Navy Years

From September 1971 till April 1972 I was in HMS Fisguard near Plymouth doing basic training. Almost all the other guys I joined with were just finished GCSE’s so I was a year older than them. This meant I went from just coping at school to being almost at the top of the class in navy training. The thought of leaving never entered my mind. There wasn’t much time to do anything outside the navy during these few months but I did take over the bicycle facility, fixed up at least 20 of the bikes there and go out cycling with some friends quite often.

I then opted to specialise in Control Electronics and went to HMS Collingwood near Fareham for a year. I can’t think of anything memorable about this year except I did my driving lessons and passed my test, but didn’t get a car for another two years. I travelled around the area a lot by bicycle and train going to Portsmouth and Southampton quite often.

My next year was spent on board two frigates first HMS Berwick then HMS Lowestoft. I was in Gibraltar for a few months and at sea or south UK ports the rest of the time. There was an intensive training schedule to do and spent some of the time in all the different electronics departments on board the ships.

My third year was back to HMS Collingwood to continue my training and I passed my ONC in Electronic Engineering and my RN Apprenticeship.
I bought my first car, this was a white Morris 1300. By now I had specialised in submarine sonar and next I was to move a few miles down the road to HMS Dolphin to train in the various sonar equipment.

I joined the Royal Navy Mountaineering Club and went off on trips to North Wales and the Lake District to climb the hills. I also took advantage of being by the sea, this greatly expanded my sailing experience including racing in navy competitions. I also did a little more horse riding.

After my sonar training, I went to HMS Royal Arthur near Bristol for a two month Leadership Training Course. I remember this being the summer of 1976 with the record hot temperatures.

At this time I got my second car – a Triumph Dolomite 1854cc. I chose this car mainly because of its overdrive gearbox, also it had lots of other features I liked. I then proceeded to add quite a few of the sprint extras, alloy wheels, sunshine roof, electronic ignition etc. I had this car for 11 years and drove about 120,000 miles which was exceptionally good for a 1976 car.

Next in September I went to Plymouth to join HMS Sovereign for 2½ years till January 1979, this was a newish (one year old) nuclear powered, but just torpedo armed fleet submarine. Fairly quickly I passed my submarine safety qualification and was awarded my submarine pay which was about a 30% increase above those working in regular surface ships. This was seriously the time in my life when I had to deliver and use all my previous years of training to fix whatever problem occurred with the sonar in a new and very complicated and strange environment. There wasn’t even one minute a day to relax.  This was a 24hr a day job with lots to learn as well, and just a few hours to sleep on a good day. After some short trips we were off on a long journey under the polar ice cap, surfacing in various places including the North Pole itself.

After some more deployments in 1977, we went to Chatham, Kent for a few months to have some nuclear reactor maintenance. While there I was close enough to London to have a few nights out but I really wish I had made a lot more use of my time out.

I remember a unique experience on 1st January 1978 when I was on duty early but had been home in Solihull for the new year so, in the very early hours of the new year morning, I drove back to Chatham. I don’t remember another car on the road for all 150 miles. I did the journey in under two hours and crossed the middle of London from M1 to M2 with no M25 in existence in around 20 minutes. I am sure if a record existed in the Guinness Book of Records for fastest driving across London I could claim it. A unique set of circumstances existed where I had a fairly powerful car, knew the route very well, there was vastly less traffic lights than now, no speed cameras and no other vehicles around.

After my time in Chatham we returned to Plymouth for a few more deployments. In Jan 1979 I moved on to the Faslane submarine base about 30 miles West of Glasgow.

Navy Years 2

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