40s and 50s Memories
HMS Finwhale 1962/3
Back on leave in early 1960, I looked up John
J. Evans OA (M51), then as 2nd Mate on SS
Ruahini (New Zealand Shipping Company)
newly docked in London. After a long leave, it was
back underwater again in several submarines;
the first of which took us up above the North
Cape, underwater for ten weeks, discreetly
snooping on the Russian Navy's summer
exercises. A few years later we undertook
two months of trials up in the Arctic, most of it
under the ice - a fascinating experience. On the
surface amongst the ice it was brilliantly clear,
cold of course but I imagine sterile as not one
of 84 crew suffered from a cold throughout. We
were under the Northern Lights most nights.
We had one moment of serious drama the day
before we reached the ice-edge. It was in 1964,
the Geophysical Year, and on the way up North,
we were required to dive every six hours down
to 600 ft to measure bathythermal conditions.
On this occasion we were stopped dead level at
the required 600ft, when a 2" pipe burst in the
engine room. At 24 times atmospheric pressure
water comes in very fast! "Full speed ahead,
SURFACE!". Sinking with 12,000ft below us, it
took well over four minutes before we started
upwards, a long nerve wracking time!
By now I had been second-in-command of
three boats, and was selected for the Command
Qualification Course. Regrettably, due to very
difficult domestic problems, I requested to
withdraw. By now a Lieut. Commander, I was
posted to Amphibious Forces in the Arabian Gulf
as second-in-command of a large tank landing
craft, which was an eye-opener for me working
with the Army, and with their Tank Squadrons. From Bahrain, we were sent to Bombay for dry-
docking and refit in early 1966. We shared the
dry-dock with a British India Line liner Uganda
(later a troopship for the Falklands jamboree),
and during mutual hospitality I found that their
Chief Officer was one of the Fox twins OA
(arrived BF 49/50). I cannot remember which
one.'Tis a small world!
In 1966, I was given command of a Minesweeping
Trials Squadron, based at Portland in Dorset,
where I spent 18 very enjoyable months before
being selected as the RN exchange student for
a Joint Services Staff Course at Norfolk, Va.,
USA. So in 1968, I moved to the USA and spent
eight months qualifying, and making many
friends, with some of whom I am still in touch.
On completion, I was appointed to an aircraft
carrier as their Damage Control Officer (Fire,
Flooding, Nuclear and Biological), but after only
six months, I was invalided off with debilitating
arthritis, and classed unfit for sea duty. This
is normally a sentence of 18 months before
retirement, but as I was standing by immediate
promotion, they waited two and a half years
before finally putting me on the beach, having
occupied several staff planning positions in the
Medway and Portsmouth Commands in the
interim.
By now it was 1971, and after a brief flirtation
with British Steel, and becoming aware that by
the end of the year Melchett was retrenching,
and fearing the likelihood of 'last in first out',
I decamped and found a position with Ocean
Inchcape Ltd, a multi-divisional offshore se,
marketing their Sub-Sea Engineering Division,
and later covering all their Overseas activity.
I worked with them for four and a half years
taking me extensively to the Gulf, West Africa
and SE Asia. But it turned out that the company
was over extended, and one of the partners,
Inchcape, pulled out necessitating a significant
reduction of activity. So I moved on again, and
for a couple of years marketed for Technical
International, a service company, providing
skilled personnel for the offshore oil, mining,
power generation and construction industries
worldwide.
For a variety of reasons, it had been necessary
to put my boys into private schooling, and it
became necessary to find a company with
17