We have been advised by Alan Kennedy that Lt Cdr J.B.Wallace has joined the spare crew in perpatuity. He was the Jimmy during part of my time on Dreadnought and he was a Gentleman of the first order. (Bruce Allan)

We are very sorry to report that another of our members has crossed the Bar. We have no details of the funeral as yet.

LEADING SEAMAN KENNETH MARTIN HIGHAM ROBINSON K/A BIG ROBBIE

21ST JUNE 1947 - 21ST JULY 2010

Born and brought up in Bradford where members of his family still live, Big Robbie joined HMS Dreadnought in the early 70s leaving in 1976 to join the Australian Submarine Service. He was diagnosed with cancer in December 2009 and sadly passed away in Australia on 21st July 2010. He leaves Dorothy, his wife, Joanne and Colin his two children and two granddaughters. He was so looking forward to meeting up with old friends at the 2011 reunion -RIP

Graham Richard Syass, Very sad to report that Graham at the relatively young age of 56 years of age, died (cancer) on 22^nd April 2010. Submarine Service including SOVEREIGN where he was also the Mess Pres. Graham also served on the Dreadnought from 1978 to 1979

Funeral at St Stephens by Saltash on Friday 7^th May at 1345.

Family flowers only

Donations (if desired) to MacMillan Nurses to COOP Funeral Care, 160, Callington Road, Saltash PL12 6HZ – Phone 01752 303165

Please note the Crossing of the Bar of another ex Dreadnought Member

Former Chief TI Jeff Mathews, died on Monday 8th March of Lung Cancer. Funeral arrangements are meeting at Leslie Golf Club on Monday 15th March at 1030, close to Glenrothers in Fife

Then onto Leslie Cemetery for 1100 for the funeral.

Jeff served on Dreadnought, Superb, Otter, Splendid and Torbay and was an all round good egg and an excellent mate and run ashore oppo who will be sorely missed.

Kind regards

Pitt.k (former naval person)

The Date of the funeral is as yet unknown but will be published when known.

26th January 2010.
CPO Coxswain Peter (Ollie) Hards Age 75 Submarine Service 1954 to 1975

Served In Taciturn, Sturdy, Sentinel, Sanguine, Sea Devil, Oberon, Walrus Dreadnought, Orpheus, Sceptre.

Ollies's Family have asked that no flowers be sent, any Donations should be sent to the Countess Mountbatten Hospice c/o Southampton General Hospital

Tremona Road, Southamton, SO16 6YD. (to be completed when further info received)

After Peter left the RN. He worked for the Cutlers' Livery Company in the City of London as the Beadle. This involved him in administering their Hall, situated in Warwick Lane , close to St Paul 's Cathedral. He was also their toastmaster; organised Livery Dinners; attended the various elections for the Lord Mayor's and Sheriffs where he ensured that their Master was in the right place and dressed in the Company's Livery with the badge of office; ensured the correct ceremonial was carried out at the Hall and on all occasions of committees being held in the Hall that the members sat in their correct places. He continued to work for other Livery Companies after he retired as Toastmaster which involved the collection and then returning of badges, gowns and silver to where they were stored. He thoroughly enjoyed his work in the City. He was also a Founding Member of the City of London Beadles ' Guild. The Guild's motto is "Tradition".

Any cards or letters of condolence should be sent to Peter’s widow at the following address:-

Mrs R. Hards, 19 Little Green, Alverstoke, Gosport , PO12 2EU.

Lifted From the Times 10th December 2009

From The Times

December 10, 2009

Rear-Admiral ‘Sam’ Salt: submarine captain and Falklands veteran

A career submariner and, at 5ft 4in, notably short of stature, James Frederick Thomas George Salt was always known as “Sam”. His father, Lieutenant-Commander George Salt, perished when his submarine, Triad, was sunk after a fierce duel on the surface with an Italian submarine in the Mediterranean on the night of October 14, 1940, his son being less than six months old.

Salt had the misfortune to command the first British warship to be sunk during the Falklands conflict of 1982. This was the Type 42 guided-missile destroyer Sheffield.

On May 4, Sheffield was the southernmost of three Type 42 ships stationed “up threat” to the west of the main body of the task force, protecting the vital aircraft carriers Hermes and Invincible.

Successive defence cuts having deprived the Navy of its “eye in the sky” airborne radar capability, task force ships were vulnerable to low-level attacks using the curvature of the Earth to avoid detection and were therefore very conscious of the menace of the Argentine Super Étendard fighter-bomber carrying the French sea-skimming guided missile Exocet.

At 13.56, when the Type 42 destroyer Glasgow intercepted Agave radar, known to be from the Super Étendard, Sheffield was operating her satellite communications link, the bandwidth of which happened to interfere with Agave radar reception. Glasgow fired Chaff D — a particular pattern of rockets creating clumps of metallic ribbon that produce ship-like echoes hopefully able to distract the Exocet radar homing head — and broadcast her enemy report. In most ships by this date, chaff was in short supply and was being husbanded.

Having popped up to view target ships by radar, the Super Étendards turned towards Sheffield at very low level and released their missiles. Sheffield was unable to lock her Seadart missile system on to this low target. Her electronic intercept equipment detected an Exocet homing in on her, in the locked-on mode. But it was too late to fire chaff, a decision that might have been taken earlier by the subordinate warfare officer in the command centre. This had not been done in the absence of the air warfare expert, who was unfortunately in the wardroom at this crucial moment.

It is believed that the Exocet warhead did not explode, but the kinetic energy of the impact and the residual missile fuel produced a raging fire and dense smoke, which, with the damage to firefighting installations, proved uncontrollable. Salt had to order his crew to abandon ship, with 20 dead and 26 injured. Sheffield eventually sank while under tow several days later.

The task force commander, Rear-Admiral “Sandy” Woodward, remarked in his diary that “we would all have to get seriously sharper if we were to survive”.

Salt’s introduction to modern missile warfare also included an interview on television within an hour or two of losing his ship, which he managed well despite his acute distress.

One of Sheffield’s ship’s company remarked: “He was the finest captain I ever served under. He was a mentor and a father.” Another said: “If he had ever needed a ship’s company, there would have been a stampede to be there.”

His earlier career included command of the diesel-electric submarine Finwhale after which he was selected for nuclear submarines, serving as second-in-command of the Polaris ballistic missile submarine Resolution from 1973 to 1974 and subsequently commanding the attack nuclear submarine Dreadnought. After the Falklands conflict, confidence in his qualities was rewarded by command of another Type 42 destroyer, Southampton.

In 1984 he was appointed assistant chief of staff (Operations) to the C-in-c Fleet, based at Northwood, where he was noted for his good judgment, cheerful humour and quickness of mind. On one occasion, in the interests of putting the maritime case before the public, his briefing of a group of defence journalists managed to display on the huge wall map virtually the entire disposition of the Soviet submarine fleet in the North Atlantic — a highly secret matter — by the subtle technique of asking the correspondents how they would dispose their forces, given such and such unclassified deductions. The French Navy, outside the military structure of Nato, did not subscribe to the Anglo-US submarine water space management system, keeping the whereabouts of its submarines secret. Salt, who was not entirely friendly with the French liaison officer, was able to announce that a British frigate with its hydrophone detection system had found and was tracking the French nuclear deterrent in the Norwegian Sea.

Otherwise he dealt with continuing Gulf and Falkland deployments, evacuation of British nationals from Lebanon in 1984, the clearance of Libyan-laid mines in the Red Sea in 1985 and the control of surveillance operations against the Soviet Navy at the height of the Cold War.

He was subsequently a director of defence intelligence in the Ministry of Defence and the senior naval staff member of the Royal College of Defence Studies, Belgrave Square.

During the Gulf War which lasted from August 1990 to February 1991, Salt was the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff overseeing the substantial British naval operations in support of Operation Desert Storm and for which he was appointed CB.

Promoted to rear-admiral, he was appointed military deputy of defence export services for five years until 1997 when he retired and became head of marketing for Colebrand. His professional attitudes and cheerful, ebullient personality stood him in good stead when he became director of UK ship sales for Vosper Thorneycroft, afterwards VT Shipbuilding, staying in the job until 2005. “He was equally at ease working with either government ministers or welders,” said a colleague.

He was a Freeman of the Cordwainers livery company from 1962, becoming a liveryman in 1965, and serving on the court from 1994 to the present day. He was master of the company in 2000 to 2001, and was renowned for his enthusiastic leadership, good humour and decisiveness.

His wife, Penelope, and three of their four sons survive him, one son having perished in a climbing accident.

Rear-Admiral “Sam” Salt, CB, submariner, Falklands war veteran and businessman, was born on April 19, 1940. He died of cancer on December 3, 2009, aged 69

Lifted Verbatim from the Daily Telegraph

Published: 6:04PM GMT 06 Dec 2009

Comments 4 | Comment on this article

Salt on board HMS Hermes after the loss of HMS Sheffield Photo: Martin Cleaver/PA Archive

On May 4 1982, during the Falklands War, Salt was captain of the Type 42 guided-missile destroyer Sheffield, one of three ships stationed up-threat of the task force to protect the aircraft carriers Hermes and Invincible. In the early afternoon another destroyer, Glasgow, intercepted three radar sweeps from an enemy aircraft.

In Sheffield Salt had been summoned to speak on Satcom (satellite communications radio), the frequency of which interfered with the same radar reception, but at 1359 Glasgow detected two fast-moving radar contacts 25 miles away and broadcast an alarm.

Having briefly gained altitude to view their target by radar, two Argentine Super-Etendards then turned towards Sheffield at sea level and released their Exocet missiles at 1402 from about eight miles. Sheffield's electronic intercept equipment detected an Exocet which was already locked on to her, but at very low level and short range, so her Seadart missile system was unable to engage.

A lookout saw the flash of the missile launch and called "Hit the deck!" but seconds later there was a thud "like a car going over a large stone in the road" as a missile slammed into Sheffield amidships; although it did not explode, its kinetic energy and the unspent fuel created dense smoke and started a fierce fire which quickly raged out of control.

The heat was so intense that the firefighters were scalded by the water from their hoses which boiled as it hit the ship's hot bulkheads. The paint blistered away, giving off nauseous fumes. Despite every effort to save her, by early evening Salt had to order his crew to abandon ship, with 20 dead and 24 injured. Several days later Sheffield sank while under tow. Writing about the event in his biography One Hundred Days, Admiral Sir Sandy Woodward remarked: "We would all have to get seriously sharper if we were to survive."

The sinking of the "Shiny Sheff" – the first of four Royal Navy vessels to be lost in the course of the conflict – shocked the British nation and put an end to any possible diplomatic solution to the dispute over the Falkland Islands between Britain and Argentina.

James Frederick Thomas George Salt, always known as Sam, was born on April 19 1940, six months before his father was lost in the submarine Triad which sailed from Malta for war patrol in the Gulf of Taranto and was never heard from again.

Modern analysis indicates that she was sunk by on the night of October 14/15 by the Italian submarine Enrico Toti.

Sam was educated at Wellington, entered Dartmouth in 1958 and, after worldwide service in surface ships, followed his father into submarines. After successful command of the diesel-electric Fin Whale from 1969 to 1971, he was selected for nuclear submarines and served as second-in-command of the Polaris ballistic missile submarine Resolution, before commanding the nuclear-powered attack submarine Dreadnought in 1978-79.

The Navy's confidence in Salt was demonstrated by his appointment, immediately after the Falklands War, to command of another Type 42 destroyer, Southampton. In 1984 he became Assistant Chief of Staff (Operations) at fleet headquarters in Northwood, where he managed naval operations worldwide, including deployment to the Persian Gulf and the Falklands, evacuation of British nationals from Lebanon, the clearance of mines in the Red Sea in 1985, and surveillance operations against the Soviet Navy at the height of the Cold War.

He worked in defence intelligence in 1986-87 and, as a rear-admiral, was senior naval member from 1988 to 1990 at the Royal College of Defence Studies, Belgrave Square. During the first Gulf War in 1990-91, when the Navy made a substantial contribution to Operation Desert Storm. Salt was Assistant Chief of Naval Staff, and was appointed CB.

Salt was military deputy in Defence Export Services from 1992 to 1997 when he retired to become head of marketing for Colebrand Ltd. In 2001 he became director of UK ship sales for Vosper Thorneycroft, working there until 2005.

Salt was quiet and economical with his words but, despite his small stature, was renowned for his enthusiastic leadership, his ability to motivate people, his astute decision making and, not least, his sense of humour. When appropriate he could be indiscreet: once he showed journalists where Soviet submarines were deployed and invited them to say what countermeasures they would take.

On another occasion he needled the French, who were reluctant to participate in an Anglo-US agreement about where their submarines should be, telling their liaison officer at Northwood that a British frigate had detected and was in the trail of a French missile submarine.

Though emotional in the days immediately after the loss of his ship and some of his people, afterwards Salt managed to keep his grief private and to retain the loyalty of the survivors in the HMS Sheffield Association.

He displayed some skill at stone-engraving and painting and loved sailing and gardening. He was Master of the Cordwainers' Company in 2000-01.

Sam Salt married, in 1975, Penelope Walker, who survives him with their three sons; another son predeceased him.

Taken From The Daily Telegraph September 2002

Captain Peter Samborne

Captain Peter Samborne, who has died aged 78, commanded Britain's first nuclear-powered submarine Dreadnought in the early 1960s.

Even Admiral Hyman Rickover of the US Navy - who was never slow to criticise the Royal Navy's progress in the rudest fashion - was impressed by the technical and intellectual competence of Samborne when he was selected to train in American nuclear-powered submarines.

Samborne first attended No 1 Nuclear Course at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, then spent nine months in the USS Skipjack, learning about the S5W power plant which was being installed in Dreadnought. Exceptionally for a seaman officer in the RN, Samborne qualified as engineer officer of the watch and was later regarded as one of the best nuclear engineers of his generation.

The Navy recognised the significance of a new generation of submarines not just by giving the first boat the name of a revolutionary ship (the 1905 battleship Dreadnought), but also by asking the Queen to launch her on Trafalgar Day, 1961.

All previous submarines had been taken on sea trials by the shipbuilder, but only Samborne and his crew were qualified to take the new Dreadnought to sea. Since Vickers had responsibility for the trials, they overcame this contractual problem by paying Samborne £1 for his services; he started a new tradition by hanging the framed pound note in the wardroom.

There were many firsts during Samborne's command. In 1962 he got the surfaced Dreadnought "on the step", that is, rising through the water, like a planing speedboat; and in 1964 she crossed the Atlantic underwater at a speed in excess of 24 knots. That year, after more than three years in Dreadnought, he was appointed OBE.

Barnaby Frederick Palmer Samborne, known as Peter, was born on September 3 1924 at Timbury House, Somerset, and went to St Christopher's School, Bath, before joining Dartmouth aged 13.5. His first ship was the Town class light cruiser Liverpool. In 1942, while escorting the desperately needed Convoy WS19 to Malta, Liverpool was hit in the engine room and disabled

She could be towed only at slow speed by the destroyer Antelope, but she helped save the convoy because the Italian air force concentrated their subsequent attacks upon the crippled cruiser, leaving the convoy to escape eastwards in the darkness. During the attack, Midshipman Samborne controlled Liverpool's 4” anti-aircraft guns from the transmitting station; and the ship shot down at least seven aircraft. Samborne was mentioned in dispatches for his bravery and resolution in keeping the high-angle guns firing accurately while under continuous attack and as the ship listed heavily.

Later he served briefly in the battleship Malaya in Force H in the Mediterranean, and in the Hunt class destroyer Lamerton during the North African campaign and the landings on Sicily. Samborne joined the "trade", as the submarine service is sometimes known, in January 1944 and served as navigating officer and then first lieutenant of Tuna.

His next submarine was the Amphion, the first of a new class designed for service in the British Pacific Fleet. He joined her while she was building at Barrow, gaining experience which would later stand him in good stead. Samborne was then appointed to Reserve Submarine Group, Portsmouth, the submarine school at Gosport, and as officer commanding Rothesay Attack Teacher; but for two decades he served almost continually at sea.

He passed the submarine commanding officers' qualifying course, the "perisher", and commanded the submarines Sturdy, Tabard and Trenchant until promoted Commander. After the war, the Navy had pioneered the use of submarines for intelligence gathering; each operation required the Prime Minister's personal approval, and in 1955 Samborne was entrusted to take Tabard to the Barents Sea.

After Dreadnought, he was given a series of staff appointments ashore, including Deputy Chief of Staff of the Nato command on Malta from 1967 to 1970. But Samborne was unhappy in staff posts ashore. He retired as a captain, while many of the officers who had served under him in Dreadnought were to become admirals. These included Sir John Fieldhouse, who succeeded him in Dreadnought's command and later was C-in-C, Fleet, during the Falklands War. After retiring from the Navy, Samborne marketed periscopes for the instrument makers Barr and Stroud.

Samborne, who died on September 28, married Margaret Brewster in 1945. She died in 1988, and he is survived by their second son, who commanded the nuclear-powered submarine Swiftsure in 1987-89, and by their daughter; their elder son died in 2000

Taken From the Naval Review March 1992 Issue.

Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fieldhouse, GCB, GBE (12-02-1928 - 17 -02-1992)

It is with great sadness that we record the A death at the age of 64 of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fieldhouse, GCB, GBE. Many members will have lost a personal friend; the navy will have lost a powerful ally; the country has lost a great and wise man.

The outline of John Fieldhouse's career is well known to many of the Dreadnought Association Members but bears some repetition. He joined as a 13-year-old cadet in 1941, specialised in submarines and made most of his earlier career in that specialisation. He was quickly into nuclear-powered command and his outstanding success there laid the foundation for subsequent appointments on his way to the top. Of these the most significant perhaps were as Director of Naval Warfare, immediately followed by Flag Officer, Second Flotilla and Flag Officer Submarines, in the middle and late 1970s. Further service in Whitehall as Controller was followed by his appointment as Commander-in-Chief, Fleet, in 1981.

It was here that the great responsibility of the conduct of the South Atlantic campaign fell upon him in 1982: a test and an opportunity willingly accepted, the result superbly achieved. The mixture of well-practised procedures and hectic improvisation that were characteristic of the campaign were, in the light of history, nothing new for the Royal Navy.

John Fieldhouse emerged as one of their principal exponents and most successful exploiters.

His subsequent appointment as First Sea Lord was clearly marked, and he brought to the post not only experience but influence. He had to contend with, if not exactly a backlash, at least suspicion that the navy was seeking a disproportionate return from its service in the South Atlantic. Those who had serviced the Nott Review of 1981, and had been proved so dramatically wrong, were in many cases still in place; and much of his time in office was spent in combatting the 'sea blindness' (his phrase) that persisted.

His move to the appointment of Chief of Defence Staff, though out of Buggins' sequence, was widely predicted in view of the close relationship of trust between him and the Prime Minister that had subsisted since the Falkland; conflict. When that appointment came to an end

in 1988, it was widely predicted that he would become the Chairman of NATO's Military Committee, an appointment of great international importance and one for which, with his experience, he was exceptionally well fitted. Perhaps we shall never be certain whether he would have got the job, for which there were other contenders; for just before the final decision was to be made, he suffered a ruptured aorta. By a near-miraculous run of circumstance his life was preserved then, but clearly his health would not allow a further arduous appointment.

His outstanding services to the Navy and the Nation were recognised by a life peerage in 1990; his sponsors in the Lords were Admiral of the Fleet Lord Lewin and Field Marshal Lord Bramall.

I was not sure who could do justice to John in a personal appreciation, but since I knew him almost since his entry to Dartmouth and worked near him often enough since, and given the short time before our closing date for the April issue, I felt I should take on the task myself even though there must be others much better qualified than I.

One's recollections of some people vary a great deal: their development seems relatively rapid, or their inconsistencies colour one's memory. But my recollections of John vary very little, from the ages of 14 or 15 to 63. There was always that quiet manner, economy of word and apparent effort, slightly quizzical glance. It was with mild surprise that one discovered (as we all did at RNC Eaton Hall) that Actually Fieldhouse was Quite Keen. He was his own man even then, I think; there was nothing manufactured about him.

He was a great simplifier. I recall a car journey to Corsham, where the Directors of the Naval Staff were to brainstorm for a day or two, when he explained the principles and application of Fast Fourier Transforms in a way that a non-submariner, non-TASman could readily understand. His whole approach was like that. He took trouble to understand the complexities all right, but fought his way through them to the simplicities beyond. Few could fail to enjoy his gentle, unsardonic humour.

There was a certain dinner at Dean House, Lee-on-the-Solent, which in earlier days had been the local Wrennery; and John took some delight in pointing out the kitchen window that had been the means of communication between him and Midge — that splendid, fiercely loyal consort who supported him through thick and thin thereafter.

Barrow has lost a well known shipyard Historian with the death on August 27th 2006 from a heart attack of former submariner Chief Stoker Dave Tull.

Mr Tull, 69, of Wheathouse Road, Barrow was the first Curator of Barrow’s popular Dock Museum and a former Assistant Curator of the National Maritime Museum, in Greenwich.

After 25 years in the Royal Navy David enrolled at Lancaster University where he obtained a BA Honours Degree in Archaeology and History. This degree enabled David to pursue his new career as a Naval Historian.

He was Archivist for the Submarine Heritage Centre Project in Barrow which is in the process of creating a submarine Museum in Barrow. The centre has recently been gifted with a Diesel/Electric submarine HMS/m Onyx which featured prominently in the Falklands campaign.

Mr Tull leaves a wife Joyce, a son Martin and two grandchildren. He collapsed on Sunday and died at Furness General Hospital.

Terry Spurling of the Submariners Association who heads the Submarine Heritage Project, said; “He will be sadly missed. Dave was a shipmate. I had known him for 43 years. We had both served together on HMS/m Dreadnought the

’s first Nuclear powered submarine.”

Alan Jones, Chairman of the Submariners Association in Barrow, said; “We were looking forward to working together on the Submarine Heritage Centre. We are shocked and stunned by his death and our thoughts are with his family.