HMS Reclaim

[Keith Tindell]

Just been listening to that report on radio 4 Ivan, when we engaged down in the Falklands we had 60 frigates and destroyers. The retired Rear Admiral was very angry with politicians who had depleted our navy to that degree. We are not capable of meeting our commit acne to NATO, or defending our foreign lands. What a sad state of affairs, I can remember the Spithead reviews when I was a child, and now we have sunk to this. He also said a considerable number of those vessels had engine or propellor problems, kt

[j.sabourn]

Ivan when I was at sea in the early years I used to listen to the ABs talking about the navy and such, it was the consensus of opinion amongst them then that the size of the RN and its various ships was governed percentage wise by the tonnage of the British Merchant Navy of the time. Probably some dick head and one of our duly elected and vouched for zombies had heard the same story, and has been keeping the Navy back in the proportion of British Merchant Navy ships it was originally its duty to protect. And as he is an Honourable man or woman, as everyone of his kith and kin says, he has done his duty and has the excuse of bygone days as the British MN no longer has the ships to protect. The lack of knowledge of some of our recent and present leaders leaves much to be desired and I sometimes wonder what they are there for. Cheers JS

[John Arton]

Not directly related but I see on the news today that we are now down to a total of 19 frigates and destroyers and the number is set to fall, we don't have enough vessels to keep out illegal immigrants never mind the Russians, talk about successive governments having their heads in the sand, we are in a very woeful position.

Ivan
This is the state of play at present. As per usual our politicians have managed to reduce the RN to this state through ineptitude over the years.
Royal Navy fleet in danger of falling below current 'historic low' due to frigate delays, MPs warn
rgds
JA

[j.sabourn]

As I am almost sure that during our life times it was the usual practice of RN ships to carry Chinese Laundrymen, a lot of these civilians must also have been killed in various actions. No mention is ever made of these people, whereas as in all the footage of bombs and so forth in the middle east, it is always the first claim pushed forward about civilian casualties. Do the navy still carry civilians or has that practice been discarded and if so does anyone know when. Believe also some of the larger ships used to carry NAAFI employees. JS

[Hugh]

Hi John,

There were 6 Chinese laundrymen killed during the Falklands war. I was on the carrier Ark Royal in the mid 70s and we had a sizeable NAFFI contingent as well as laundrymen.
I cannot give a date but I don't think laundrymen are employed at sea anymore but I stand to be corrected.

What a sad state of affairs, I can remember the Spithead reviews when I was a child, and now we have sunk to this.

I was there in 1977 Keith the cuts started not long after that and they forgot to stop

Regards
Hugh

[Keith Tindell]

Hi Hugh , in 1977 I was stationed at Southsea Fire Station, and we trained every week on HMS Bulwark, as I recall she had a banner over the gangway stating, !HMS Bulwark will sail again!, she was at that time semi mothballed. My memory vaguely says she did in fact sail again, but I don't know in what use, or for how long. Having only ever worked on Merchant ships I was amazed how the other service lived !. It was however excellent training for our breathing apparatus exercises, kt

[Hugh]

It was however excellent training for our breathing apparatus exercises, kt

You certainly had plenty of decks to work on Keith. It was a long way down. You were correct she did indeed carry on in service until 1981.

Regards
Hugh

[j.sabourn]

On Merchant ships of my era, a general lay out plan of the vessel was kept in a Red Cylinderical tube at the head of the Gangway for use of the fire service in port. OK for the UK, but doubt would have been much use in some West African ports. As regards Laundry going back to first going to sea when there were no washing machines and a definite lack of Fresh Water, make one think about the old capital ships such as the Dreadnoughts, they had the same problems. Considering the amount of men they carried and the conditions they lived in, and the turn out that was expected of them, must have been a domestic nightmare. No wonder so many grew beards. I know when we were out for 5 weeks or so in the North sea no one shaved or showered after about 10 days as the water was for drinking purposes only. People see ships and never think much about the domestic problems involved. Today ships make their own water so many have grown up without these problems. JS

[cappy]

##had a great uncle who was a carpenter or joiner in the old HMS barham in WW1he told me he never got out the accom for months his accom was well below decks.....all watertight doors ........cappy

[j.sabourn]

Cappy something I never knew about Naval Ships until I took a converted supply vessel out in the Bristol Channel for a few days trials before handing over to the RN. All available tank space which would not have been used in their new role as armed coastal vessels for the Falklands was filled with table tennis balls of varying sizes, this no doubt was to raise their reserve buoyancy in case they suffered a hit. One never stops learning in shipping, I have learned quite a few things I never knew since coming on this site. Watertight doors could be a pain in the rectum when coming up to survey time as was usually for the ship to replace a lot of the rubber packing, sometimes the doors over the years had got warped and when battening down before the water test for surveyor, had to adjust the dogs at various tensions. There were a lot of the tricks of the trade, and have yet to see the perfect ship where everything worked satisfactory. Guarantee Drydocks were the worse as all alterations and repairs was supposed to be down to the builders costs, you try arguing with a Japanese shipyard boss that his design is wrong. Cheers JS