Plymouth Navy Days, 1959…
So nearly 9 years of age,
Impressionable, excited
On the annual Devon holiday.
Awesome, its memories favoured.
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 savoured…
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, whilst the battleships
Were solid, indomitable and the pride of their crews…
Pete Ray…
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.
‘Rorqual’ had suffered a fire in 1958 then became entangled in a trawler net in 1963, before suffering an explosion in 1966.
It then rammed a USS minesweeper in 1969 in
The Phillippines.
It was scrapped in Plymouth in May 1977.
Loved it all…
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