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Where Is He now?
PHILIP (JESSIE) JAMES
As for my background, I joined the National Sea Training School for Boys T.S. Indefatigable Plas Llanfair, North Wales in May of 1963. This was a shock to me, because it I was on my own for the first time and in an environment that was full of boys from all parts of the social levels, from children homes for orphans to kids like me, who I guess had a reasonable upbringing.
At the tender age of 14, my eyes were opening rapidly to the fitting in to strange disciplined regimes, to protection rackets run by 2 gangs. It was hell, however I survived ok. In fact, one quote I found on the web was that it is like a borstal masquerading as a national sea training school for boys. I learnt how to survive, and avoided having my jaw broken by paying sixpence a week each to the two gangs. I made good friends there, but I had enough of it, and after a year, and applied to join the Royal Navy and failed the first time. The second attempt was a success.
So in June of 1964 I was a Junior Seaman in 69 Recruitment at HMS Ganges Keppel 2 Mess, and found that the 2 weeks sea training on HMS Wakefield, that I was pretty good at being sea sick. After a year I was off to HMS Vernon to play with Sonar, and for the guys that was around that time you will remember the MASTU's and ASUATS; the mobile sonar training caravan things that filled the back of the training school grounds.
Later, I was drafted to HMS Aurora, a Leander Class Frigate based at Portland. It was not too long when this sea sickness thing got the better of me and I joined HMS Dolphin. No waves underwater and you got more pay for it! Or so I thought. Part of the training was having again at sea onboard HM Submarines Aeneas, and Finwhale. My first experience of pooping when "On the roof" and ditching gash in rough seas. God I was in a state. Being sea sick was not an option, and so on one occasion I swallowed it saving the embarrassment of throwing up in the control room adjacent to the Navigating Officer.
March 1967 came and I was drafted to HM Submarine Dreadnought. Fabulous! and what a change. Being a "Part 3" was the best training I have ever had, with Terry Spurling, Dave Tull teaching me the systems. I never forgot that the can crusher was plumbed in to the external hydraulic supply! Lt Sam Salt, was my Divisional Officer, and what a team to respect and aspire to! Yes, off we all went to Singapore and back, breaking many records as we sailed. With Africa to our right, and sailing north I can vaguely remember that we could not make contact with the UK trying to avoid a possible "Submiss" when LRO Appleby was able to negotiate with an African post office chappie to send a message that we are all alive and kicking. (Can any one qualify this for me?). Donut's reactor suffering from "Black clouds" during the fast home bound legs, and having to slow down regularly and gain power for another fast run.
1967 I left Dreadnought and joined Warspite, and not a patch on Donut. But it was a tough beast, and this was proven by hitting icebergs near the Kola inlet, losing an "egg beater", and catching fire back aft. It still kept going. I still missed Donut for the sheer atmosphere and comradeship that the crew developed. Off to Churchill in 1969, then "YES!" I was back on Donut for another Singapore trip, via Simonstown, Guam (PS1 repair, humping liquid nitrogen everyday).... shusssh! the Philipinnes, and Hong Kong.
1975, I married my sole mate, best friend and the love of my life, Monica. After being unsuccessful starting a family, I joined Resolution to spend more time at home, and eventually we decided that the Navy was not an option, so in November 1980 I left from Rosyth with a parting comment from the Commanding Officer of HMS Cochrane "We do not accept Retreads" meaning I guess that I should not bother coming back for my job!. Yes, without a job, an orange VW Beetle and £2,000 from the Navy to get going was a challenge. I did have a brief "Applying for a Job" course lasting just 2 days, which was funded by the Royal Navy. One of the lecturers from I think the University of Strathclyde said "that we all had considerable potential" and continued "that for every 100 jobs that we applied for, then you will get 13 interviews, and 3 offers of a job". Well I could not believe what I was hearing, such absolute rubbish. Especially as a former PO Sonar! Well I did apply for everything and anything through December 1980 and into January 1981. From Personnel Managers, Production Managers, Marketing Managers, even Kirby Homecare vacuum cleaners. 50 applications, 7 interviews later I had one offer of a job. So yes, I assumed wrong.
By the end of January 1981 I had a job with Advance Services as a Service Representative, which then was part of the B.E.T group along with Initial Services paying just £80.00 a week and I was so glad of it. So now I am working for a laundry company renting out cabinet roller towels, dish towels, boilersuits and dustmats. A very far cry from Nuclear Submarines.
Within 2 months Monica was pregnant with Natalie. We are blessed with a wonderful Grandson Gavin now 7 years.
With the possibility of potential redundancy, I was able to move to a competitor, Spring Grove Services in 1986 situated in Grangemouth; which eventually was swallowed up by the Davies Group, Sunlight Textile Services in 1997. So now I am still doing the same job, (despite of the threat of redundancies again, three times now). I have continued to survive and job titles continually changed and now as a Customer Account Manager. Nearing 62 in December the job is somewhat a stressful one, and we look forward I hope to retire in 3 years time. God willing. Monica's health however over the past years has not been of the best, with multiple allergies and trying to avoid anaphylaxis shocks can be a challenge. Recently recovering from a broken hip, so travelling around is limited, and we just keep local as we always have done in Erskine, Scotland. Wonderful memories of the "Donut" remains with us, with a couple images from the past as a Leading Seaman on board Dreadnought in July 1973 at Simonstown South Africa, and the most recent outside the Kelvin Museum and Art Gallery, Glasgow 2009.
Author, Philip James 17102009
I was born in Erdington, Birmingham on 14th December 1946. My parents then moved to Leicester, (which is where I got the nickname from). I went to school at Cosby Junior school and then Enderby Brockington Secondary modern School, both in Leicester. . I joined the navy in 1962 at the age of fifteen and did my initial training at H.M.S Ganges at Shotley in Suffolk.
I was first of all in Dreadnought mess in the annex, and later moved to Keppel 3 mess in the main Ganges establishment.
By coincidence I went on during my time in the Navy to serve on both HMS Keppel and then on HMS/m Dreadnought. . Ganges was a real eye opener for me at the tender age of fifteen. From the mushrooms without tops, yes we only got the stalks, to having to be in the first fifty in the canteen queue to get chips.
We used to smuggle the bread back to the mess and iron it to make toast. Character building they say!
From Ganges I then went on to HMS Vernon for my sonar training, I liked Vernon because it was very near to the railway station for a quick getaway! . I joined my first seagoing ship HMS Galatea ( the black pig) then a brand new Leander class frigate building at Wallsend on Tyne, Newcastle in 1964. After workup we joined the 27th escort squadron in the Med along with the Agincourt , Carysfort and Troubridge .
As a 17 year old I Had a fun time in the med. as you can imagine, let loose in in places like the Gutt in Malta. Another eye opener for a young Leicester lad!
After 2 years on the Galatea I joined the Keppel doing fishery protection from Rosyth, not the most pleasant part of my naval adventure.
The Keppel a type 14 frigate and with the Russell, Duncan, Malcolm and Palliser formed the fishery protection squadron. The type 14’s were economy built ships and were not the greatest of sea going ships, in rough seas it seemed to spend so much time under the water that I decided to join submarines.
After my initial training at Dolphin I joined the Dreadnought refitting in Rosyth, thought I had escaped Rosyth after fishery protection but it wasn’t to be.
I met Brenda my wife on a blind date, she was a friend of Eddie (scouse) Walmsley’s wife Rosemary. They both worked in the Vat69 distillery in South Queensferry and Brenda had been invited to the distillers’ ball in Edinburgh but she hadn’t got a partner to go with, so scouse said he would find one his mates for Brenda to go with, enter Lester.
I had to hire a dinner suit for this posh affair, something which I had never worn before. So the lads in the mess at HMS Cochrane where we were billeted helped me get ready and off I set out of the main gate. The duty watch thought I was an officer and chopped me one off. I touched my brow and said “carry on” in my best officer’s accent.
You can see from the photo that the lads trained me well.
I left the navy in 1972 and after a brief spell working in the Vat69 distillery at South Queensferry, I got a job as a process operator in the BP refinery in Grangemouth, where I worked for 29 years until I retired at 55 In 2001.
Brenda and I have travelled quite a bit since I retired, and we have really enjoyed ourselves visiting places like Hong Kong, Singapore, Bali, South Africa etc. all places I didn’t see while I was in the navy.
I now work part time for Falkirk Council as a mail delivery driver, and full time looking after our grandson, Oscar, I didn’t really know what tiredness was till Oscar came along!
I enjoyed my time on the Dreadnought which is due to the many friends I made including, to name but a few, Mafro Gladdis - Bill Till - Basil Armitage - Florrie Ford - Scouse Walmsley - Keith Rogers - Percy Purcell - Ziggy Seager all great mates who I will enjoy meeting in Allersley.
Dr Paul Potter B.Sc M.Sc P.hD CEng. CMarEng M.I.Mar.EST (Ex Mech 1 HMS/M Dreadnought) Having survived an abrupt upbringing to the ways of the world by a 18 month trip around the world on an aircraft carrier finishing at the worldly age of 18, I decided that submarines and that famous ‘club’ was where my naval career should head.
Hence, in 1965, I started off in the Royal Navy submarine service and spent the remaining years of my naval career in ‘boats’. 13 of the 16 years of my time in the RN in submarines could have only been better if I could have joined directly into the submarine service!
During my 13 years, I had the opportunity to attend many engineering courses and gain a number of external qualifications: namely City & Guilds and finally became an Associate Member of the Marine Engineers. It was my good fortune to be able to serve in all three different types of submarines. Initially, a diesel electric boat called the Otter (allegedly my 3 ½ years of service on this conventional boat was due to the humour of persons responsible for dispatching freshly qualified submariners to their first submarine, the joke? ‘Potter of the Otter’.) This period stretched through the height of the cold war (latter 60’s ~ early ‘70s) and in fact my only son was born whilst I was on the Otter in Russian waters off Murmansk: snooping on Soviet maritime movements.
For the uninitiated, the submarine service and its submariners in the RN enjoy an exclusive ‘club’ type camaraderie with not-so-obvious advantages, for instance visiting ports around the world which in many cases are not visited by warships and having the privilege of hotel accommodation in foreign port cities (as opposed to remaining onboard as surface ships’ crews are obliged to do)
My second submarine service period was the first commission of the first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile submarines: HMS Resolution. This is the less enjoyable option for the submariner since operational patrols consist of 8 week patrols, dived and breathing homemade air! To complete such a service engagement, submariners are expected to complete a 5 patrol period. However, each of these missile boats has two complete crews so life comprises a cycle of 3 months of being in the ‘on crew’ and 3 months in the ‘off crew’.
Following a 2 year marine engineering course, I joined a nuclear hunter killer boat called the ‘Dreadnought’. Famous (or infamous), this first nuclear boat will be remembered for being the fastest boat built: arguably worldwide and possibly still retains its superb performance record even today. (This submarine was de-commissioned at the end of the ‘70s) Further, this submarine was the RN’s first boat to surface at the North Pole. For me, a secondary duty beyond my engineering role was 2nd diving officer, responsible for the safe diving operations of the diving team. This ‘passion’ for diving led me to pursue a diving career as I left the RN after 16 years service.
This pursuit of a fresh career path in ‘civvy street’ led me to a company which I had been misinformed about: an American diving salvage company, which as I found out was in fact in the business of drilling oil and gas wells offshore!
So began my career in the oil & gas industry in 1978.
Initially, working on a small drill ship in the Maltese Channel as a rig mechanic, it was not long before I developed an interest in subsea engineering. I should make mention of the step change (down) in technology I was experiencing at this time. Having just left a marine nuclear propulsion programme behind me with its state of the art technology to maintaining rotating equipment that had been used in the oilfields of Texas 50 or more years previously was a frustration. Here I was, with the inglorious title of ‘rig mechanic’ having left the RN as a Chief Petty Officer nuclear submariner working on archaic machinery. However, there was one significant difference: around a 4 fold increase in salary!
Within 18 months, at the start of 1980, I became a subsea engineer. A job role that I pursue to this day and will until retirement.
The oil and gas industry has two distinct sectors when we consider the offshore segment. The sectors are generically referred to as ‘upstream’ and ‘downstream’. ‘Upstream’ encompasses all that is involved with production, processing and exporting of produced oil and gas from an offshore field. These activities are owned and operated by Oil Companies, such as Shell, BP, ExxonMobil etc.
Oil companies should not be associated with the other type of company player in the offshore business: the Drilling Contracting Company. These companies and the activity of all drilling offshore are collectively phrased the ‘downstream’ sector. Drilling companies are engaged in all types of drilling, from wildcat exploration wells to appraisal and development wells. It is rare to encounter oil and gas people who have transferred from one sector to the other: in either direction.
Thus, we can say that the title: ‘Subsea Engineer’ embraces a whole host of specializations whose only common denominator is the environment: subsea meaning underwater. And that, pretty much, is where the similarity ends! Whilst there is a whole genre of sub specializations for subsea engineers in the upstream sector there is only one activity for the subsea engineer in the downstream sector: the upkeep and operation of the floating drilling rig subsea system.
Generally speaking, subsea engineers in the drilling industry are not degree qualified however most of them have some formal technical education and training in their past: some none! By contrast, the majority of subsea engineers in the upstream sector are degree qualified and unlike their like-titled workers downstream have rarely been ‘hands-on’ engineers. So generally speaking, we can segregate the subsea engineering profession into two entities: upstream, comprising a university post graduate population involved in design, projects, theory and postulations and the downstream personnel primarily concerned with day-to-day drilling operations from floating rigs in deep and ultra deep water, some design work and some project work.
I consider my own circumstance as unusual. Coming from and being part of the ‘downstream’ sector, I am possibly the only drilling subsea engineer with a PhD!
So, what can I say about my own higher educational achievements with respect to my work and my career?
There is no doubt that doors have opened as my three successive graduations have been announced. A few years ago, I departed the offshore subsea engineering role and moved towards inspections, surveys, design, project work, consultations and feasibility studies. Each field of activity often culminates in commissioning and operational procedure creation.
Today, I consult and, in parallel, write training material for the industry. As a committed believer in education: whether it be academic or industrial, I actively and whole-heartedly encourage an open and transparent exchange of information so that as the older generation retires (the baby boomers), the up and coming young professionals and workers are suitably equipped to deal with the technical challenges and obstacles that they face.
I should comment on one other aspect of the O & G industry which I feel deserves a mention: another difference between the ‘upstream’ and ‘downstream’ sectors. Working life on an offshore production facility is based on repetition and procedure. For those people who man these, often huge, floating ‘technical cities’ on a working rotational schedule, the working life can degenerate into a well paid existence of boredom. Nothing could be more different on a drilling machine. No one day passes without challenges, something different and technical obstacles: often which are being encountered for the first time. For young people considering joining this industry, if its variety you are after, go into the drilling business !
Whilst many wild and woolly events happened to me in the RN, they can be matched with some of the bizarre, wild and exciting incidents I have been involved in over the past 31 years in the oil and gas industry. Monster waves, iffy helicopters, blowouts, rig abandonments, water spouts, typhoons and the odd catastrophic equipment disaster to mention but a few.
In conclusion of my own experiences, I would tread the same path again given the options over.
The general public must accept that we have few options open other than continue with our quest for fossil fuels into the foreseeable future. Contrary to popular belief, the oil and gas industry are conscientious in their contribution to a clean environment and current legislation and industrial practice reflects this.
1964 HMS Dryad a tender age of 16 I was born in Gurnard on the Isle of Wight December 1947 and went to Grange Road Junior School in East Cowes and Cowes Secondary Modern. Left with no qualifications (bit of a no hoper as I thought at the time. I joined the Royal Navy February 1963 – HMS Ganges, I was in Dreadnought Mess in the initial training Annex before moving to the main establishment. Trained as an RP at HMS Dryad and then joined HMS Agincourt Battle Class Destroyer Radar Picket. Following submarine training at Gosport I joined HMS Anchorite in Singapore then returned to Gosport to do the nuclear training course. I then joined the Dreadnought in Rosyth during its first reactor refuelling refit in 1970. I was part of the crew when she ventured to the North Pole. I then joined HMS Valiant for yet another nuclear refuelling refit, re-commissioning and shake down trials. Must have been a glutton for punishment, I really wanted to join the attack team trainer at Faslane but the Valiant was the best they could do for me. Thank you for that one Drafty. On both the Dreadnought and Valiant I was the Navigators Yeoman so was able to skive off into the Hydrographic Department as much as possible. In 1973 I left the RN behind and lived in Edinburgh married to Pat driving city buses and other things. Got bored with that and decided to try and follow a career in electronics. I successfully completed a City and Guilds in Radio TV and Electronics then almost joined the RAF but thought better of it. Later on I trained at Highbury Tech College Portsmouth for the Electrical and Electronic Engineering ONC. In 1976 I returned to my roots on the Isle of Wight to secure employment at the then British Hovercraft Corporation later to become Westland Aerospace a Division of Westland Helicopters and then to this day GKN Aerospace Services. I received training as an aircraft electrician and started work in the Westland Wessex Trials Hangar at East Cowes where we had one RN Wessex Mk3, two RN Wessex Mk5s and one RAF Wessex Mk2. The work was servicing, fitting trials equipment and flight trials following the aircraft around to places such as HMS Daedalus, DERA Boscombe Down, RAF Benson, RAF Finningly, RAF Aldergrove NI, RAF Akrotiri Cyprus and RAF Sek Kong. Sometime during all this Pat and I separated and divorced, I have now been married to Teresa for 25 years this year [2009]. During my 30 year career at GKN Aerospace I became a company graduate obtaining a BSc Degree in Analogue and Digital Electronics, Physics and Materials Science. I then went into the electronics design section for a number of years and then returned to Wessex Military Helicopter Design Support Services eventually taking the position of Engineer in Charge of Wessex Helicopters. When the Wessex retired from service I then moved full time to aircraft electrical and mechanical systems engineering mainly doing systems integration on aircraft power plant nacelles integration. Projects included C130J Hercules, C27J Spartan, SAAB 2000, DASH 8 and various business jet nacelles. During my employment at GKN I was fortunate to travel abroad for the company, mostly meetings in the latter years, to Hong Kong, Cyprus, Marietta Atlanta USA, Baltimore USA, Aberdeen in Dakota USA, Sweden, Toulouse France, Turin Italy and New Zealand. Oh and I forgot the best one was Blackpool UK for an Aircraft Lightning Protection colloquium when my work colleague talked me into a ride on the Pepsi Max Big One at the Pleasure Beach complex, followed sensibly by a bag of fish and chips walking along the sea front. I was Chief Systems Engineer and Head of Airworthiness at GKN when I retied. I have been retired for just over a year now and enjoying my hobbies, I have actually got time for them now. These are Amateur Radio, Astronomy and building things electronic in my workshop/radio shack, newly completed last year. Nearly four years ago I had the misfortune to become seriously ill having suffered a perforated bowel and contracting peritonitis and septicaemia having two emergency operations removing bits of my bowel, spending 9 days in intensive care and about 3 months recovering in the hospital ward. Having survived that I went back to work until my retirement at the age of 60. I have four granddaughters and two step granddaughters: Isobel, Eloise, Abigail, Alexandra, Jessica and Millie, no boys yet. If there is any radio amateurs in the association my details are on www.qrz.com just enter my Callsign G1EUW. I am up and running VHF/UHF bands 6m, 2m and 70cm and should soon be on HF bands 40m to 10m as soon as I get the HF antenna up and working.
Larry as of Now!
THis months ( June 2008) Candidate Is Bob Phillips.
“WHERE ARE THEY NOW” I joined the Royal Navy in August 1958, after being called for National Service. After Part 1 training at HMS Collingwood I was sent to Medical training School. Ward work followed qualification as an SBA, mainly spent on the Dirty Surgery ward, where all infected wounds and colo-rectal problems were treated. It was during this time that I met Judy Tusler. She was the Ward Sister and a few years later she married ‘Black Jack’ Gooding – there’s a name from the past!!
This was the day after my daughter, Helen was born and a month before USS Thresher was lost at sea. A great introduction to boats but an experience!!! Drafted to HMS Dolphin on 1st April (!!) and after 6 week basic submarine training course I was drafted to HMS Rorqual for ‘seamanship experience’. Not an enjoyable time as she was involved with “sneakies” Following the Nuclear Engineering Course at HMS Sultan and an Advanced Mathematics spell at HMS Collingwood we were attached to what was then the I joined Dreadnought in September 1964, under the keen eyes of Chief Sick Berth Attendant Jack Gooding (Black Jack) and LSBA Jim Morris – both have now, sadly passed away. This was, without doubt the happiest 2 years of my Naval career. We had a lot of fun with a great, friendly crew and everyone respected each other for knowing their job. In July 1966 I left Dreadnought to stand by HMS Resolution being built at Barrow. By this time I was a Chief Med. Tech. and was the Head of Medical/Health Physics Dept. with 3 other Med. Techs as staff. Four of us were in lodging on After the second Polaris patrol I left to take up a similar appointment on HMS Revenge. Following the work-up I had a visit from my Branch Commander who urged me to go for my commission as I was needed as the Base Health & Safely Officer (Nuclear) at Faslane. Nothing to lose, I passed all exams until the Final Interview (only the Medical Branch had this quirk), when I was asked by a Surgeon Captain “Did I consider that my wife was suitable for the Wardroom!!” This provoked a very heated exchange of words, followed by me walking out of the room. The Surgeon Rear Admiral came after to apologise profusely but the damage had been done. Following this altercation I reviewed my future career and decided that it should be in medicine. I returned to the Physiotherapy Dept. at Haslar but working there was not a happy experience as, by this time (1970) the hospital had opened its doors to the civilian population of 1972 & 3 were good years as I was loaned to the British Cycling Federation to be the physiotherapist to the Great Britain Cycling Team. This involved the Milk Races and several stage races in In August 1973 I was sent to the Another 2 year civilian course was completed at St. Mary’s The School took service and civilian students and I used the Specialised Units of all the During my travels around the hospitals, I dealt with most of the Medical Consultants, who encouraged me to start a private practice. From then on, I treated most of their private patients. When I finally left the RN in August 1980 I had a fully operational practice with a normal working day from 8am – 6.30pm and clinics on Saturday mornings. I became a member of my local Rotary Club, being President in 1992/3. In 1999 disaster struck. I was diagnosed as having advanced bowel cancer – 3 weeks later I had radical surgery, followed by six months chemotherapy. By this time, I knew that I couldn’t return to work so sold my practice. Now my time is spent on Rotary, caravanning, genealogy and scratch-building model boats. A model of Holbrook’s B11 submarine now rests in the Museum at Holbrook in Still married to the same girl, Val after 48 years. My daughter, Helen celebrates her Silver Wedding this month. She has a 23 year-old son, James. We have lived in Farlington, With being a small branch, the Health Physics members have kept in contact. Unfortunately, out of ten, only two of us are left, all of the others have died from cancer-related conditions. They are: Roger Lambert – the first M.O. Malcolm Harper John Morris Roy Ellison Jack Gooding Jim Morris Mick Slaney (mini-doc) Ron Loveland But I am told this is only a statistic !!
This Months ( May 2008) candidate, We need more like this so start writing!!!
Geoffrey Everett MBE
(Photograph of Geoff and Joan at the Commisioning 1963) An ex- Caledonia Artificer (joined Feb 47) went to sea in Frigates in 1950 (HMS Loch Alvie & HMS Sharpshooter) and joined Submarines Training course in 1957 followed by sea-time in HMS Truncheon including excursions under the Northern ice. Drafted to The first Dreadnought crew in 1960 (not one of the chosen few who spent time in the I seem to remember spending a lot of time opening up systems in the Reactor compartment, then shutting them down again after the day (or night) activities. Following on were sea trials in home waters during which we went ’On the Step’ then running from Gibraltar for several months with 2001 sonar ringing in our ears. Took over as Outside systems CERA from the renowned Colin Rudkin who had set all the Diving systems to work I was left to sort out the somewhat difficult CO2 Scrubbers and Electolizers to get finally going. John Stanton helped me. Joined HMS Maidstone as Nuclear repair CERA in 1965 to be in charge of Contamination control and training Shipwrights in Stainless steel welding and eb insert welding of copper nickel pipes serving under Lt. Cdr. Tommy Landport and Lt. Ken Finney. We did some significant work onboard the submarine which then had to be approved by the Laboratory in Rosyth Dockyard. One of my jobs was to get radiographs taken of repairs we had done. My family was now resident in the MQ’s in Helensburgh My wife Joan used to complain that I was continually on call because when the submarine was at sea, there was no-one else but me on hand with any actual experience of a Nuclear submarine. I rejoined Dreadnought in During this time Joan and my family, now expanded to three girls, were resettled in the Rosyth MQ’s. To me the most incredible aspect of the refuelling, it being the first core change of a PWR in In1970 I was promoted to Commissioned Engineer and appointed as MEO HMS Walrus, Submarine. Seagoing for the next two years in a Diesel powered submarine was an interruption in my Nuclear career which just continued on. There was a dire shortage of any sort of Engineer in Submarines for several years into the 1980’s which was the reputed reason. I was given HMS Olympus to complete a major refit at Devonport1978 to 1980. My family was in MQ’s in My time at home in diesel submarines ended when I was hassled out of the easy job in the Submarine School back to another refitting Submarine, HMS Opossum this time in Portsmouth dockyard during 1978 - 80. The refit wasn’t quite finished when I was asked to fill in at short notice to an exchange job abroad. I had to give my answer within a week - whether I was prepared to go to We lived in one of those large wooden houses with a veranda and a massive basement. It was situated on a hill overlooking a place called The time came to leave the RN when I reached the age of 53 and I spent about a year re- building the extension on our bungalow and fitting double glazed windows etc. The retirement pension was only half pay to what we had been used to, so it didn’t seem sensible not to look for a job somewhere close by. Happens I was offered an interview with Marconi Underwater Systems in Waterlooville and spent the following 11 years as Defect resolution and Trials Engineer on the MK24 torpedo Consolidation Contract retiring in 1996 at age 65. Needless to say this torpedo was not nuclear propelled! Made to retire at age 65, I was able to give up report writing and attending Progress Meetings so I thought, till My Son-in-law invited me to join the team at his Company called ‘Ably Shelters’ at a time when he was seriously overloaded to meet a contact to design and build Helicopter Shelters for various aircraft including the upcoming Apache. I found myself at the cutting edge of British Industry through into my 70’s. What an eye opener that turned out to be in my job was Purchasing Manager. I found that in this job you need to know so much about materials and how to get them at the cheapest price, and if they don’t exist how to get them made to the right spec and to the right date also at the lowest possible price. So now, here I am at age 77 with Joan my wife still in our smallish bungalow bought 45 years ago in the days I was in ‘Dreadnought‘ but mostly lived in by others. With our Three daughters flown the nest these 20 years and feeling lucky to have the occasional visit from each of our seven grandchildren, three boys and four girls who range in age between 11 and 27. It’s not bad, lots of memories held on to whilst often visiting the local NHS, hoping the next ailment to show itself isn’t Alzheimer’s or something which could be a threat to those very memories. I thank Darby Allan for putting together this website and our Chairman and his supporters for helping him along. I also thank Lieut. Hammersly Lieut. Grove and Lieut. Pulvertaft (who all became Admirals), Lieut. Cdr. Bridgeman, Lieut. Manson, Lieut. Hely-Hutchinson………. and many, many others who tolerated having me around meddling into and wanting to find out everything, in the days of Dreadnought.
Geof & Joan Christmas 2006. Where is he now? This months Subject is Bruce (Darby)MacDonald Allan. On Dreadnought 1967 I left Dreadnought in November 1968 having Joined her in January 1964. My first job in “Civvie” street was as a commissioning Engineer for the Carrier Refrigeration Corporation of The first job I was sent on was to assist in Commissioning the refrigeration and AC on that well loved Cruise ship the QEII. The AC and fridges performed to spec on the Maiden voyage. Thereafter although I was based in Over the next six months I visited various counties in Europe sorting out mainly minor problems and eventually ended up at W.H.Allen’s factory in The works engineer had apparently told Mr Dennis Allen (of the Allen Family) that an ex RN guy was sorting out their A/C. Mr Allen sent for me and I spent about 2 hours in his office another 2 at Lunch in the Boardroom being told about his wartime exploits when he was a Lt Cdr in the RN. During the conversation he told me that they had just had a contract to supply T/A’s for the SSN Ox class of boats and that they needed someone just like me to write the commissioning instructions for these TA’s. As I had only been home twice since I joined Carriers and he was offering me a lot more money I swallowed my misplaced loyalty thoughts and resigned from Carriers. Goodbye Carriers hello W.H.Allen. I was attached to the technical publications dept in Allen’s and there I duly wrote the commissioning instructions and the machinery handbooks for the OX class amongst others. After about 3 months at Allen’s I met a guy from The Nuclear Power Group (T.N.P.G Ltd) who was down inspecting some pumps Allens’s were making for Hunterston Nuclear power station. Once again they needed a guy just like me to assist in the Commissioning of the power station. A quick visit to TNPG at Knutsford and it was goodbye W.H.Allens and Hello TNPG. After 2 years at TNPG, the Labour Goverment cancelled the Nuclear Power station building programme and TNPG immediately issued all 2000 of us with 6 months notice. The Govt however decided that it could not afford to let the team which had built all of UK’s Nuclear power plants (except one) be disbanded. We all then became civil servants and were transferred to the A.E.R.E Risely. It was a great life as a Scientific Officer, more money, more leave, no work to speak of except golf every day. I soon became bored at this however and volunteered for redundancy. As my job was not on the approved list I did not get paid redundancy for two years when they eventually found somebody to take over my job which was apparently vital to the wellbeing of the country! Playing Golf 5 days a week, vital? I had seen an advert for a tanker company named Trident Tankers which was part of P&O and which was looking for Engineers, I was taken on as a 3rd Engineer and my first ship was the SS Malwa, a 56,000 ton black oiler. (Malwa was built in Vickers in Barrow at the same time as Dreadnought was built) This was a completely new life and certainly bore no relation to the RN (Real Navy) Watches were not rotated and I was on the Morning and First watch, every morning at 0600 my Indian steward would arrive in the Engine room with my breakfast on a tray, when I came off watch at 0800 there was another even bigger breakfast in the Officers Dining Room. When I did come off watch my cabin had been tidied by my Steward any dhobyeing done and my clothes laid out for the day! The ships ran on a very Formal basis similar to that in force in the Victorian era, we had to dress for every meal and you had to learn URDU or Hindi as all orders for meals given to the Steward had to be in URDU or Hindi. At least one dish in every meal (including breakfast) was curry. The accomodation on the later ships was huge with every one having their own suite, on the VLCC's the Chief and Captain had two bedroomed accomodation and all Officers could all carry their wives and children at company expense if we wished. After my first trip (9 months) they paid me to go to Liverpool Polytech and study for my 2nd Engineers Cert which after RN training was not the most difficult course in the world. I sat for the Certificate and passed without any hassle. I phoned “The Office” to tell them I had passed and was posted to an old white oiler, the Mantua based in Singapore as 2nd Engineer. After 2 years as 2nd I went back to college to study for my Combined steam & Motor Chiefs Certificate. This I passed and was posted still as 2nd Engineer to a brand new white oiler, the Ardmay running out of After 4 years as a 2nd Engineer during which time I served mainly on tankers trading worldwide I was promoted to Chief Engineer and posted to an LPG/Chemical Gas carrier on charter to Dow Chemicals, we carried gas/chemicals from The US Gulf to Australia where we did a part discharge, then Singapore for another discharge and then to Japan were we completed our discharge. From then until 1982 I served as Chief Engineer on various ships from Very large OBO’s and VLCC’s to LPG and LNG gas carriers including 2 years on the Mundogas Pacific on which apart from the Capt and Myself, all the Officers and Crew were Spanish. For 2 years we carried Gas from In 1982 I was then promoted to Superintendent Engineer and based in the London Head Office of P&O Bulk Shipping Ltd. I then looked after the budget and drydocking/repairs for 4 Gas ships and Two Bulk carriers. This involved even more time away from home than being at sea as all our dockings were in One bonus was that all the flights were either Club or 1st Class and I amassed over 3 million air miles on Virgin Airline during that time. I was also at times a member of the P&O Group Audit team which was tasked with keeping the various ships in the group running correctly and safely. Also on the Team was another ex Submariner, Captain David Pender-Cudlip. I never met David in the RN but we did do audits together on Various Princess Cruise ships which invariably meant doing a weeks cruise in the Caribbean or We once did an Audit together on one of P&O’s ferry’s running between In 1997 I was approached by the Largest Marine Underwriting Syndicate in Lloyds as they felt they needed an Engineer on their team, and as they offered about 3 times as much and a much better car than P&O I duly handed my notice in. Again a complete change of life and my only regret is that I didn’t get a job in Lloyds 30 years ago! I spent most of my time handling large claims from mainly Greek Shipowners of which at least 50% were dodgy to say the least. One which springs to mind was where a 30,000 tonner had been badly damaged in heavy weather and had abandoned ship into the lifeboats. Luckily they were picked up by a passing Maersk Group ship and no loss of life occurred. Unluckily though the Captain’s wife of the Maersk ship had made a video of the “Rescue” which showed 2 lifeboats in a flat calm on a beautiful sunny day loaded to the gunwales with suitcases including several cases of beer prominently displayed in the centre of the life boat. The video also showed the stricken vessel slipping gently beneath the sea on an even keel! In calm seas. After 7 years I eventually got fed up with the commuting and retired 2 years ago aged 67. I still do a little bit as a Consultant to some Lloyds Syndicates mainly risk assessment and surveys of new building submarines in Greece/Brasil assisted on occasion by Terry Spurling, who being of the Electrical tribe knows very little about anything, but, he is good company!!
September 2007
Where Is He Now
I joined Dreadnought November 1968 and was actively employed as a fire watcher to the dockyard welders until April 1969. When the powers to be decided that it would be better if I went to a sea going boat to complete my part 3. So was sent to HMS/M Finwhale to qualify. November 1968 Finwhale decided they had had enough of me and sent me back to Dreadnought a properly qualified Submariner. My time on Dreadnought ended in November 1972 just after Paddy O’Riodan took over from Graham Rogers. I won’t mention how Ray Edwards then a Leading Med Tech now a Lt Cdr. broke my nose with a box of A10 size beans in tomato sauce during store ship at the end of the refit in Rosyth or my sleeping bag failure at 4 o’clock in the morning during hands to emergency stations. I was sent to my RP2’s course and February 1973 joined HMS/M Sovereign being built in Barrow in Furness in some ways it was like being back on Dreadnought with the number of ex- Dreadnought‘s in Barrow standing by the S boats being Built. Stayed with Sovereign until Sea trials (October 1974) and at that time unemployment is civvy street was running at 1 million so I decided that it would be easier to get a job in civy street at the ripe old age of 27 than at 40 or 50 if I signed on so set about to find my fame and fortune in the big wide world (still looking) My first job was selling Commercial Stationary in an area which covered South London and Kent .which I did for18 months and during this time Dreadnought went into Chatham for a refit and has I was still in contact with Barry Seager I would call in and see him and his family in February 1975 Dreadnought held a valentines dance in HMS Pembroke Barry invited me along with the proviso that a bring a lady friend so I promptly asked one of my Lady Customers and we have been married 27 years. I am convinced that Barry only invited me to get his own back has I introduced him to his future wife a few years earlier. During that 18 months I started with a customer base of 50 and within 15 months had built it up to 300 The Company then split the area in two putting in two new salesmen to manage the areas and moved me to a virgin territory which had a devastating effect on my earning so I decided it was time to move on. For the next 20 years I worked for Thompson Yellow Pages then Thompson Directories and then Yellow Pages (1981 Thompson lost the Yellow Pages contract and started their own Directories) selling Directory advertising to businesses again my forte was opening new accounts. It was an interesting and financially rewarding job and some weeks I would have clocked up over a thousand mile travelling I also won many sales achiever awards In 1993 ageism appeared in the Work Place and Yellow Pages decided to have a younger sales force and started getting rid of the older members of it sales force so I moved on finding it impossible to get another job being told your too old (late 40’s too old ) I set up a franchised tool sales operation in North London selling Mac Tools to Garages, mechanics and anybody that wanted professional tools with a life time guarantee Long hours and most of them seemed to be stuck on the M25 but I enjoyed the challenge and made some very good friends. Late 2000 Islington Council started closing some of the small back street Garages in my area to try and improve the area and also a lot of compulsory purchases of property round the area of Ashburton Grove (the future home for the new Arsenal Stadium) my Customer base rapidly started to shrink I had started with none and again had built it up to nearly 300 I thought I am getting to old for this so packed in the franchise before I started to loose money. I was now 54 and I thought its going to be even harder to get a job I wanted to continue paying into my pension for a few more years. I was lucky this time and I found a job meter reading for the South Eastern Electricity Board covering most of In my spare time I am secretary to the Dreadnought Association (which I am immensely proud of because I had a hand in starting the Association) a member of the
WHERE IS HE NOW!
Terry Spurling BEM
Terry in 1967
Served on Dreadnought from November 1963 until departing in March 1971 – on return from the North Pole trip. Another young man named Alan Kennedy also departed the Boat at the same time. Probably missed me!! I was posted direct to stand by the Swiftsure then building at Barrow in Furness. I was very clear that I would leave the RN in May 1972 unless the proposed new rank of Fleet Chief allowed those selected to take the many jobs in places like Faslane etc then being ,manned by young Officers. The argument us “Oldies” had put forward to FOSM was that we would be quite willing to remain in the Service but no longer wished to act as sea going COOWs or OOWs i.e. no longer wished to carry on sea time. When the first signal came out I was on it but turned it down as there was certainly no such guarantee that I would do other than sea time. When time came for me to be discharged I was in the fortunate position of being offered employment by Rolls Royce Associates for the future refits of D/O in I took the Barrow job as Bett (my wife) was very happy in this area, which did surprise me at the time. Events over the intervening years have proved her to have been correct. The Israeli Project was a dream job to have taken up, it was known as Project 540 to conceal the true identity of the customer. Total waste of time as everyone in Barrow and the surrounding area knew precisely who these people were. The vessels INS Gal; INS Tannin and INS Rahav were what I would call “real Submarines” in that they were only 540 Tonne vessels with a crew of around 20. A very small compact and efficient package. They were German designed but being built in Some of the meetings I Chaired in Sea Trial on them was sometimes hairy but the Israelis were very good Submariners, Well led, well trained and very dedicated. I made many very good friends with whom I am still in contact today. By 1978 P540 was completed and I took up a number of Management roles within Vickers. I led a team looking at Air Independent Propulsion Systems using HTP and an Omnibus Diesel Engine. Another hairy job but very interesting and challenging. It eventually was proved a success. Since those days the Fuel Cell is now the AIP preferred source of power so our endeavours are a historical footnote. I then Managed the Dockside Test Team for the Sea Trial of HMS Invincible. Another experience as I had never served on such a vessel. I was then appointed Test Manager at SMITE ( Submarine Machinery Installation Test Establishment) in Vickers. Basically this fully erects, test and operates the total Machinery package of a Nuclear Submarine inside a Shore Test Establishment. By the time the machinery leaves SMITE it has done all it will ever be called upon to do once at sea for the RN. I was then asked to head up a team of all departments to set up the Modular Build Dept for the then new Vanguard Class SSBN in build at Barrow. Another challenge for us all. It proved very successful in cutting installation time and problems to build ashore and ship individual Modules direct into the hull prior to hull closure and weld. Since that small beginning the modular Assembly practices now employed at Barrow are quite mind blowing. Nice to know we were involved in the very early days. Prior to me taking early retirement from the Shipyard my last two years were spent setting up what was then known as Total Quality Management (TQM). It basically involved reviewing all the procedures extant at that time and proposing improvements. Things have moved on apace since those early days. I retired in 1966 – early I have to point out!. Since that date I have involved myself in working under Bett’s Management and have become quite proficient at such household jobs as Hoovering ( probably more correctly called “Dysoning”), Ironing and cutting grass. I have also become involved in a number of Charities in the Town as a volunteer. I started the Submarine Heritage Centre Ltd Company in 2001. SHC is now becoming a reality with the ex HMS ONYX in town soon to be followed by a fully blown Heritage Centre which will be aimed at telling the story of the development of the Barrow built submarines since 1888 to the present day. Please visit our website www.submarineheritage.com. At 74 I am now beginning to believe I should truly retire. Some hope as I am also member of the Rotary Club of Barrow in Furness; a member of the Keswick to Barrow Walk Committee; a Director of a new Charity in town – Drop Zone Ltd which is a calling place for young people where they can meet and do what young people do, with Snooker, Pool and a Café available on the lower floor. Upstairs they can obtain advice on such subjects as Drugs, Pregnancy, Diseases, free condoms etc., may be raised with experts. We also have Police and other Agencies involved in helping young people of today who, from my perspective at least, have a great deal more to have to handle than I did as a kid. Bet has also qualified me on Tea & Toast for her in bed in the mornings. Lastly I have an extended Family to visit in See you all at the next reunion in 2009
Terry In 2007
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In September 1959 I
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