The Med, a Royal visit, Cyprus, Gibraltar & Home

Towards the end of her tour of duty in the Mediterranean, HMS Ark Royal engaged in a variety of exercises as well as keeping a watching brief as things developed in the Lebanon.  We had a visit from His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, who witnessed air target practice.  In June, HMS Ark Royal was relieved by HMS Eagle off Cyprus and soon we were heading west to Gibraltar, Portsmouth and Devonport.

The Duke of Edinburgh being welcomed by Capt F.H.E. Hopkins		Westland Sea Hornets taxi-ing to take off	Skyraider taking off	Air target practice
Royal Party returning after air target practice	Skyraider hooking on	Flight of Sea Hawks over-flying HMS Ark Royal	Sea Hawk about to hook on	Sea Venom catapulted from HMS Ark Royal

A firework display accompanied our farewell to HMS Eagle taking over from Ark Royal at Cyprus (above). The centre picture shows Leading Signalman Jake Lawson nearly becoming part of the display!
Deck Hockey off Gibraltar	The V/UHF Team	The Communication Division, Grand Harbour 1958	The V/UHF Team with some of our gear	At Gibraltar

The centre picture above shows HMS Ark Royal's Communication Division taken in Grand Harbour, Malta. The two pictures either side are of the V & UHF Communication Team, Willie Brown, "Jock" Morris, and myself.  I was been promoted to Local Acting Petty Officer Telegraphist whilst in Ark Royal.

Gibraltar Harbour	HMS Ark Royal alongside at Gibraltar	Gibraltar Main Street	Government House, Gibraltar

We had a last visit to Gibraltar before returning UK waters.  En route the squadrons flew back to Lee on Solent and & Yeovil before the ship paid a visit to Portsmouth and then back home to Plymouth, entering Devonport on 5th July 1958 to pay off.

Postcript

After leaving the Ark Royal, I was drafted to the Royal Naval Signal School, HMS Mercury, now sadly closed down, where I spent 18 months as an Instructor.  I left the Royal Navy on 17th August 1960, and followed a career in sales and sales management with Unilever, Dome Laboratories, Rowntree & Nestlé, before settling more recently in the Southampton area.  The Ark Royal itself had several more commissions before being towed on 23 September 1980 from Plymouth to Cairnryan in Scotland to be broken up.

Her successor HMS Ark Royal V has recently been taken out of moth-balls, rededicated by her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and subsequently saw service in the Gulf War of 2003.  The photographs below show the departure of the Ark Royal (V) from Portsmouth.

Obituary- Admiral of the Fleet Lord Hill-Norton

Although the then Captain Peter Hill-Norton assumed command of HMS Ark Royal at the start of her third commission in 1959 and not in her second commission, I felt it might be appropriate to post here the obituary published in The Times following his death on May 16, 2004, aged 89.  Click on the picture or heading to read his obituary.

Vice-Admiral Sir Ian McIntosh

Many will remember that as a Commander, Ian McIntosh was appointed second-in-command of HMS Ark Royal during her second commission, assuming command of the ship on the departure of Captain F H E Hopkins on 16th July, 1958, becoming the interim CO while the ship began a major refit.  His obituary was published in The Times following his death on July 31, 2003, aged 83.  Click on the pictures or heading to read the obituary.

My own connection with Commander McIntosh was receiving 3 days stoppage of leave while the ship was in Gibraltar for going on to the waist out of the rig of the day when entering harbour (inadvertently I hasten to add!!).  However, I was allowed to go ashore 'under escort' to play hockey for the communications staff team and we subsequently received the cup from Captain Hopkins with Commander McIntosh looking on from behind.

Denis Woodham wrote to me in 2008 as follows: "I was a Ganges boy in 1957, went on to serve in Ark Royal as an air mechanic and then Victorious as helicopter aircrew.  My captain in Victorious was Ian McIntosh, although I left the RN in 1968 I kept in touch with him right up to his death.  What a wonderful man and inspired leader, I enjoyed time in his and his delightful wife's company"

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