HMS'Nairana'.....HNLMS'Karel Doorman.....Port Victor.

[Frederick Lacey]

In March 1950 I joined the Port Victor and did 2 trips to Oz & NZ until Mar 1951 and in the foyer there was a plaque
of the 'Nairana' crest, I wasn't aware of its significance, nobody spoke about it or even mentioned the history of the
Victor, its maiden voyage was the previous trip, so I did its 2nd and third, it seemed to be just a ship, but on exploring
have found it has quite a historic past and Second WW action, I wonder why this wasn't recognised or spoken about at
the time. As an Aircraft Carrier it had 15 to 20 planes, saw convoy action in the mid Atlantic, Gibralter and Russia, and
searching for and locating U Boats, at one time it carried 728 men, After the war it went to the Dutch Navy for a while.
Was a good ship to be on as I remember. Skipper was E Lawrey.


Fred. R525985.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Nairana_(D05)

[michelle carr]

Hello Frederick,
i have been doing some research on the Port Victor as my grandfather Trevor Austin Thomas was an officer (engineering) on board at some point between 1950 - 1960, although i am sure it was probably in 1951/1952 after he completed training on the Port Hobart. he died of a heart attack when he was in his 40's. i have been trying to find crew lists of any information but i can find nothing, unfortunately .

[Leonard Friend]

Hi I joined her as a deck boy I seem to remember the deck boys cabin was aft the cabin deck used to be moveable as it was a aircraft lift from the hanger below.We had a good ships football team and won the Auckland cup in 1963 approx

[Roger Millard]

I was in the deck boys cabin on The Port Victor sept 1960-61 if i remember correctly it was a six berth cabin, one more recollection of the officers serving us with food on the 25th December in Hobart, memories of the rest of the day are brief owing to the amount of four bells consumed in competition with the ABs. Roger.