jack the Flight Deck Railway' and the` Buccaneer Bomber'. Alas, after threehours they depart: some missing,believed lost, but all happy and con-tented. They all say, every time, `Thankyou very much HMS EAGLE'.

RADIO 4XONamed such because it is midships inX section on four deck, the Ship's radiostation is one of the major sources ofentertainment on board. From `Call theHands' to `Pipe Down' the Ship'sRelay Equipment, or SRE, channels tworadio stations or taped music to all themessdecks. During lunch hours andevenings at sea, Channel B is given overto locally found talent in one form oranother: a happy band of amateur discjockeys and announcers put out a widevariety of programmes from pop toprogressive, classics to jazz, folk toMotown and also the comedy pro-grammes from the BBC and those pro-duced locally on board.

Over the past year the standard ofprogrammes has become quite pro-fessional. In the early days hardly any-one had any broadcasting experience,and the thought of an unseen audienceof two thousand-odd was a bit daunting.This has been overcome to such anextent that some of the staff broadcastover the air in New Zealand, puttingout a two-hour record show on RADIO

2ZB. The staff has always been on thelookout for something different - fromtaping cabaret shows ashore to inter-viewing people like Russ Conway orasking for programmes from local radiostations that were visited.

One of the most popular programmeswas `Requests from Home', made onlypossible by the wonderful support

from those at home. Despite all sorts oflocal problems on board - at speed thevibration of the ship is sufficient tothrow off the record stylus - we havemanaged to keep some of the Ship'sCompany happy some of the time, butnot, unfortunately, all of them all thetime - but that's show business!

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EAGLE BRASSWhilst in the Mediterranean we decidedto form a volunteer brass band, and anotice to this effect was promulgated.Thirty-one musicians of varying skillresponded, and our problem - that ofgetting instruments and music - wastackled during the forthcoming leaveperiod. With assistance from the Wel-fare Fund and from the Royal MarinesSchool of Music, sufficient brasswareand music was assembled by the timewe sailed in May to let the playingcommence.

During the time the ship has been inthe Far East a very high standard hasbeen attained. A lot of this is due to thepatience, encouragement and keennessshown by our conductor, Band CorporalDave Fillingham, LTCM, Royal Marines.A more enthusiastic and tireless manwould be hard to find. His resources

EAGLE KINEMAUnder the guidance of Surgeon LtGibson and the management of ChiefControl Electrician Cork, the cinemastaff have been responsible for selecting(when that is possible) from the RoyalNavy Film Corporation libraries ashore;exchanging films with other ships;storing films and equipment in safecustody; coping with the paper-workinvolved and, finally, they have triedto keep the selection of films fair andvaried to provide all-round entertain-ment.

During the long cruise at the end ofthe commission, the various operatorsbetween them showed 136 differentfilms in about eleven showings. This isestimated to be about 130,000 minutes,and works out to an average of 240hours for each of the operators.OEMECH2 Smith, as the cinemamaintainer, has done a very good jobcoping with the well-worn projectorsand with the difficulty of obtainingspare parts for them.

The photograph on the left is taken from oneof the prizewinning entries in the Ship'sPhotographic Competition. All the otherphotographs in the book have been takenby the ratings of the Ship's Photographic

Section

THRASHThe Organisation for Thoroughly HappyRuns ASHore was born on 5 June,shortly after deploying for the FarEast. The motive was to give us a goodtime in foreign ports of call and to makesure that all invitations received by theship were accepted. An office was builtin the starboard pocket of the juniorRates' Dining Hall and large notice-boards displayed the forthcoming attrac-tions. Our army representatives onboard, 63 Carrier Borne Ground LiaisonSection, ran THRASH whilst at sea. Inharbour, an officer, senior rate andjunior rate manned the office continu-ously from 0800 to 2000 daily. Asimilar party manned a shore liaisonoffice in each port.

The organisation operated in Cape-town; Sydney; Wellington; Fremantle;and Durban; and collected names and,when necessary, money for privateinvitations; visits to breweries; ServiceOrganisations; bus tours to places oflocal interest; ship's dances, etc.; 5,385` grippos' and 1,138 bus tour seats werearranged, and the organisation has beenan undoubted success: many ratingshave testified to this by personal com-ment, or letters to the ship's news-paper.

The PMO conducts

were particularly essential in those early,less tuneful, days (especially when weremember the difficulty we had of find-ing a space far enough away fromanyone in which to practice).

All along we have enjoyed the dailypractices and occasional Saturday NightSingalong performances. They, too,lacked polish at first, and we fitted intothe programmes well, always receivinga welcome from the Saturday Nighters.We have presented music rangingthrough Elgar from Tchaikovsky toRichard Rodgers, and our major concertgiven on the quarterdeck for the ward-room and in the Junior Rates' DiningHall was enthusiastically received. Allconcerned were pleased, some evensurprised, at the high standards reached.Most of the individuals have improvedtheir own skills and, as a result, bandsaround the fleet will be enjoying theservices of some quite `professional'amateurs.

Cinema Group: *OEM1 Tony LOCKE; LOEM Fred BRISTOW; POREL Graham HINTON; LOEMDutchy HOLLAND; CEM1 Taff WELBOURNE. ** POREL Cuddles BATES; OEMN1 Smudge SMITH;Surg Lt GIBSON; CCEL Brian CORK; OEA1 Tony POLMEAR; POREL Lew BARRY.

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The Professionals:

* AB WALL; LS MELVIN;PO ELLIS.

** CPO BROWN; Lt VARNS; POSPLAIN .

SPORTS SECTIONForeword by the

Physical Training Staff

Firstly, the PT Staff would like tothank the many sports secretaries,officials and helpers who contributedmany hours of their time in assistingthe sports organisation: without theirenthusiasm the variety of teams fieldedwould never have been possible.

In general, just about every sport oractivity was provided for during thecommission. In particular, during visitsto ports, teams were well catered for inboth the social and sporting aspects. Asa result, players met many friendly andinteresting people. Perhaps for thosefortunate enough to pay a return visitto some of our ports of call, they will beable to renew friendships that weremade during this commission.

Pitches were not always available inthe abundance required during visits,but this was mainly due to them beingout of season on our arrival, or theresimply were not enough facilities. How-ever, some clubs were only too pleasedto offer their grounds and put on afixture for us. For those who canremember, over 110 soccer allocationsor matches were played during theship's maintenance period at Malta.

It is regretted that the flight deckwas not available as often as we mayhave wished during our sea periods.Sea competitions were very limited,and only three of the activities arrangedcame to any satisfactory conclusion.The most recent was the `PottedSports': perhaps it was the mostsuccessful.

For both the enthusiasts and new-comers, circuit training and keep-fitclasses took place each evening at sea.(It's amazing the corners and apparatusthat `Jolly Jack' will find to keep him-self active.) Judo, Karate and Fencingenthusiasts managed some periods each

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week to keep themselves interested andin trim. On average, fifty of the ship'scompany took part in the `sweat box' onthe cable deck nightly, and there werethirty or so officers on the Quarterdeckevery evening.

The `Tourist and Information Bur-eau' (PT Office) dealt with numerousquestions and queries concerning train-ing and weight-reducing techniques.We were, however, very surprised thatit was mostly the usual sportsmen whowere keen to take part and inquire aboutsuch things. Most youngsters seemedto be content with their run ashoreand do not realise the importance ofkeeping fit or playing games. We canonly hope that gradually they willrealise that they are `growing old' tooquickly, and will revert to a healthierexistence.

It was not until later in the com-mission that the ship's company realisedthe thrills and excitement of EXPEDDING.

At one period the equipment in thestore was thought to be `going off', untilgradually the buzz got around thatexpedding is really the thing. As timewent by, more and more faces appearedat the PT Office disappointed to findthat at last it had caught on and all thegear had been allocated.

Inter-departmental competitions real-ly started, on our first visit to Singapore,with a mini-Olympiad. This coveredswimming; volley ball; cricket; soccer;rugby; hockey, and running. I'm afraidthe new arrivals to the climatic con-ditions with their interest in acquaintingthemselves with the Orient, made thiscompetition one for the survival of thefittest. Taking over a week to complete,it was finally concluded under flood-lights in HMS TERROR with six-a-sidesoccer; seven-a-side rugby and a one-mile race. The Seamen Department

were overall winners of the competi-tion. Even though they lost the soccerfinal, they were represented in the othertwo events and gained sufficient pointsto emerge the victors.

Sixteen teams entered into two soccerleagues on board, and only with hardwork by the officials and referees was iteventually concluded during the periodin Hong Kong. The Mariners' Club inKowloon very kindly offered theirground to us: enough periods in factto enable us to complete the competitionthe day before we sailed. Near the clos-ing stages the Captain's CompetitionCup was within the grasp of four teams.The Wardroom Stewards did extremelywell to play four games in five days andreached the final versus 899 Squadron.After being down most of the game, 899eventually made a great effort in the lastfive minutes and won a very interestinggame.

The 899 champions

There were no Inter-Ship or com-petitive swimming galas during visits,but we did have an Inter-DepartmentalGala and Barbecue in HMS TERROR underfloodlights. This was won, again, bythe Seamen Department.

If you come across any of the Staffin your future jobs, look in and we shallalways try to find a place for you in theorganisation. Keep fit and you will behappy.

R. J. VARNS, PT Officer

HMS `Eagle' Soccer Referees: * RELMN2(A) SAUNDERS; POOEL(A) LLOYD; MEA1(P) MURPHY;PO TILLER; PO HARRIS-SMITH; MEMI MCCLUSKIE; LAM(O) HUTCHESON;. ** FCPO COLLINS;A/CAA(O) HUGHES; Lt-Cdr E. J J WADY; Captain I. G. W. ROBERTSON; Lt R. J. VARNS; POAF(O) OLIVER;

GOALBY; LEM(A) WILSON; POPTI ELLIS.

SOCCER 1970 - 1972Football never stopped in EAGLE. Com-mencing during the 1970 DED atDevonport, it will continue well afterthe ship returns to Portsmouth in 1972to be de-stored and de-equipped.

As the 1970 DED progressed and newplayers joined, Lt Ron Westlake, aidedby LAM Chris Symes, began to formthe nucleus of a team. In October theAir Group joined the ship and added anumber of talented players to a teamwhich, when the ship visited Southamp-ton were entertained by `The Saints',and also defeated the SouthamptonPolice XI.

When the ship returned to Ply-mouth for Christmas leave, a number offriendly matches were played, a mem-orable one being played against 45 COM-

MANDO, who were defeated 8-2. Duringthis period a trophy, to be named `TheGlobe Trophy', was presented to theship by Mr Bill Reagan, a Chichesterbusinessman, well known for his activeinterest in encouraging amateur foot-ball. This trophy, which remains inHMS EAGLE, has been contested for,against EAGLE, by worldwide teams; thenames of the clubs have been engravedon the trophy.

The first few months in 1971 foundthe ship operating in the Mediter-ranean. At Gibraltar, the local cham-pions, GLACIS FC, beat EAGLE 4-0, and

in the south of France shortly after-wards, the ship suffered a further defeatwhen the NICE FC beat EAGLE by 7 goalsto 2. At Malta we had sufficient timeto train on the rock-hard ground atCorrodina before holding the COM-BINED SERVICES to a draw, and pro-gressed to the next round of the Wes-tern Fleet Cup by beating HMS SCAR-

BOROUGH by 6 goals to nil. The high-light of the Malta visit came when theMalta national side challenged HMS

EAGLE, in preparation for their EuropeanNations' Cup matches against Englandand Switzerland. The Maltese team,who shortly afterwards were onlynarrowly defeated by the England XI,beat EAGLE by 3 goals to nil.

In March the First XI flew homefrom Gibraltar to defeat HMS CAVALIER

in the quarter-final of the WesternFleet Cup at Devonport, only to beeliminated in the next round, by 2 goalsto 1, by HMS ARK ROYAL after a hard-fought game. With the Easter leavecompleted, the ship sailed for the FarEast with a new Football Officer, Lt-Cdr Wady. The first stop for the foot-ballers was at Ascension Island, wherePAN AM FC were beaten 8-0 on a dusty,volcanic ash pitch. In Capetown, allgames were won, and at Singapore wewent on to beat the SINGAPORE PORTAUTHORITY XI and HMS ALBION before

suffering our first defeat since sailingfrom Devonport, when we were beatenby our old foes from HMS GLAMORGAN.

Sydney, New South Wales, was ournext port of call, where we won allthree encounters against Royal Aus-tralian Navy teams. In New Zealand weplayed games against two SuperiorCentral League sides, MIRRAMA FC andWATERSIDE FC and in each game we weredefeated. At Perth, in Western Aus-tralia, we met two First Division pro-fessional sides. These teams were com-prised mainly of European immigrants,some of whom had been professionalplayers in the United Kingdom. Thefirst game, against COTTESLOE FC, was aclosely contested game, EAGLE goingdown by 4 goals to 3. The Second gamewas lost 5-0, to the OLYMPIC XI, in theEmpire Games Stadium.

On our return to Singapore in Sep-tember, an inter-departmental leaguecompetition was played, which resultedin 899 SQUADRON being the championteam. During this period we playedHMS TERROR and lost. We beat HMS

TRIUMPH and drew with HMS GLAMOR-

GAN.

In Hong Kong we were defeated bya skilful and well-trained HONG KONG

FC XI after holding them to a draw at half-time. But, within a few days of this defeatwe routed SI WAN FC by 14 goals to nil.

RUGBYEAGLE's rugby trials were held inSeptember 1970 and, considering theSquadrons were not onboard, theresponse was very good. As a result, itwas possible to field three XVs. In thefollowing months the Ist XV did notlose a match until they played HMS

BULWARK and the Plymouth Police justbefore Christmas. Following this, thejob was to integrate the existing teamwith the additional members of theembarking squadrons.

At Villefranche, we met our firstforeign opponents and we fielded amost successful side and won both the1st XV games against The Universityof Nice and Nice itself. The 2nds alsohad two hard games but were un-successful. However, their disappoint-ment was well compensated for by theentertainment provided after the games.The high social life enjoyed by boththe teams there was to set the patternfor the Club's journeys throughout.

Malta, too, was a complete successfor both 1st and 2nd XVs, where weprovided no fewer than eight playersfor the triumphant Navy side which

` Eagle' Vixens (1st XV): * Dick LANGTON; Mike COWELL; Graham SULLIVAN; Mac MACARTNEY;Ted WHITWAM; Taff WALL; Al PRICE; Johno JOHNSON. ** Mac McDONOUGH; Taff POTTS; Bill VEAL;Martin THOMAS; Shiner WRIGHT; Toney JONES; Roger PRICE; Ugs BAMFORTH.

beat the Army; namely, Bodga Rear-don, Bill Thomas, Shiner Wright, TedWhitwam, Dick Langton, Bill Veal, andRoger Price. Unfortunately, beforeEAGLE's arrival, the Navy had lost tothe RAF who were the resulting cham-pions. Feeling robbed of an opportunitywe challenged the RAF at the presenta-tion of the Champions' Trophy, a placewhere they could hardly refuse. Theyreluctantly accepted and EAGLE trouncedthem 19-0. I think we can safely say

that EAGLE was, unofficially, 'Cham-pion of Malta'. However, we sufferedheavy personal losses in spite of oursuccess. Broken legs and shoulders wereabundant, and so the Rugby Club setSail for UK minus Bodga Reardon,Martin Thomas, Dick Langton, PaulCollins and Bill Thomas as playingmembers.

Back at Plymouth, playing rugbytook second place to visiting homes,naturally enough, with the prospect of

sixty-three

` Eagle' Buccaneers (2nd XV): * Dave TOWNSEND; Morris MERCEY; Baz HARTLEY; Ginge COUSINS;Simon MARTIN. ** Jan CREEK; Chris BARTLETT; Taff JAMES; Mick WALSH; Tuds TUDBURY. *** BrumDAVIS; Andy HALES; Chas CHAMBERS; Coin JONES; Taff Jenkins.

eight months away. A few games wereplayed, though, with varying success,because at this time a consistent teamwas difficult to field.

At sea once more, Capetown was thefirst port of call, and all teams had amost enjoyable time and really began toget back into the swing of things.Singapore yielded little for rugbybecause of the Ship's concentrationon a grand inter-part competition,including all sports. Unfortunately, itwas to the detriment of the 1st XV whowent down badly to HMS ALBION, andno sooner had they started back on theirfeet again than we were back at sea.At this stage, the number of players roseconsiderably and, at one time, the Clubhad no fewer than ninety names on thebooks. To counteract this, the selectioncommittee was increased in number anda system of voting introduced, withsome success, in order to select teamsin the most impartial manner.

The next stop was Sydney, and therethe 1st XV took part in a grand contestwith RAN Air Station ALBATROSS whichincluded all sports; unfortunately, welost, but an exceptionally enjoyablethird half was enjoyed by all. It fellupon EAGLE to organise a XV from ouraccompanying ships and ourselves toplay the Royal Australian Navy. Inspite of long discussions and a verydifficult selection, only two playersfrom the other ships turned up, leavingEAGLE to fill the gaps from her 2nd and3rd XVs. They put up a gallant battlebut lost quite heavily, which was onlyto be expected in the circumstances.The 2nds and 3rds had a good run-outin preparation for Wellington.

On passage, the selection committeeput their heads together to make a few

alterations designed to withstand theexpected strength we were to encounterin New Zealand. To cut a long storyshort, someone - whom, we never foundout - led the NZ RFU to believe thatwe had onboard no fewer than fiveinternationals and trialists. Actually, atthis time, we had one Navy reserve anda Command player. However, when weheard that we were playing the 'Wel-lington Colts' we were filled with con-fidence, and were perhaps a littleworried about the effect EAGLE's menof the world might have upon theseimmature young gentlemen. Well, theColts team consisted of players (under22) selected from the surrounding topclubs, and many of the players hadplayed against the British Lions ontheir recent tour. Result: 75-0 to theColts. By Golly, they were good andthat's all that can be said. At least oneof them has since had an All Blackstrial. The 1sts and the 2nds were both

entertained after the match in a mannerbefitting the calibre of the team thehosts had expected to play and wecertainly appreciated it. For many thiswas the start of a hectic social calendar,which resulted in us sticking with theColts for the rest of our time in NewZealand, culminating in a grand partyon our last night. The 1st and 3rd XVsalso played the Wellington CombinedServices, two closely fought matcheswith the usual following celebrationsat which EAGLE'S players always seemto star.

On to Perth, where a very pleasantafternoon was spent playing `WesternSuburbs', a team which we had notrouble in defeating. Once again, bothteams proved their superiority in thefollowing celebrations. A further gameagainst the Special Air Service includedmany an `Australian Rules' player,much to the 3rd XV's confusion. Thisconcluded the Club's Western Austra-lian activities.

By the time we returned to Singa-pore the 1st XV had changed con-siderably and showed signs of gettingback to its Maltese form. We arrangedgames against The Royal Signals, HMS

TRIUMPH, Singapore Cricket Club,HMS GLAMORGAN, just to mention a few,and all the teams went from strength tostrength, showing that all we need is alittle time on land to become a top-classclub.

Hong Kong gave more EAGLE playersthe opportunity to play for a Navy side,and the following were selected: MartinThomas, Shiner Wright, Ted Whit-wam, Johno Johnson, Roger Price,Jonah Jones and Mike Cowell. Unfor-tunately, the Navy was defeated. Itwould have been embarassing for theselectors to select any more EAGLE

players but the Navy may well havewon if they had done so. We had moregames for all teams against RWF; The

'Eagle' Kings (3rd XV): *Pete BOYCE; Brum DAVIS; fug WILSON; Taff FORD; Taff BIDDER; JackoJACKSON; Crash EVANS.

** Paul COLLINS; Mac MACSWEENY; Pincher MARTIN; Les STOKES; RobbyBURNS; Taff HATHWAY; Joe PENNINGTON.

*** Taff HUSSEY; Taff MORGAN; Bill LEANING; DougleDOUGLAS; Jan FARMILOE; Terry JOHNSON.

sixty-four

Rugby - continuedArmy Trials Side; the Police and HMSTAMAR; and furnished a most successfulbunch of sides. The third half wasalways our strong-point, and on morethan one occasion a player in truerugby tradition ended up showingmore than the flag! Undoubtedly themost sociable Club ever!

A vote of thanks is due to S/Lts MikeCowell and Dick Langton for taking onthe thankless task of Rugby Officer andfor making such a success of rugby inEAGLE. S/Lt, now Lt, Chas Chambers,and LAM(O) Brum Davis also deservea public vote of thanks for their com-bined efforts to produce a successful2nd team, and for fostering such a goodspirit throughout the Club.

HOCKEYThis is an extremely opportune time togo to press, with the hockey star firmlyin its ascendency. Of our last four games(played in Hong Kong), we thoroughlywhipped two ARMY teams and one RAF

team. The only team to stay with uswas Club Recreiso, a very good Portu-guese side. Unfortunately, this gamewas abandoned ten minutes before theend, with the only light available comingfrom the lights of the BMH, thus givingour somewhat dusky opponents theadvantage of concealment in the dark.This was a pity because we really hadpressure on at this time and we wereunlucky not to score on several occa-sions.

Like Auld Nig, my memories, too, arebecoming hazy but, casting back to ourtime in the Med, I recall that wegathered together our band of superb,and not so superb, players. There werea few immemorable scraps in Malta,mainly ending in defeat. We did playRAF MALTA, a crack team made up fromthe best in Malta, Cyprus and Gibral-tar. They formed up flushed with theirrecent successes against RN MALTA andARMY MALTA: our steamer obviouslypresented them with no problems atall. It was a superb game, and the resultwas a 1-0 win for EAGLE.

And so to the Far East leg. Weplayed three games in Capetown. Allwere hard but will mainly be remem-bered for what has turned out to be arecurring problem: that of turning outfit. We cannot blame the ship-borneexistence entirely for this, the difficultywas to find a team of sparkling-eyedmen from a squad decimated by localhospitality and the injuries gainedtherefrom. To lug a pain-wracked bodyaround a muddy pitch for ninety min-utes or sit back in splendour and allow

the carnage of hospitality to take itstoll? Quite so. We lost all three gamesin South Africa, but reckon to havewon the socials afterwards hands down.

The game in Singapore was our con-frontation with ALBION. For the steely-eyed EAGLE team this was their firstintroduction to Tiger Beer and itsattendant effects. ALBION took the fieldsmugly whilst our nine men shuffledonto the pitch. After ten minutes theleft-half went into a tight left-handspin, foamed at the mouth and fell tothe ground twitching feebly. ChippieHarrison, our only spectator, had tenminutes earlier refused to blow awhistle for us (on medical grounds -he had almost hacked his hand off inthe workshops). Now, still in his HushPuppies and tiddly cravat, he foundhimself hacking one-handed at fiveaggressive forwards. Both sides pro-duced some good hockey, and it was alow blow when ALBION sneaked theonly goal of the match two minutesfrom the final whistle.

The Australasian ramble gave us anumber of good games, the hardestundoubtedly being against WellingtonColts - the cream of Wellington youth.They beat us 7-1, although the scorewas not all that realistic - we gave thema hard practice match, and in returnlearnt something about good hockey.In Perth, a 4/1 win against RNAS

LEEUWIN restored morale. Our returnto Singapore brought us another reallyhard game, and an excellent win, 2-1,against HMS TERROR. Unfortunately,our 2nd XI went down 2-4 to HMS

JAGUAR two days later.We are presently hoping for one or

two games in Mombasa and Durban,and it is even darkly rumoured thatthere is a ladies' team in Mombasa

Hockey Team: * Ted HEATH; John DAVIS; Doc HALLIDAY; Eric YOUNG; Joe HADLEY; Derek CROCKFORD;Chris MASTERMAN; Don WEBBER; Yorky BULL; Peter MORRIS. ** Sharky WARD; Robin KENNEDY;Paul MOLLOY (Captain); Jessie OWENS; Malcolm BEECH-ALLEN.

quietly sharpening their sticks readyfor a belligerent meeting. If presenttrends continue, and no one gets eatenin the game reserves, or injured headingTusker bottles, we could well arrive atSpithead with a commendable record.Now I wonder how Noddy came to falloff that dining-room table....

S/Lt MOLLOY, Hockey Secretary

SQUASHThe ship's squash team enjoyed verycompetitive fixtures at every port of callthroughout the commission. They gavea good account of themselves in allmatches with the exception of Durban -where they were `whitewashed' by whatmust have been the City's number oneteam! Socially, all the squash eventswere a tremendous success, and manyfriendships developed and numerouspresentations of ship's crests and photo-graphs were made to the opposing clubsto remind them of our visits.

The Squash Team: * Lt NIELSON; REA PURDY;F/Lt BRUYN. ** Lt MOULDING; Lt P. A. WRAINE; Lt J. HARRISON.

sixty-five

CRICKET '71Unfortunately, the planners of EAGLE's

cruise were not cricketers, as the Ship'svisits to Capetown, Sydney, Welling-ton and Fremantle coincided with theircricket `close season'. Cricket on EAGLE,

therefore, has been limited to Singa-pore and Hong Kong during the firsthalf of the trip.

We commenced our `season' with afull Ship's practice and a six-a-sidedepartmental knock-out. All those tak-ing part in the latter found it bothexhausting and enjoyable, with the finalresult being a win for the Seamen overthe Comms/Medical/Regulating team.

During our two stays in Singaporethe Ship's team played GLAMORGAN

(twice), JAGUAR and TRIUMPH on thematting wicket at HMS TERROR. Ourresults were a little erratic, as befits ateam playing without practice, but thegames helped to get some of the team alittle fitter.

In Hong Kong against the RAF atKai Tak and the RN at Sookunpoo, weshowed our best form - the formermatch being played on a grass wicket.We came out well in these games,giving the RAF a thrashing, much totheir surprise, and scored a moralvictory on `runs per over' against theRN.

It is now as we steam across theIndian Ocean with some confidencebehind us that we look forward to somegood cricket in Durban. The team isshaping up well both in spirit and play-ing ability.

In Dick Stephenson and Roger Wardwe have two reliable spin bowlers;whereas the medium-pace trundling isnormally supplied by Taff Hussey,Robin Cox, and Bob Beasley. Openingthe innings (and usually the account)we have Al Harris, unfortunately awayfor the photograph, and Derek Tatewho has now proved to us that he canscore runs as an opener. Roger Evans

Cricket Team: * D. A. WRIGHT; R. G. EvANS; H. I. HOUSLEY; R. H. WARD; J. E. RACE; R. W. BEASLEY.** D. A. TATE; D. G. HUSSEY; G. MARSHALL; R. P. COX (Captain); J. G. WILSON; R. D. STEPHENSON.

is always a reliable No 3 and the'quickie' bowler. I am afraid we mustbid him farewell before Durban. Themiddlemen in the batting order arenormally Robin Cox, Geoff Marshalland Taff Hussey. Ian Housley andPeter Skriabin have both contributeda great deal by their good fielding;and always there, efficiently 'keeping'behind the stumps, is the unobtrusiveGeoff Marshall. We can even boast a` professional' umpire, Shiner Wright,and a scorer, Eddy Race, who moreoften than not find themselves runningaround in mid-field with a bat or a ballin their hands. We must apologise forthe state of the XI in the team photo-graph as it was taken after a long run-ashore `down Wanchai', where we cele-brated our victory over the RAF!

And so, with great expectancy, welook forward to cricketing in theChristmas sunshine of the southernshores of Africa.

Bowling

WATER SKIING

When first thought of, EAGLE's itineraryfor the East of Suez part of The Com-mission seemed like a dream for thoseveterans of the River Tamar and Ply-mouth Sound - Brrrrrrrrr. However,closer examination revealed that themajority of the ports of call to be visitedwere going to be in the grip of theSouthern Hemisphere's winter. Asevents turned out, the weather wasreasonably bright but the water dis-tinctly chilly, especially in Wellingtonand Capetown. So, clad in wet suits,our heroes of the curling board loggedlots of skiing hours. This time wasvastly augmented when our fair-weatherskiers joined the scene in Singapore andlearnt to ski both over and under theshiny surface of the Johore Straits.Well, we all had a lot of fun, especiallyOS Perkins who seemed to be avail-able every time the boat went away(apparently `Neither the sea nor theDuty Watch shall have him'). No boneswere broken, either, although theSenior Dental Surgeon limped for daysafter he triumphantly managed tomono-ski: along the beach, doing aboutthirty knots, and not a drop of water inhim or under him. One of the Opera-tions Officers also took a header into themangroves. All such misfortunes weresoon forgotten as the boat whizzed backto the sandy shores, the palm frondsand the opportunity for another Tigerand a chat with that blonde whilstwaiting for the next tow. Yes, therewere times when the big Ship seemedvery far away!

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RESULTS

GLAMORGAN . . 94 EAGLE . . 98-2TRIUMPH . . 123 EAGLE . . 78EAGLE . . 83 JAGUAR . . 65GLAMORGAN . . 97 EAGLE . . 88EAGLE

. .153-9 RAF HK . . 67

EAGLE . . 192-3 RN HK . . 180-5(30 overs) (37 overs)

won by 8 wicketslost by 45 runswon by 18 runslost by 9 runswon by 86 runsdrawn

AVERAGESBatting

G. Marshall 16o runs Av. 53.33 R. P. CoxR. G. Evans 12o runs Av. 40.00 R. G. EvansR. P. Cox 115 runs Av. 28.75 J. C. Buck

D. G. Hussey

12 wkts. Av. 9.335 wkts. Av. 1o.004 wkts. Av. 14.756 wkts. Av. 24.50

EAGLE HARRIERSCLUB

The present EAGLE Harriers began theircompetitive programme on 28 May 1970when a team of four, consisting of RayRoberts, Bryn Thomas, Albert Sim-cock and Mick Ellis, took part in theDartmoor Charity run. They put in anexcellent performance to take thewinning team award from a toughMarines team, despite having to dragEAGLE's heavyweight long-distancechampion Ray Roberts out of the mireseveral times. In this event the runnerswere sponsored by members of theShip's Company and the proceeds wentto a local charity.

Following this gruelling run, we tookon our first serious civilian competitionat the Devonport Carnival 6-mile roadrace on 20 June. This was a high-classfield and our team was Danny McFad-zean (11th); Brian Vockins (19th); RayRoberts (at a racing weight of 13½stone - 20th). EAGLE finished fourthin the team race.

Following our efforts at Devonport,we were ambitious enough to enter forthe Paignton Dairy Festival 15-milerace. This event is reputed to have thetoughest course in the UK and, con-sidering that only Danny had any pre-vious experience in this kind of com-petition, it is to the credit of Bryn, Rayand Brian that they all completed thecourse. Danny finished 4th in theindividual stakes, just in front of theArmy Champion Keith Darlow, andBryn proved the most durable of ourother competitors in finishing 19th.The pain was soon forgotten and wereplenished with stacks of good Devonmilk supplied by even more attractivedairymaids.

September brought the start of theCross-country season, and just two daysbefore we sailed for sea trials on com-pletion of DED we took on RNEC

MANADON and happily defeated themby the narrow margin of three points.We now had a real interest in runningand new names appeared, such as TimHird, Tug Wilson and even a rareappearance by Chas Chambers. JohnCaine finished 2nd in this his last racefor EAGLE; Danny Mac 3rd; MickEllis 5th; and Bryn Thomas 8th.

We then challenged BRNC DART-

MOUTH over their mountaineeringcourse, but heartbreak hill proved toomuch for our lads and we were thereceivers of a good thrashing. Bestfinishers for EAGLE were Danny McFad-zean 3rd, Mick Ellis 6th and MalDavies 8th. The last event before wesailed for the Med leg was our own

Cross-country Team: * S/Lt Danny McFADZEAN; LEM(A) Mal DAVISS; S/Lt Ray ROBERTS; PORELBrian VOCKINS; OEM Tim HIRD. ** NA(AH) Dave CARROTT; NA(AH) Danny HAY; POPTI NipperELLIS.

inter-part cross-country championship.After the usual battle between Dannyand Mick, the final result individuallywas: Danny 1st, Mick 2nd, and Brian3rd; Team race: Weapons ElectricalIst, AED 2nd.

When we called at Gibraltar justbefore ORI in early February this year,we took a strong field of runners in a42-mile Round the Rock race as part ofthe `Med-train Olympiad'. EAGLE tookthe honours from HMS ROOKE, andDanny McFadzean gained 2nd place toCpl Alun Williams, Royal Marines. Wefielded 18 runners in this event andthings were looking bright.

Then followed our visit to Ville-franche, and up in the mountains weenjoyed a good hard run against Nicebut, what with `runs ashore' and duties,we were no match for them. They pre-sented us with a trophy to mark theoccasion, while in return we drank alltheir wine. Danny took 2nd place afterlosing his breakfast on the way round,and Bill McIntosh did well to finish avery tired 11th.

Our next port of call was at Malta inMarch, and this proved to be our mostsuccessful visit to date. In the space ofjust four days we took both the MaltaNational and Inter-Services Cross-country Championship team trophies.Danny and Mick took the winner andrunner-up awards in both events, andothers who ran with distinction wereColin Morris, Brian Vockins, BillMcIntosh and Ray Roberts.

As a finale to our Med visit, a charityrun was organised in Gibraltar, and theteam consisted of the Ship's cross-country squad with a few additionalfitness addicts. Each athlete had to runfor three hours, covering as many milesas possible. Danny Mac and BrianVockins ran together most of the way,Danny completing 242 miles and Brian232 miles. Bryn Thomas, Ray Roberts,Tim Hird and Colin Morris deservespecial mention for completing 212miles. The proceeds from this venturewere divided between Gibraltar chari-ties and UK charities, including theLillian Board Cancer Research Fund.

By this time our stalwarts haddeveloped a strong spirit as a team andwe were all looking forward to somecompetition on the Far East leg.

We certainly found this in Cape-town, where our team received arunning lesson in the Capetown-Stellenbosch relay! A really happy stagevening with the University lads madeup for our defeat. We then sampled theincomparable hospitality of the twoAthletic clubs in Wellington. In spiteof having to send a posse out to findBryn Thomas and Malcolm Davissprior to the race in Fremantle, we havecherished memories of our races downunder. Sydney proved a great success,both in the social and Athletic fields.Mick Ellis contacted the team managerof the Modern Pentathlon Associationof Australia prior to arriving and,together with Colin Morris and David

sixty-seven

'Eagle' Harriers -continued

Carrott, competed in a Biathlon com-petition against the Australian OlympicPentathlon team. In the swim eventthe EAGLE boys were completely out oftheir depth but soon showed theirworth in the run event. Mick finished3rd, ahead of Olympian Peter Makem(4th in Tokyo Olympics). Colin andDavid ran exceptionally well to finish8th and 13th. The remainder of theteam were engaged elsewhere `doingtheir thing'.

Call it madness if you like, but we allenjoyed the torrid sweat-drenched com-petition in Singapore, and sharing theups and downs together has made usricher for the experiences we haveshared during this the last commissionof HMS EAGLE. It is of interest to notethat, everywhere we went, peopleremembered the names of EAGLE ath-letes of the past, and our friendshipswere made easier in the wake of ourpredecessors.

Stretching a leg for charity

On 8 February 1972 the runners tookthe Team Race Trophy in the Ports-mouth Command Championships - last

done by a sea-going ship (HMS HOOD)

in 1935. A fitting end to their com-mission.

EAGLE GOLFING SOCIETYAny man claiming to be a golfer musttake his game seriously. Also, however,he must approach the social activitieswith equal keenness. It must beadmitted that we have been far moresuccessful at the latter.

During the commission we have beenfortunate enough to have played overtwenty-five different courses. Thesehave ranged from One Boat Golf Club

HMS `Eagle' and One Boat Golf Club Teams - Ascension Island - June 1971: S/Lt HUNTER;Cdr GREGORY; CPO TROW; RO WALSH; Lt-Cdr HARMAN; CPO STOILES.

on Ascension Island (considered evenby its members to be the worst coursein the world); to the lush greenery ofthe Wellington Golf Club; to the verylong New Course at the Island Club inSingapore, and even to the nine-holecourse at HMS TERROR where we playeda pro/am event.

Over thirty officers and ratings haverepresented the EAGLE Golfing Society,

including, of course, the Captain, whokindly presented a putter for competi-tion.

We have certainly enjoyed our golfand, despite indifferent play from timeto time, our feelings can be summed upin the statement made by a certaindistinguished officer who will remainnameless. On being asked by a rovingreporter about his game, when he washaving a particulary torrid afternoonin the wind and rain at Yelverton duringthe DED, he remarked, 'Well, it's betterthan work!'Clubs which have kindly accepted us,

1970-1971:Devonport: Yelverton; Bigbury; Tavi-

stock; Staddon Heights; Thurle-stone.

Southampton: Stoneham, Southamp-ton Municipal.

Villefranche: Monte Carlo; Nice.Malta: Royal Malta.Ascension Island: One Boat.Capetown: Royal Cape; Mowbray.Singapore: HMS TERROR; Island Coun-

ySydney: Moore Park; Royal Austra-

lian.Wellington: Masterton; Mahunga;

Shandan; Wellington; Otaki.Fremantle: Point Walter; Royal Fre-

mantle; Royal Perth.Hong Kong: Shek-O Country Club;

Royal Hong Kong.Durban: Royal Durban; Durban

Country Club; Kloof Country Club.

sixty-eight

FENCINGThe ship's fencers have met on thequarter deck nominally three times aweek at sea, depending on the weather,flying and other obstacles. Despite thelack of practice, we have always beenable to produce a team wherever amatch has been arranged-surely aunique achievement for an RN ship.

The first match was against South-ampton University during the Ship'svisit there in the autumn of 1970. Thefencing was of a good standard and theresult satisfactory: Foil lost 5-2; Epeewon 6-o; Sabre lost 5-4. The com-petition continued with a most pleasantparty somewhere in the city.

Fencing:

* OEM ACOURT; POPTI ELLIS;REA(A) CRABTREE; Lt JOHNSTONE; Lt HERBERT.** S/Lt HILL.

The next match was against NiceUniversity in February 1971. We weregiven an excellent exhibition of fencingby one of the leading continental teams- and we lost. However, the three-hourdinner afterwards, followed by anevening afterwards Chez les Ecossais,

was a great success for both Clubs.We then returned to Devonport for

Easter and had to re-establish contactwith 826 Squadron in order to raise afull team of six fencers on 3 May for theNavy Championships. EAGLE's teamwas the only seagoing team. Alas, therewas no handicap, and we came last.The team was: Foil - Lts PatrickJohnstone and Geoff Herbert; Epee -REA(A)2 Mike Crabtree and POPTIMick Ellis; Sabre - S/Lt Barry Hilland Lt Nick Rutherford.

Barry Hill and Mike Crabtree from826 could easily fence for the Navyonce back in the UK with the oppor-tunity for regular coaching and prac-tice. Lt Taylor Scott (899 Squadron)and OEM Malcolm Acourt and GeoffHerbert have all taken up fencing againand, with continued enthusiasm, coulddo well in the future (the former two

replaced Mick Ellis and Nick Ruther-ford in the pool of regular fencers fromwhom our teams have been chosen).

The next time we assembled as ateam was against the University ofCapetown, where three of us were ableto fence; Foil lost 6-3; Epee won 5 -4.This was very creditable against a goodSouth African team.

No fencing team could be found inSingapore, and our next match wasagainst the University of New SouthWales, the Inter-Australian UniversityChampions in 1970. Much to every-one's surprise, we won, Foil won 5-4;

evening's entertainment was completedwith dinner at King's Cross - much later.

We fenced against Wellington FC withsome very close finishes, but the scoreis best left out. Their team includedthree New Zealand CommonwealthGames Fencers. The subsequent hospi-tality was up to the extravagant enter-tainment provided throughout theShip's visit to Wellington.

We hope to put a team into the NavyChampionships again this year - sowish us well!

CYCLING THE NOOWith the aid of grants from the NuffieldTrust and the Ship's Welfare Fund,nine cycles were purchased for the useof the ship's company. Other ratingswho were keen cyclists embarked theirown cycles during the May leave periodshortly before we deployed to the FarEast. An enthusiastic cycling club wasformed.

Contact with foreign clubs has beenmade, and they have given valuableassistance and facilities in the form ofvery fit guides and the knowledge anduse of local roads.

At our first port of call the clubtoured Capetown's outer districts andhad a barbecue to end the day, bycourtesy of the local club. Motor trans-port was provided afterwards to provideeight sore and weary men with an easyroute back to the ship. In Singapore theclub participated in a forty-mile roadrace and organised tours of the island.A longer tour onto the mainland to theLongbong Waterfalls (near Kota Ting-gi) took five and a half hours for theround trip of eighty miles. In theAntipodes the cycling took on a genteelform of flag-showing on an informalbasis. At Hong Kong several outingswere made to various parts of the

Some Cyclists: LMEM Mick GOODE; AB Blacky BLAKEMORE; S/Lt John NUNDY; PO Ted CROZIER;LOEM Brigand YOUNG; LMEM Spider KELLY; LMEM Andy NAILOR. The following also cycledfrequently: MEM CLIFTON; MEM GUNTER; Ck HALL; LOEM HOLLAND; LMEM KNIGHT; AB MANSELL;MEM RIDLEY.

island - with pleasant stops for swimsat Repulse Bay.

Cycling is a small part of the Navalsports effort but one that is catching on.There are many good cyclists in the

Forces and in the Navy. It is not just asport confined to the younger man butcaters for the older person - offering toall a good view of the countryside fromthe saddle.

sixty-nine

SURFINGA trio of dedicated surfers - you haveto be dedicated to surf at Lossiemouthwhere the water temperature is rarelyabove 12°C and sometimes below 4°C -decided to have a meeting of all would-be surfers. It was unanimously agreedthat, during this tour, some of the bestsurfing beaches would be within ourreach.

Capetown, ideally situated for botheasterly and westerly swells, proved tobe disappointing. After initial contactwith the local surfers, two of the triospent a long time sitting on borrowedboards waiting for waves that nevercame.

The next stop after Singapore was themecca of surfing in the Southern Hemi-sphere - Bondi Beach, just outsideSydney. Unfortunately, it was the `off'season, the waves were tiny, the wholeplace was very much overrated, but atleast we did manage the odd cut-backand numerous wipe-outs. Having touse borrowed boards was the maindrawback; to become proficient at anysport, one has to practise, and surfingis no exception. The most apparentdifference was the size of boards, muchsmaller than current ones in the UK.

And so to Wellington, with an invita-tion from the Maranni Surf Club atLyall Bay and one of the worst (best forus!) storms in years -the scene wasset. A week-end meet was arranged,boards, surf canoes and an excellentclubhouse were provided. A good turn-out of newcomers and diehards led to avery successful meeting followed by aneven better `drinkex' ! Unfortunately,the surf was not up to the usual stan-dard, and the water was somewhatreminiscent of the UK - very cold!Hospitality was unbelievable; somemembers went up coast to the bettersurfing beaches; others tried some ofthe latest in board designs; whilstothers carried on with the drinkex; allby courtesy of the local surf shop. Withreluctance we left Lyall Bay, the bestbeach so far.

'Probably the most underrated surfingarea in the world' - that's how surfersdescribed W. Australia, and we weredue there. So we sent one memberashore to make all the arrangements (hissquadron thought he was part of thediversion party!) and as a result webecame involved in a Polar Bear Meet -a mid-winter meeting! Once again wehad the problem of new boards and notenough time to become acquainted withtheir suicidal tendencies, but everybodyhad a good time.

The most unexpected find of the yearwas Big Wave Bay in Hong Kong where

it was possible to body-surf. We evenhad some US competition from someguys on R & R. One member reportedfrom Cubi Point, in the Philippines,during the big storm period that thelocals were really having a time ridingtwelve-foot waves - he, too, would haveloved to have joined in but his only kit,pusser's aircrew overalls, was not quitethe in-gear on the beach!

Durban was the last chance for somegood surf before returning to the coldwaters of the UK. For a change, theconditions were ideal: the sun shone;the surf was up; we were befriended bythe local surf shop; as a result, a goodtime was had by all, which amply com-pensated for the previous disappoint-ments.

SHOOTING CLUBDuring the period from September1969, the EAGLE Shooting Teams havepractised and competed with .22 rifleand pistol as well as with all types ofService small arms.

Our match records reads: Won 5;Lost 8. At first glance this doesn't seemtoo good, but we are satisfied with theresults, considering that we have hadonly one `Home' match, and that manyof the opponents fielded strong teams(for example, in Wellington they in-cluded half their national team). Wehave competed against other RN units;Royal Naval Reserve and Cadet Units;South African and Royal AustralianNavy teams; and also civilian clubs. We

Some of the Surfers: * Terry HANNAM; KevMEEHAN; Alan WATT; Roger CRAGG. ** ChrisO'CONNELI; Danny Ross; Dicke DALE.

have also competed in the PlymouthCommand Small Arms Meetings for thelast three years with a reasonableamount of success. In 1971, for example,the EAGLE teams won the Juniors' andOfficers' Team Tiles, and the Com-mand Individual Small Arms Cham-pionship was won by MEA(H) Veal.Two of the Ship's team were also sent torepresent Plymouth Command at Bis-ley in 1970 for the Inter-Service meeting.

In conclusion, we would like to takethis opportunity to thank the smallnucleus of devotees for their supportand enthusiasm throughout the com-mission - Cheers! See you all on theRanges!

The `Eagle' Shooting Team at the Command Meeting, Trevol, May 1971: * PO GRIFFITHS;Lt NOONAN; PO GOUGH; CPO CARROL; EA GLASS; MEA ELLIOT; MEA VEAL; PO HARRIS; S/Lt MOLLOY.** S/Lt NUNDY. *** AB PRICE; ORD THAXTER; AB BAKER; NA MARSHALL; JS TAYLOR.

seventy

EAGLE WATER POLO TEAMFrom

humble

beginnings - afterstruggling with an odd game duringthe DED, the team ended up as a well-trained squad able to take on any oppo-sition. The first chance of seeing ourpotential was at Capetown, where wewere soundly beaten 12-1 in the onlyMatch played.

With more practice available atSingapore, we beat RAF TENGAH 4-3,

8-2 and 7-3. A combined SIMBANG,

40 COMMANDO beat us 8-2, but prob-ably the best result of the commissionwas our beating TERROR 2-0, their firstdefeat by a ship's team for nearly twoyears.

New Zealand gave us our onlymatches for nine weeks between theSingapore visits, and in the first gamea depleted team took on the NEW

ZEALAND OLYMPIC SQUAD and werethrashed by a cricket score, but theentertainment afterwards mellowed thedefeat. MARANUI SURF CLUB handed usan 8-1 beating, but once again madeup for this by their hospitality.

On return to Singapore, our firstmatch was the return against TERROR.

Through shortages due to their run-down their team was supplemented bythree Singapore International playersand we went down 7-2. Four easymatches followed: TENGAH 8-0, GLA-

MORGAN 10-0, HMAS SYDNEY II-I, andTRIUMPH 12-1 - even Tiny, our goal-keeper, came out and scored a hat-trickin this last match. The best match ofthis visit was against the SINGAPORE

SWIMMING CLUB. Up to the last quarterthey were leading by the odd goal innine, but for the last quarter theyfielded the full Singapore Junior Inter-national Squad and they slotted inanother four goals without reply.

In Hong Kong, the local championsTHE WRECKS were beaten 2-1, and thenwe combined with them to beat a localChinese side 6-4. RAF KAI TAK were

Judo Club: * Mick BRIGHAM; Bob HERRON; Jock McGREGOR; Sweeny TODD; StU STEWART. ** JohnBINGHAM; Dave LOVICK; Les SLATER; Dave DEADY.

beaten 12-1 and, finally, THE WRECKS

had their revenge 7-4 in a final match.Although the whole squad has com-

bined to produce some fine matchesand results, the credit must go to PORoger Cragge for his unflagging effortsboth in and out of the water in organ-ising the matches, training, and makingsure that the team turned up at theright place!

Water-polo Team: * Dickie DALE; Dodger LONG; Dave CARROTT; Nigel GARBETT; Snaps FLETCHER;Chris WALSH. ** Roger CRAGG; Pony MOORE; Bill THORPE; Max O'CONNELL; Blister KEATING;Tiny MARSHALL.

JUDO CLUB EAGLEQWAI, EAGLE's own Judo Club,hit the headlines hardly once during thecommission. At Villefranche the Clubtook a crippling blow at the hands andfeet of the Riviera Team: our brownbelt, Bob Hamilton, was dismissed withan injured shoulder. During the lastpart of the trip to the Far East the clubmembership increased and, by the timewe reached Hong Kong, we had `a goodthing going'.

Our long spell at sea brought theKarate Club and the Eagleqwai togetherfor demonstrations combined with lec-tures. Fitness of mind and body was theaim, with an especial view to self-defence.

Perhaps the highlight of the year wasduring the visit to Perth. The 'Kan-garoo Judo Club' there arranged aspecial grading and D. Lovick andL. Slater were awarded their orangebelts and R. Herron was awarded hisyellow. This event provided us all withthe incentive to run a better club, andwhen the ship returns to Portsmouththere will be twelve Judoka ready tograde higher in the art: we feel we haveachieved something.

DAVE LOVICK

seventy-one

CANOEINGCanoeing got off to a bad start in thesecond half of this Commission. Firstof all, the club secretary, who com-muted daily from Torpoint to thedockyard by canoe, was given a parkingticket rocket by the Captain for leavinghis boat on the wrong catamaran duringthe day (`and get your hair cut whilstyou're about it too . . .'). Thus, barredfrom the flight of stone steps, a jump-ing ladder had to be used. It's a longhaul up from sea level to four deck(CENTAUR) even at high tide. Ourintrepid commuter still remembers the

eyeball encounter with a pair of sizetwelve dockyard police boots as hescrambled over the coaming. In theresulting conversation, accusations ofillegal entry into the dockyard werenever actually mentioned; and, for-tunately, relations remained cordial,and the plucky paddler continued tosave himself 4d (as it then was) a dayin ferry fares and also got time off tospend a week in Scotland paddling forthe Navy Team in the Inter-Services.

Villefranche was a delightful spot fora quiet paddle in the bay, and the Nice

canoeists could not understand how wemanaged to survive in such small boats.The boats were much used at GahjnTuffieha Adventure Camp. Gentle surfalways provides a splendid introductionto canoeing for the cocky novice. If hestays upright he loses his novicehood;if he capsizes he loses his cockiness. Acouple of hundred men `had a go' overthe period and the boats took a lot ofwear.

Singapore provided some oppor-tunities for the beginners to pick up therudiments. It was too hot for comfort,and most trips were short. There wasthat little hut a mile or so away wherethe chap sold Tiger. . . .

In Fremantle, we were lent transportby the RAN base and we were able totake the boats and tentage down to thePeel Inlet for a couple of days of`Exped'. All very enjoyable, especiallythe hot pie at the end of the ten-milepaddle `home' on the last day. Moreshort trips in Singapore and severaloutings in Hong Kong wound up thecanoeing scene. Rough weather claimeda couple of the boats from the PV spaceon the way home; the rest will be passedon to the ship most likely to gain thebenefit of having them.

DOG-SHOOTING

TENNISTennis on board has, on the whole,been well subscribed, and nearly everyport of call has provided the ship witha fixture or two. The first match of theseason took place in Malta on 10 March1971 versus RAF LUQA and, though theresult was a draw, it was apparent thatEAGLE had the makings of a good side.

Since then the policy has been, as faras practicable, to field a nucleus of fourwell-tried and proven players togetherwith two lesser-known names in thehope of giving everybody interested ataste of tennis under match conditions.

Weather has played a big part in theorganisation up till now, and tennistrials - as well as matches in Sydneyand Fremantle - have had to be can-celled because of rain. There was onememorable match versus the SAN atSimonstown when, under threateningrain-clouds, the courts were playableonly after an hour of careful sweepingand draining: both teams loath to givein to the weather.

Singapore and Hong Kong provideda wide range of opposition and plentyof match experience. On return from

Fun in the sun at Gahjn Tuffieha

The Tennis Team: * Lt VEALE; LS MAUGHAN;NAM HARRISON; Lt Cdr DICKENS. ** CdrMCCLELLAN; REA PURDY; Lt HERBERT ( Captain;Lt RAINE.

the Far East, the results indicate aneven balance between matches lost andwon, which is a fair outcome consider-ing the constant change-round of theteam members.

The following have, at one time oranother, represented the ship at tennis:Cdr McLellan, REA Purdy, Lt Her-bert, Lt Raine, Lt Veale, L/S Maughan,Lt Beattie, Lt-Cdr Dickens, NAMHarrison, Lt Sullivan, NAM Ford,Lt-Cdr Trinder, Lt Aylward, Lt Jones,LAM Mitton, NAM Needham.

Yes, we organised a splendid MaltaDog-shoot - there were nearly a hun-dred applicants when the lists firstopened. There were even three whoapplied to use pistols on horseback.S/Lt Roberts, the main perpetrator ofthat first hoax, carried it through to theextent of asking the Maltese villagersto pose with their pets under the barrelof a self-loading rifle.

Morris Dancing had its devotees,too - several men were making foot-bells and silk handkerchiefs and won-dering why no one ever seemed able toget round to having a meeting. AlligatorHunting fell a bit flat, but there weregreat hopes for Boomerang-throwingClasses. They were nipped in the budwhen the Australian Tourist Boardliterature arrived on board - and thereare such classes!

The leg-pull of the trip was the`Pilots for the Pilotless Target Air-craft'. A dozen chaps volunteered.After a gruelling day of interviews andcheck-ups, only six remained. Furthertraining reduced the number to three,who to this very day are disappointedthat their one chance for fame was foiledby the unserviceability of the pilotlessaircraft: at least they still think pilotsare needed!

HMS EAGLE - a brief historyThere have always been ships of the Royal Navy named EAGLE - or so it seems. The present one is the twenty-third, according to Manningand Walker: British Warship Names. Weightman, in Heraldry in the Royal Navy, lists it as the fifteenth but refers to other lists withtwenty-one.

Many of the previous EAGLES were small and insignificant ships; others were first rates, and have earned Battle Honours from the seventeenthcentury: here are some notes on the past EAGLES, with Honours in dark type:

1

900 tons, purchased in 1592 and sold in 1683: was used mainly as an ordnance barge.

2

100 tons, 12 guns, hired 1650, returned 1655: took part in the battle of the Kentish Knock (September 1652) and honours at Portlandand Gabbard (February and July 1653).

3

300 tons, 22 guns, built as the SELBY in 1654, renamed EAGLE in 1660, sunk as part of Sheerness breakwater in 1694: took part in theblockade of the Zuyder Zee (April 1655) and won honour at Lowestoft (3 June 1665).

4

240 tons, 6 guns, captured from the Dutch in 1666 and expended as a fire-ship during the Four Days Fight of 1-4 June 1666 andwon the Orfordness honour.

5

50 tons, 6 guns, captured in 1670 from the Algerine Corsairs: she was fired on 2 May 1671 in a night attack on the Algerine Fleetin Bugia Bay.

6

208 tons, bought in 1672 as a fire-ship: she foundered in 1673.

7

1,050 tons, 70 guns, built in Portsmouth in 1679, wrecked with Sir Cloudesly Shovell in a fog off the Scillies, 22 October 1707: wonhonours at Barfleur (19 May 1692) and Velez Malaga (13 August 1704). She was Rooke's flagship at La Hogue and took part inthe attack on Cadiz (15 August 1702) and the capture of Gibraltar (24 July 1704) and Barcelona (23 September 1705).

8

150 tons, 10 guns, built in 1696 and wrecked on 27 November 1703.

9

1,130 tons, 60 guns, launched (as the CENTURION) on 1 December 1744 and renamed EAGLE in 1745, sold in June 1767: assisted in thecapture of various French and Spanish ships and convoys: she won honours at Ushant in 1747. (Able Seaman James Cook servedon board from 1745 to 1748, when he was rated Master's Mate. He later rose to the rank of Captain ... ).

10

1,400 tons, 74 guns, launched 12 May 1774, renamed BUCKINGHAM in 1797 and broken-up in 1812: another successful ship that wonhonours at Sadras, Providien, Negapatam and Trincomalee in 1782. Later converted to a prison ship, she was used to imprisonsome of the mutineers from the Nore.

11

71 tons, 4 guns, bought in 1794 and sold in 1802.

12

158 tons, 12 guns, LA VENTURA, captured from the French in 1803 and renamed EAGLE, then (in 1804) ECLIPSE.

16

(or 13 if you discount tiny EAGLES), 1,723 tons, 74 guns, launched 27 February 1804 at Northfleet and renamed EAGLET in 1918. Shewas the flagship at the blockade of the Texel, Brest 1805, 1807-1808 with Collingwood at the blockade of Toulon, 1809 Walcheren,1810 Cadiz, 1812 in the Adriatic -Ceste, Istria, Trieste. The name EAGLET is still used by the Mersey division of the RNR.

20

22,790 tons, launched 1918, sunk by torpedoes 1942: laid down as a battleship for the Chilean Navy, the ALMIRANTE COCHRANE wasbought for the RN in 1917 and finally commissioned as an aircraft-carrier in 1923, winning honours at Calabria (9 June 1940) andthe general Mediterranean (1940) and Malta Convoys (1942) honours. She carried Swordfish and Gladiator aircraft, and transferredaircraft of 813 and 824 Squadrons to ILLUSTRIOUS for the attack on the Italian Fleet at Taranto.

23

45,000 tons, launched by Princess Elizabeth on 19 March 1946 and first commissioned on 31 October 1951: extensively modernisedand rebuilt at Devonport from November 1959 to May 1964. Saw service in the Suez campaign of 1956 and took part in confrontationactivities in Malaysia, the Beira Patrol, and covered the withdrawals from Aden, Singapore and the Persian Gulf. Commanding Officers

UNDERHILL (PLYMOUTH) LTD., REGENT STREET, PLYMOUTH

Captain G. Willoughby Captain H. C. D. Maclean, DSC Captain J. C. Y. Roxburgh, DSO, DSC*

Captain A. N. C. Bingley, OBE Captain M. Le Fanu, DSC Captain J. E. PopeCaptain D. E. Holland-Martin, DSO, DSC* Captain J. B. Frewen Captain J. D. TreacherCaptain A. P. W. Northey, DSC* Commander P. L. Langley-Smith Captain I. G. W. Robertson, DSC

Captain E. D. G. Lewin, CBE, DSO, DSC* Commander G. B. Pearse Commander R. F. WhiteCommander A. T. F. G. Griffin Captain L. D. Empson

Before and After: Launched in 1951, extensive modernisation: was carried out on the present EAGLEfrom 1959to 1964

Below: 11 August 1942 - the previous EAGLE is torpedoed and sinks in the Mediterranean

Past and Present: the previous EAGLE is shown in photographs taken in 1939 ,