RN other topics

[jbryce1437]

THE VOICE OF DESTROYERS;

when I was a small child we lived in Malta on Sliema Creek, the destroyer creek. My father was flotilla gunnery officer, Prince Philip was First Lt. and Mike Townsend was Captain D. Whenever the flotilla came home from exercising it did so with a chorus of whoops on their steam sirens, These were one of my earliest happy memories as that sound mean dad was back. Years later he took over as Captain F of the Dartmouth Squadron flying his pennant in HMS Urchin. One of the first actions he did was to send the buffer into the DY to rabbit a steam siren giving this old destroyer back her traditional voice. This was successfully done and Urchin could speak with pride again, installation by the stokers division.


What voice do modern destroyers have, does anyone remember when the whooper went out of RN favour?
tim

We still had the steam whooper on Undaunted. Got to admit that it was a great sound and sounded like a proper ships hooter, rather than the electrical type that succeeded them.

Jim

[DaveH]

Tim , I served on Chevron [1st D.S] Med Fleet 55/56 , our home as with the 8th was Sliema Creek . I cannot remember "whooping" then , apart from seeing in the New Year , a tradition that seems , like so many, dying out , or could it be we don't hear it cos' we ain't got no ships to do it with .

[ivorthediver]

Sad but True Dave , so many past events washed down the drain .

I can remember being near a docking complex on new years day and it sounded like the whole world had got up to blow a ships horn it was deafening but very inspiring to think of all those ships venting steam all over the world .....Magic in reality ......wonderful

[oldsalt]

Just to remind everyone what a mess deck in the heat of the Far East looked like.

50_unicorn_mess.jpg

[timlewin]

thanks all, and for the sound link; shame the whooping had faded out by mid-Fifties, or maybe it was just a foible of the 1st. Flotilla at the time, 1950/51? The Captain D was "Mad" Mike Townsend in Chequers, dad was Flotilla gunnery officer and HRH was #1 of Chequers. They enjoyed noise, and speed, in that commission, Pelican has told of the time the Flotilla left from a visit to Greece and to say farewell dad ordered each ship to fire a full broadside. How many chits would you need from MoD these days for that? mind you, you cant really fire a broadside with a single mounting!
tim

[Pelican]

Pokers

[ivorthediver]

Pokers

Ahhhh .....thank you David , well written and beautifully put , never knew you were so supportive of us all

OK I'll duck now......... whilst the proverbial hits the cooling fans I'm sure Keith will be very impressed by your comments and nice sketch of your Pin Up stoker [ shame equality was so long in coming forth..... as we all know where you would wipe your hands and I don't mean cotton swarf either

[oldsalt]

A great picture & comments. It wasn't until I was promoted & in Tiger that we were told by our Commander E that we should regard ourselves as Naval Officers first & Engineers second. That Commander E was Bill Pillar, he became a full Admiral & Governer of a Channel Island. He is the only Engineer to reach such a high rank. In the days of yore, we Chief Mechanicians & CERAs were the ones pushing for what we called a Master Rate which has now been achieved.

[ivorthediver]

Quite rightly to , in my opinion , as which ever way you look at it they deserved their just deserts in the Navy as on every footing they were vital in any command and had as many if not more risks than any other service and none of the gentlemanly amenities to offset their profession , and rather than looking down their collective nosies , they would not have had anything to sing about if they didn't get there would they ........supplied with all the vital services they demanded to do their respective activities

[ivorthediver]

Before we leave the sound memories , on my model ships I have a selection of sounds to chose from , one of which is the above mentioned Whoop , whoop , Whoop , and I am aware of an ex navy type who on hearing it wanted to have his door chime converted to use this sound ......

The one I use is 12v system and can be wired up with no problem I'm assured .

Look in on the modelling thread and I'll give more details if required