(Memories written by members of Forces Reunited)
HMS LOCH FYNE 61 in 1961
Written by peter cleary
towing sweepe from mombassa to malta. ships cat dara., HMS Loch Fyne, HMS Loch Fyne in 1957
Written by Michael Elton
Hope you find this story amusing. I served on Loch Fyne during 1957 - 1958 based mainly at Bahrain. We were travelling through Suez Canal in November 1957 and were anchored in Port Said harbour awaiting arrival of pilot. There were several egyptian feluccas alongside, the natives were selling everything from t shirts to bowls of fruit to feelthy postcards etc.HMS Loch Fyne, in 1957
Written by Michael (Lofty) Elton
Hows this for a ’Green Rub’ I was serving onboard Loch Fyne on Persian Gulf duty. We were on patrol looking for arab dhows that were being used to carry slaves from the Oman republic to Suadi Arabia. I was a young lad of 18 years old at that time , not yet introduced to the rum ration, and I had pretty good eye sight. I was on ’lookout’ duty and spotted an arab dhow some distance away that appeared to be taking its sail down. I reported ,Arab dhow bearing Red 30, it was on the port bow. No one else onboard saw the dhow, it was’nt even on radar but the Captain, Captain B Pengelly trusted me and ordered the ship to alter course. A little while later we intercepted the dhow and it actually had slaves onboard. It was arrested and escorted to Bahrein. After all the fuss was over the Captain came up to the lookout position and I got a pat on the back for being alert. I was not yet qualified in a specialist role and the Captain asked me what I was interested in doing, I told him that I would like to take up as a radar operator . The Captain was quite shocked and said that being a radar operator was the worst thing I could possibly do, It would ruin a ’Gift’ of wonderful eyesight. He recommended me to qualify a a Gunner. 13 years later I was discharged from the navy as Below Naval Physical standard, being deaf caused by acoustic trauma,ie gunfire. Thanks Skipper, you stopped me from going blind but you made me bleedin deaf.