THE
DITTY BOX |
Return from Stonecutters Island for a rest
onboard following Annual Musketry course plus Assault course -
1948 |
Don Whittick |
Ernie Hornby & Jake Pennington going home
on Troopship Dilwara- 1949 |
Russ Jolley, Chief Quartermaster -
1948 |
K S Robinson |
J V Horsford, Engineer's Office
Writer |
Geoff Lane & Hank |
EM 'Corky', EM 'Buster' Brown,? , REM Tom
Brown & Scouse (?) taken by EM Roy Harris |
W H McCarten |
A Christening onboard - note upturned Ship's
Bell |
Christmas Rounds on the Messdeck. Cox'ns are
certainly younger than my day! |
Christmas cheer |
Captain visits messes
informally |
Unknown group |
Norman Drakes - pre LO3 |
Peter Marchant, D57. |
Petty Officer's Mess LO3
|
Banyan* Party Malta 1938/9
LO3 *Picnic ashore |
B Guns crew and Pluto.
AB Dusty Miller looking up - he had just been
'bombed'by a seagull. 1938.
LO3 |
L/Sea C.Scott in front row with Pluto. Leith
Docks 1940.
LO3 |
B Guns crew and Pluto.
Before or after the above?
LO3 |
Pluto, postumously awarded the Dickin Medal.
The photo is in it's original frame.
LO3 |
Seaman's Mess, Canteen Flat, 1948,
D57 L to R-L/Sea Ballantyne, O/Seamen
Campbell,Wakeley,Hadlow,Aston,Hornby,Wood. Wong-Mess Boy |
Boy Seamans XI Football Team between
1948 and 1950 D57 |
Xmas Day,
1947,D57
L to R-Sto Mcnamara, Ck O'Clee,The Mad
Chef, SBA Toomey-'Doc' for the day, Ah Lin and? in front
It is a tradition in the Royal Navy that on Xmas day
youngest on board is Captain and others change uniforms |
Captain's retinue, Xmas Day,
1947,D57 L to R-Surg.Lt.Mathieson,Lt.Sutton, SBA Toomey,
Boy Sea Hall, Boy Sea Frampton, Capt J Jefferies |
Keelung, Formosa, 1948, D57
L to R-?, Toomey, Cahill, ?, Ball, Howson, Brown. Hill, Randell, White in
front |
Electrical Division,
Christmas, 1955 |
1st XI Football Team, 1953/54, D57
L to R-Tel Elps,L/Sig Blows, L/Sea Shower, LEM George, AB Newson, LSM
Enifer, ?, PO Tel Hinks, L/Sea Price. In front AB Snowden, ?, AB Dowge, ?, ?
. |
Quarterdeck Football Team, 1952,
D57 L to R-AB Batchelor, ?,
L/Sea Shower, AB Lane, AB Arthur, L/Sea Headcoat, L/Sea Price. In front AB
Geordie, AB Robinson, AB Harris, AB Newton, AB Martin |
D57 in company with RAF
Sunderland |
D57 Ships Company Xmas 1951
Hong Kong |
Another D57 Ships Company
1951 |
D57 Delivers despatches to HMS
LONDON |
Communications Division 1958 -
59 |
Ships Company 1958 - 59 |
LO3 on her Norwegian Patrol,
1940 |
The only photo that we have showing Bismarck
under fire |
This photo is signed by all the crew involved
in the Altmark rescue |
LO3 Pay Office |
Photo of LO3 in Narvik
Museum |
HMS COSSACK Plaque in Narvik
Museum |
Torpedo firing, D57, 1948 |
Lowering the whaler to pick up the
torpedo |
Coxswain (L/Sea Salmon) manouvering the
whaler to tow the torpedo which was fitted with a flotation
head |
Clear Lower Deck to hoist whaler after
recovering the torpedo |
D57 Looking aft down the starboard side from
the bridge |
8th Destroyer Flotilla at speed preparing to
bombard disused Japanese lighthouse. Note Depth Charge rails at the
stern |
X Gun, D57, during a shoot,1948. Loader
moving loading tray, with shell, across to the breech |
View of D57's starboard propeller and rudder
while in the floating dry dock. Bottom being scraped |
All dhobeying (laundry) had to be done in a
bucket. Also used for washing and bathing. A very valuable item, jealously
guarded |
D57, the Emergency Conning Position, for use
when the bridge was out of action. L/Sea(PTI) Pat Hayes and Oppo (close
friend) |
'Up Spirits' following the annual General
Meeting, 1999. Rear Admiral Davies (LO3's Gunnery Officer when she was sunk),
the supervising officer |
Ric O'Clee washing down his tot of
rum! |
SHIPS
PETS |
*Click on small image to view full size
picture |
PLUTO was adopted as the mascot
of LO3, date unknown, but he saw a lot of seatime during his life onboard the
ship |
PLUTO as a pup 1938/9 (LO3) |
PLUTO was onboard during the
Altmark incident and the sinking of the Bismarck. Sadly he went down with his
ship. Posthumously awarded the Dickin Medal - the animals Victoria
Cross |
PLUTO later in life |
HERR OSCAR
Oscar the
tabby must have been one of the luckiest cats of all time - or unluckiest,
depending on how you look at it. He started his naval career aged one year old
on board the German battleship BISMARCK.
When the
BISMARCK was sunk, Oscar was plucked from the waves by the Royal Navy and
joined up with the Allies as official ship's cat on the destroyer HMS COSSACK.
This posting lasted six months. When the COSSACK was torpedoed and sunk, once
again Oscar found himself struggling to survive. The crew of the aircraft
carrier HMS ARK ROYAL pulled him out of the sea and adopted him. His stay as
ship's cat on the ARK ROYAL was even shorter. Just three days later, the
carrier was torpedoed in the Mediterranean.
A born
survivor, Oscar scrambled on to a piece of wood and was rescued for a third
time. That was the end of his seafaring career and, after a spot of survivors
leave in Gibraltar, he was posted to an Old Sailors' Home in Belfast. After a
visit to a local vet he claimed political asylum and lived out the rest of his
days there in peace.
[This story
has been passed down through the years since Cossack was sunk but how true is
it? At the time BISMARCK sank COSSACK had withdrawn leaving RODNEY, KGV and
DORSETSHIRE to use their big guns and then left to escort the battleships back
to the UK. DORSETSHIRE and MAORI remained for a while to pick up survivors.
There is no evidence to suggest that COSSACK picked up any survivors, not even
a cat! In October 1941 when COSSACK was sunk in the Atlantic, off Cape St.
Vincent, ARK ROYAL was in the Mediterranean. COSSACK's survivors were picked up
by HM Ships LEGION and CARNATION and FS ARIGUANI and no survivor has mentioned
the ship's cat having been picked up. However, as one of our past Association
Presidents, the late Rear Admiral Anthony Davies, said "Never let the facts get
in the way of a good story", so the story goes on!] |
HERR OSCAR Ex-Bismarck, Ex-Cossack (LO3),
Ex-Ark Royal |
BUSTER/STUMPY
He had his
own hammock like all sailors had in those days - 1948, and was very good at
nipping into it. He spent more time sleeping in it than we did in ours.
One Saturday
morning the Captain was carrying out his usual Rounds, inspecting the ship for
cleanliness and tidyness. As he stepped into the Forward Messdeck he saw a
small hammock swinging from the hammock bars. Intrigued, he investigated and
saw a note hanging from the hammock. He read it , chuckled and tiptoed past it.
The note read 'Stumpy. Ratcatcher off Watch. Do not
Disturb'.
To fully
appreciate this snippet you need to know that Watchkeepers who have had the
Middle Watch (0000 -0400) were entitled to what is known as 'Guard and
Steerage'. This meant that they were permitted to lay in their hammocks for an
extra half hour in the morning when the rest of the ships company had to get
up, lash their hammocks up and stow them away in the hammock
netting. |
BUSTER, otherwise known as STUMPY (D57),
relaxing in his own hammock |
SHEENA
Sheena was known to be D57's
mascot from 1951 to 1954. She is pictured here tied up to the depth charge
rails, while her photo was taken. |
SHEENA |
Sheena in the arms of PO
Electrician 'Tug' Wilson. |
SHEENA and 'TUG' |