Fast job?

[shorty943]

Started hunting out the old photo's, here are some, with more to be added to the account at ImageShack later.

Refueling from Supply in the Bight circa Oct 77. Look really closely at all the white water around the bow of the oiler. Try to spot the 2 X twin 40\60 bofor turrets. Melbourne, the carrier, mostly went up and down over the waves, Supply, the fleet oiler, she just went charging on through.

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/64/melbsupplyfv8.jpg

This was taken by a Navy Photographer, standing immediately to my left.
This was my everyday ho-hum job. No bad things under this one's wings.

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/4158/skyhawkin9.jpg

Taken from my Officer's work position opposite mine. It was one of these 8.5 ton lumps that got me. 3 broken bits later, it got off me. Not a crash landing, just a really bouncy one. On me.

http://img394.imageshack.us/img394/7574/trackervf2.jpg


Shorty.

a couple more,
STV One and All of Glenelg SA. Served as her Engineer, took the photo from the Avon rubber dinghy, after weighing anchor.

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/9394/oneandall1ki3.jpg

and at anchor in company with Our Svannen, off Roonies, Fraser Island.

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/41/oneandall2pf0.jpg

[Disco300Tdi]

And the Buffers name was Ray Skinnerton ??

[shorty943]

Could have been, I was a stoker at the time. With almost 1500 men on the crew, we were lucky to know all of our department crew.
Got to know the pilots, I was a student pilot in my spare time. That put a few noses out of joint. A lowly other ranker, treated as an equal pilot by the "top guns", some junior officers were a bit funny about that. And to this day, I still have not actually flown off and on to a carrier, except in a helicopter. Even MS Flight Sim defeats me in that.

Shorty.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

nice pics shorty,,

but dont they have wires and nets to stop the planes---:p

[shorty943]

About 90% of the time, yes. The rest of time, just run, alright, just run away.
The pilot pulls the trigger, and it goes fffft.

This is called an Air Weapons Hangup.

All gone wrong, but it's Okay, because it will all go right again when the aircraft hits the deck. This is the other 10%. Run for your life. Blurt. That's right, I'm in the rescue team, DAYUM.

I think I have developed a hangup over hangups.

Shorty.

[shorty943]

And the Buffers name was Ray Skinnerton ??

May have been before or after the UK trip. No CPO Skinnerton listed in the crew for that deployment.
A Chief Petty Officer Gunnery I. G. James, and a CPO Weapons B. G. Waterman.

These would have been the only 2 men on board qualified for the position.
Out of about 70 to 80 CPO's, and over half of those all Engineering.

When did Ray serve on her? I was on and off Melbourne from 71 to 78.

Shorty.

[shorty943]

More photo's, Navy stuff (ups).

On the way across the Indian Ocean going to England. Oil seal blew, and the chopper hit the water at about 90 knots and cartwheeled end over end. We did save the spare tyre. Oh, and the crew.

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/3518/seakingdownbp4.jpg

In the Med, the write up should say enough about this. My old fire crew chief, Ken Greber is on the right. Yuon on left.

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/7526/srescue1nx6.jpg
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/3002/srescue2safefk7.jpg

Inside the Arctic Circle, this was a beauty. The destroyer, Brisbane, was ResDes (rescue destroyer). Charge in to the rescue, did not stop in time, and destroyed the Wessex. My first ever flight in any aircraft, was in Wessex 813, now hanging from the ceiling of the National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour.

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/8579/wessexdownqr7.jpg

On the way back across the Indian Ocean enroute to Singapore

http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/1137/s2edowntz0.jpg

No photo's of the Skyhawk that went down off Singapore. Not a real lot left after being through Melbourne's props and the 50,000 HP that turned them.
The rest are sort of touristy.

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/4284/gibraltarxu7.jpg

http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/2554/suezcanalev1.jpg

http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/3408/srilankasuezhn4.jpg

http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/8098/spitheadrevuejk0.jpg

By virtue of the fact that I, have scaled this castle wall. DRUNK AS. It is My Castle.

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/3209/napolicastlezc0.jpg

on the way home

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/4809/homewardboundny8.jpg

This place.

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/403/bassstraighttx2.jpg

Fwd Eng Room, and throttle platform of Melbourne, check the tachygraph revs, then divide by 9, to give approximate speed.

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/4395/16knotsba9.jpg

More later,

Shorty.

[Quiggers]

Interesting stuff, thanks shorty!

GQ

[101RRS]

I recognised a few of the faces in the piccies - but I was on Melbourne with 816 squadron a couple of years later, up until her last cruise with aircraft on - two skyhawks over the side on my last trip was enough to kill the old ship off. Also led to me leaving the Fleet Air Arm as I was in Trackers and going back to sea - with hindsight I should have changed to helos but at the time would have meant seakings and they didn't have a good record at the time - they kept crashing. A mate of mine who did change over ended up getting pensioned off as a result of injuries when his seaking crashed up on cape york a few years later.

I will have to do the same as you one day and drag out all the old war photos.

Garry

[shorty943]

The Seaking is a shocker, apparently if the ECU went, the co-pilot had to juggle the overhead mouted throttles while the pilot tried to do a rumba dance to keep some control while the the chopper flew due down.:(

We lost one on a mail run up in the Whitsundays, off Stalwart in 75, came down Okay-ish, for a chopper, on a beach, holidaying fisho's picked up the crew and brought them back to the ship, running themselves short of fuel in the process. The Jimmy, (first mate in civvy) wanted them to pay for fuel,:o the buffer (Chief Bosun's Mate) laid him out and gave the fuel, can and all to the fisho's.:cool:

Maybe the world will get lucky, and the flash blue one George W rides around in will flop out of the sky.:angel:

Shorty.

[101RRS]

I was in Stalwart in late 74 and we lost a Wessex somewhere that had to be brought back via a Chinook. They used to crash a fair bit too.

Garry

[shorty943]

I was late for Stalwart in 74. Mate and I, leave and posting from Anzac to Stalwart. Usual deal, leave ends at 12:00, no probs, we catch the plane from Adelaide to land in Sydney about 10:00, plenty of time to get on board, do the post in and then, step ashore and hit Rockers. We're on leave, nobody tells us Stalwart sails at 09:00 that morning. We wing inot Sydney, I look out the window of the 727, tap the mate on the shoulder, "Hey Bill, isn't that Stalwart?"
I lean back, Bill leans over, "Yep, beer?". 3 days later, planes, trains and taxi's, and 1 or 2 beers. We are sitting with a carton between us waiting on the wharf in Hobart for our ship to come in.:angel:
If you did that little surprise trip, just before "skippy 2", it was Killick Stoker Billy Strickland, and myself, drunk as monkeys, big grins because there was no book to throw at us. They made the mistake, we had a rip roarin road trip south.:twobeers: :twobeers: :twobeers: and :twobeers:

Shorty.

Maybe it was a Wessex, we lost, I think it was "skippy 2". I was FMU, main machinist shop. We called into Gladstone at the end of the exercise, a couple of mates and I hired an XA Falcon from Avis, headed up to Rocky. Why? Rocky has a Base Hospital, say no more. Turns out I'm the only one makes it, right in Hospital for the weekend. Turned the Ford over just short of town, the rest is still a bit hazy, but has something to do with ships and stuff.

Shorty.

[101RRS]

I was late for Stalwart in 74. Mate and I, leave and posting from Anzac to Stalwart. Usual deal, leave ends at 12:00, no probs, we catch the plane from Adelaide to land in Sydney about 10:00, plenty of time to get on board, do the post in and then, step ashore and hit Rockers. We're on leave, nobody tells us Stalwart sails at 09:00 that morning. We wing inot Sydney, I look out the window of the 727, tap the mate on the shoulder, "Hey Bill, isn't that Stalwart?"
I lean back, Bill leans over, "Yep, beer?". 3 days later, planes, trains and taxi's, and 1 or 2 beers. We are sitting with a carton between us waiting on the wharf in Hobart for our ship to come in.:angel:
If you did that little surprise trip, just before "skippy 2", it was Killick Stoker Billy Strickland, and myself, drunk as monkeys, big grins because there was no book to throw at us. They made the mistake, we had a rip roarin road trip south.:twobeers: :twobeers: :twobeers: and :twobeers:

Shorty.

Maybe it was a Wessex, we lost, I think it was "skippy 2". I was FMU, main machinist shop. We called into Gladstone at the end of the exercise, a couple of mates and I hired an XA Falcon from Avis, headed up to Rocky. Why? Rocky has a Base Hospital, say no more. Turns out I'm the only one makes it, right in Hospital for the weekend. Turned the Ford over just short of town, the rest is still a bit hazy, but has something to do with ships and stuff.

Shorty.

It was "Skippy 2" and I too was on Anzac and did the paying off cruise so we obviously served together - I was a Cadet on Anzac and then a Mid on Stalwart. I was too young then (but not now) to understand why you might have needed to use the services of a hospital on the quiet. I was on the bridge when we went into Hobart (and you were ****ed on the wharf about to be run in - I hope I did the table "off caps" - remember Hobart cause it was`bad weather and we had trouble getting alongside and had too many engine movements and nearly ran out of compressed air to start/stop the engine for each movement.

In Harvey Bay I managed to break off two accommodation ladders off the accompanying destroyers coming along side then in the 40' boats. Was also on watch when the boiler blew up at anchor - told the officer of the watch who was a asleep who said don't worry about it - but the Captain gave me a dressing down out on the bridge wing over it - I should have dobbed in the OOW but didn't - I now live in Canberra and often have lunch at the national library - old Capt Burnside was there nearly every day - mustn't have had a life in retirement - he died about 6 months ago - I hated that old ^&*$#$.

Arh - it all brings back memories of younger days.

Gazzz

PS - Met some young ladies when I was in Anzac and visiting Brisbane - met the same young ladies when we were in Brisbane again in Stalwart - nice young ladies - because I was a Mid we had to be in bed by 2300 in the Gunroom and the young ladies just had to come and tuck a few of us in - as I said nice young ladies.

[shorty943]

Sorry Garry, not our fault, leave pass said 12:00, you know sailors, every second of leave counts. Navies mistake not ours.:(

Isn't learning to drive boats fun. I took out the old wharf at Garden Island WA in 1970 as a 15 year old junior recruit, with an old WW2 GPV.:angel:

Hospitals employ people called "nurses", my fine young sir.

If you were a cadet on Anzac, was the paying off cruise to Fiji your first sea time? Remember your flat? Above the stern gland spaces? Early morning, sea has come up Zac is tossing and twisting, and all hell breaks loose as a stoker swears, throws open a hatch and water goes everywhere in the darkness? That was me. Sorry Garry, it was my job. You had to learn to expect anything, anytime, it was our job to teach you. Hope we did a reasonable job?:cool:

Shorty.

[101RRS]

Sorry Garry, not our fault, leave pass said 12:00, you know sailors, every second of leave counts. Navies mistake not ours.:(

Isn't learning to drive boats fun. I took out the old wharf at Garden Island WA in 1970 as a 15 year old junior recruit, with an old WW2 GPV.:angel:

Hospitals employ people called "nurses", my fine young sir.

If you were a cadet on Anzac, was the paying off cruise to Fiji your first sea time? Remember your flat? Above the stern gland spaces? Early morning, sea has come up Zac is tossing and twisting, and all hell breaks loose as a stoker swears, throws open a hatch and water goes everywhere in the darkness? That was me. Sorry Garry, it was my job. You had to learn to expect anything, anytime, it was our job to teach you. Hope we did a reasonable job?:cool:

Shorty.

Yep on that trip - yes was my first time - yep learnd to hate that stern gland space and its noisy hatch and you noisy stokers - my hammock was above the fridge so during the night the ropes on the hammock would loosen and I would be on top of the fridge with it running and vibrating - used to give me a cheap thrill.

What wasn't a cheap thrill was driving the throttle steam valves down in the engine room during the midnight to 4 watch with all you hairy arsed stokers running around, particularly when an offer was made to have a look at the golden rivet - never liked being in boiler rooms or engine rooms at night - scary places, scary people:o

Yeah - I got trained there but didn't do me any good.

Gazzz

[shorty943]

Ah, dear old "Zaca-Maru". She holds a special place in this old sailors heart.

All except the young Middy, who nearly killed me. Did not propperly dog down the airlock top hatch to No 2 boiler room on entry. When he opened the lower hatch, we got an explosive decompression in the boiler room. That left me clinging to the false front of the boiler furnace, surrounded by fire. Probably didn't look to good from anywhere else in the boiler room either. A second or two later, the door gets slammed shut by the Killick, and I'm on the way up the ladder to shred the Mid. Got met by the Killick's size ten boot in the chest, with "No,shorty,No", coming from his mouth. Can't remember the Middy, can't even remember the trip, we took you young officer chaps out for six weeks, had a week or so to refuel and supply, then we were back down to JB, to pick up another "crew", and off somewhere else. Just remember the fire.

Still kept it up in civvy life, boiler rooms and power stations, industrial engine rooms, back to sea on small merchant vessels. As an Officer, can you beleive that. In 72, I knocked back the offer to go to Creswell, did not want to be an officer, just to serve my country. Get out of the Navy, still want to work at sea, find out that in order to get the work I want, I have to qualify as a junior officer. Me.

Que sera?

Shorty.

[LieutenantRover]

Small world. I was a stoker and did Rimpac 80 on her. Spent 18 mths in 4 H C/L I'll scan my pics.

[Quiggers]

Stalwart eh? I knew a few blokes from that ship maybe around 76 -77?

- they used to drink at the Jungle Bar at the Menzies where I worked for a while; and at the Frisco.

Even got a tour of the ship when it was in Garden Island - fascinating.

GQ

[101RRS]

The machine shops on Stalwart were good for fixing things - not ship things but car things - never used the equipment for Landy stuff but my Jag has quite a few bits that were either fixed or made from scratch using the ships gear - its amazing what a few beers will get you especially when "two per day per person" applies - extra specially when the tinnies had to be opened.

Gazzz

[shorty943]

G-day fellas, sorry, been away from base, comforting bereaved friends.

LtRover:- 4Hc, main stokers mess Melbourne, about 76 men billeted, from memory, with senior AB's and Killicks in the outboard mess wing ( another 20 or so?). Immediately abaft the main galley, and across the main passageway from the main bakery.
bunk? second outboard row, third from for'd, middle.
FltDck mess, 2Pp, bunk, outboard, third from for'd, top,(4 high, the one with the bloody great big dongy bronze valve hand wheel right above your pillow.)
Did not like that bunk. Late at night, the ship rolling like a drunk, it was a dangerous bunk to climb out off. And. Late at night when I was rolling drunk, it was a dangerous bunk to climb in to.:p

Garry, I remember it well. A certain senior engineering officer, out to impress, had us making several sets of candellabra and ornate suitably nautical door knockers, as xmass gifts to the high brass. All out of only the best Admiralty Bronze, of course.:angel:
Well, we did have to learn how to use the new CAD\CAM Milling Machines now, didn't we?:p
Became quite profficient with molten bearing alloys, I seem to remember a few of the boys liked the thicker stronger mains and big ends I made. Some of my efforts were not so successful, too much off the top and bottom, bolt her up, and listen to the pistons self destruct against the head.:(
Note to self:- Remember to calculate headspace required next time idiot.

Quiggers, she was at her time, the most advanced ship ever designed and built in Aus. Missile armed, massive workshop facilities, 2 operating theatre's and a full dental surgery. Capable of pulling 4 ships of up to 4,000 ton, through the water tied alongside, at the same time, and providing essential services and maitainance and repairs at the same time. In her day, one of the most versatile and usefull ships in the world. Stalwart was the only power supply for the city of Darwin, for nearly 3 months after cyclone Tracy, probably the only machine in the southern hemisphere that could have done the job.
And we need more like her. But that is for a different rant page.:angel:

Shorty.