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GYX, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Coronation Day, a Royal Welcome, Gibraltar & Home
"Seems a bright boy!"...
At the beginning of January 1954, HMS Bermuda and most of the Mediterranean
Fleet was to be found back in Malta. I was operator of the watch on the
First Watch (20.00 to 00.59) on the 5th January and Ldg. Tel. Pete King
was the Leading Hand of the watch.
During the evening of the eleven signals that were sent by Malta radio
station GYX, nine concerned Bermuda. Each ship was required to answer in
alphabetical order of call-sign, and as HMS Gambia (call-sign GCFX) was
elsewhere (probably at Suez), HMS Bermuda (call-sign GCQP) was first to answer.
I was quite amused to hear virtually every ship having to transmit IMI
(repeat) while I had the good fortune to have been able to receive them all
first time. I shall never forget on one occasion when every other ship in
the fleet asked for a repetition, the operator in GYX sent the repetition to all
ships "XMT GCQP" then repeated the signal very slowly... have you ever heard
sarcastic Morse? GYX was not amused! Of course there always was rivalry
among operators but this really had me chuckling.
Just before midnight when the watches changed and when we were less likely to
be on our guard, GYX called GCQP on its own and transmitted "INT ZZB1"
("indicate the name of the operator on watch") and I gave them my name,
informing Pete King what had happened, but not really knowing why.
Two days later I found out when a letter from the Radio Control Officer, C in
C, was received by HMS Bermuda Senior Communications Officer, Lt. Cdr. The Hon.
T. Hornyold-Strickland. It was posted on the mess notice-board for which I
received a lot of stick from my oppo (pal) Stan Snape (we were great rivals) who
said I was only doing my job! Of course he was right... but... I did not
know until now (March 2008) that he received a similar one the following week
when he was called into the SCO's office
with his
ASCO regarding a compliment letter from GYX on his recent effort where he said
"well done and Carr had one the week before" (curses!) and that we were the best 2
ops onboard. He kept quiet about that for half a century! I think
that was the only time I was one step ahead of Stan!
It was Lord Louis himself who said that the
Communications Branch was the best branch in the Royal Navy and the Royal Navy
was the best navy in the world. Since the Mountbatten's Mediterranean Fleet was, no
doubt, the best fleet in the Royal Navy and the Bermuda was quite clearly the
best ship in the Fleet... does that mean that Stan and I were the two best
sparkers in all the world? (He!He! just a thought!).
As to who was the best others will have to judge
after reading the postscript!
Postscript
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The documents are shown on the
left. There is a postscript to all
this. Although I am not sure of the date I think it was fairly
shortly afterwards that we had an Admiral's Inspection, and the C in C
Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten came on board. It was customary on
those occasions for those who had done something out of the ordinary to
be presented to the C in C. I was given
that honour as a result of my commendation from GYX. (I
was standing next to a seaman who had fallen overboard during a
replenishment at sea!) Alas, the
ship's photographer ran out of film just at the crucial moment so I do
not have a picture of the event. So if anyone out there has a
picture of the group I would be pleased to hear from you. |
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| To celebrate the Coronation of Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953, a contingent from HMS Bermuda
joined in a parade on the seafront at Limassol, Cyprus. Above are some
photographs of the parade drawn up, the inspection by the Governor, the
march past as well as one of the houses decorated for the occasion. |
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Towards the end of her world tour,
Her Majesty the Queen transited the Mediterranean in the Royal Yacht
Britannia, accompanied by HMS Glasgow, flying the flag of the C inC.
HMS Bermuda, flying the flag of FO2 led the remainder of the Fleet in
intricate manoeuvres, a display of anti-submarine exercises and fly past of
naval aircraft. Whilst in Grand Harbour the ships were floodlit -- an
impressive sight. The two photographs on the left show the Britannia
escorted by the fleet, and individual shot of the Bermuda. The superb
picture to the left has been kindly sent to me by Stan Snape and shows HMS
Glasgow, Gambia & Bermuda, although it may have been HMS Glasgow, Bermuda &
Gambia, as Bermuda was flying the flag of F.O.2. during the intricate
manoeuvres when meeting with HM
the Queen. |
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| PO Tel Wally Hayhurst & Chief ERA (name unknown) at Gibraltar
with HMS Vanguard in the background. We also embarked one of the
Scottish Regiments whose band brought a taste of home to ex-patriot 'Jocks'. |
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| Navy Days at Devonport . The pictures show a
display by the Royal Marine Band, the field gun display, the static
communication display, and the live operating room manned by Telegraphists
Skevington, Tait & others. |
 Inevitably
with the passing of time we hear or read about the death of one of the more
notable officers of the ships in which we served. One of these was
Commander Hugh Boyce, Electrical Officer, on HMS Bermuda, who died on 6th June,
2004. He is seated on the first row of seated officers, second from the
right, in the photograph taken with the then Greek Royal Family. His
obituary published in the times makes inspired reading. Click the heading
or the picture to read.
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Two pictures of HMS Bermuda in its later history have
been sent to me by Stan Jones who was a Leading Writer during this
commission the first shows the ship in the Keil Canal while the second
shows the ship at pictured at Briton Ferry, South Wales prior to her
being towed to the breaker's yard of Thomas Ward. |
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