So, I was thinking how I could help some of the non-Royal Navy readers of my book, "Beyond the Waves: My Royal Navy Adventures" understand some of the things mentioned in it. As everyone knows, a visual image speaks a thousand words, so I trawled the internet for a few examples to keep you busy on a chilly October evening. Here goes..........
Firstly, thank you to the person who's photo this is, I borrowed it from their Facebook Group page.
Those of you who are currently reading my book and have reached the chapter about HMS Royal Arthur, this one's for you.
The photo shows the base in the background (around 1980 - but it hadn't changed when I was there), and the main focus is on a team of Leadership Course trainees competing at the infamous "Cliff and Chasm Race." In my book, I go into detail about what this race involved, but it is much easier to visualise when you can appreciate the size of the equipment that we had to carry/drag around the course. You'll notice the cart (effectively a gun limber), the ropes for constructing a means of getting men and equipment across the chasm, and the lead-filled telegraph pole that had to be carried over all of the obstacles (by me - I seem to remember, as I was christened, "The Whippet" due to my fitness at the time). For more information, read my book, "Beyond the Waves: My Royal Navy Adventures."
In the chapters relating to my time aboard HMS Scylla (frigate) and HMS Invincible (aircraft-carrier), I mention operating and maintaining a cannon, known as a GAMB-01. This is a picture of that beast in-action. It fired 20mm rounds, and was used as a last-ditch defence against incoming aircraft or missile attacks. It was also pretty handy during "Pirate Patrols" in the South China Seas, and in tackling a suspected drug-smuggling ship in the North Sea (but more about that in the book itself). For training, we often fitted a computer-based system to the optical sights seen in the photo, called OBVACT. (can't remember what it stood for). By looking through the sights you would see the sea and the horizon as normal, but superimposed onto this would be computer generated aircraft which could be programmed to use different attack profiles. By pulling the weapon's "trigger," computer generated rounds could be seen leaving the gun's barrel and hitting the incoming target (hopefully!!). Remember - This was before the time of realistic computer games. This was far better though, much more realistic.
In the latter chapters of my book, I focus on our major deployment, "Orient 92." For those of you who don't want me to spoil the fun of the story, I'll not give any "spoilers," but once you have read the book, check-out this link to a "You-Tube" video. It was the ship's official record of the trip, as filmed by members of the ship's company. Yes, it appears a bit dated (but it was 25 years ago), and the sound track does get a bit monotonous after the first hour or so, but it does give a wonderful visual record of the entire trip. Of course, it only gives a general overview of the deployment - For my personal recollections of the trip, you'll need to read my book....
The video can be found HERE.
My book, "Beyond the Waves: My Royal Navy Adventures" can be purchased NOW in Kindle E-Book and Paperback formats from Amazon worldwide.
Visit my website HERE to click through to the sales pages.
Sign-up to my Mailing List to get news, updates, and blog posts direct to your inbox (no spam).
FOLLOW me and LIKE my page at Facebook HERE.
FOLLOW me on Twitter HERE.