PLYMOUTH NAVY DAYS, 1959: A NEW POEM...

Plymouth Navy Days, 1959…

So nearly 9 years of age:

Impressionable, excited

On the annual Devon holiday,

Awesome, its memories savoured;

A little freedom, so rare, palpable,

Not quite so timid and watchful, thus able

To wrestle awry from parental control

A smidgeon, my unconditional joy unwavered…

Navy Days, August 1959:

Impressive, exciting,

On the annual Plymouth vacation;

Blithesome submarines gaped at in shock,

‘Rorqual’ and ‘Auriga’ anchored, yet accessible;

But to reach a periscope, I was unable

And thus a submariner took parental control

To lift me up and I surveyed the Devonport dock…

Sinister, steely warship grey:

Cruisers, frigates, destroyers,

Aircraft carriers, even the ‘Ark Royal’,

All seemingly insipid, bland and pallid

Duck-egg blues;

Stealthy, sinister, I spied on them enthralled,

Would climb aboard ‘HMS Belfast’ in time:

In awe of those giant, metal icebergs,

Their colourful flags in a flurry but battleships

Solid, indomitable, the pride of their crews…

Pete Ray

February 2018 

As a boy of 9, all but a month, I was taken to the August 1959 Navy Days at Plymouth’s dockyards. 

I boarded HMS Belfast, I know but I have little recollection which of the two submarines I climbed aboard. 

I was lifted by a submariner to look through the periscope and I was amazed by the experience…

‘Auriga’ was sold for scrap at Newport, in February 1975 and ‘Rorqual’ had actually suffered a fire in 1958, became entangled in a trawler net in 1963, suffered an explosion in 1966 and then rammed a USS minesweeper in 1969 in The Phillippines. 

(I don’t think Frank Spencer was skipper at the time, however…)

It was scrapped in Plymouth in May 1977.

Loved it…

HMS BELFAST...

BACK COVER OF THE 'PROGRAMME'...

HMS AURIGA...

HMS RORQUAL IN DOCK...

HMS RORQUAL...