The Next Tour Will Be At 1050

Hi everybody, I’m your guide and my name’s Pete
As you go on board mind your head, watch your feet
She’s really quite old, and has earnt her pension
Been here since ‘81 without much care
But you see the  scaffold’s there
And she’s getting well deserved attention

This end’s for escape, its the fore-ends and TSC
These white lockers hold escape gear and here’s the SSE.
Originally there’d be 12. Then that was 9 in ‘60
Down the loading hatch via the rails
Onto the racks or through the rear doors
Cuddling up to the spuds to the carrots and more

Over the sill, to the bunks that stay warm
In the mess for sleep, to eat, to play that’s the norm
Some quite low bunks and some more roomy
The next space has a battery
(In ‘71 we lost Chief Kimber)
The tower to the 4 inch gun is in the Wardroom

Ah - here’s the control room, oh so busy, so much to see
There’s the fruit machine, its face all black and dialled
We’ve got four wells although not four masts
Warner’s gone but there’s attack
Two-eyed search is further back
And rotating radar brings up the rear

The left hand side, is the side with tappers
One to steer, and heed voices from above
The man behind can be shallow or quite deep
His neighbour is the level headed one
All that brass lifts us up or drags us down
Two elements do the work although we might Q

Eyes left - radar, eyes right - comms and here’s the heads
Oh! the galley! Small enough for babies heads
The heads are quite modern these loos  flush
On Talent and others before  
If those steps weren’t followed
Getting your own back was your just reward


And through to the engine room we go
There’s the compressor in the corner
And here’s a lathe and a 6 valve chest
On the surface or just under
(Using snort and exhaust)
These 2 Vickers donks will drive us on

On we go, nearly done, past the screamers
To the switch gear and all that copper
Motors under here for when we’re sneaky
Through one more bulkhead
To the after ends we go
And this is like the fore-ends only less so

And that, everybody ends the tour
Thank you and if you’d like to ask some more
I’ll see you outside and what’s more
Buy me a cuppa and a cake
And I’ll ever be your mate

Especially if I get at least four stars and a good review on Trip Advisor.
(OK - it hasn't got a good cadence and the rhyming is rubbish but I'll chip away at it)

Original source:

Gosport - the south coast town thats full of surprises; from the Group Leisure website

Gosport - the south coast town that's full of surprises

Venue: Gosport

Date: 29 Sep 2012

Pictured: Enjoying a cruise of Portsmouth Harbour as part of our Gosport fam trip.

A familiarisation trip to Gosport gave readers the chance to get up close to a nuclear missile, cruise the Solent, step onboard a submarine and visit the world’s only museum of Hovercraft. Rebekah Tailor reports.

Legend states that the name Gosport is derived from God’s Port - as christened by the Bishop of Winchester back in the 12th century, after he was rescued from a fierce storm and brought ashore by local fishermen. A rather romantic notion, however the heavens were certainly smiling down on our recent Reader Club Trip to the south coastal town, located on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, as blue skies and sunshine were the order of the day.

Visits to Explosion! Museum of Naval Firepower, the Royal Navy Submarine Museum,Diving Museum and Hovercraft Museum would reflect upon the area’s rich maritime history and naval heritage; while a climactic cruise of Portsmouth Harbour - courtesy of Gosport Ferry Ltd - basked in the present, absorbing the picturesque hub of Gosport’s marinas, with fantastic views across to the iconic Spinnaker Tower and Gunwharf Quays.

The story of the submariner

Approaching via waterbus, it’s near impossible to miss the incredible hulk of HMS Alliance ‘parked’ alongside the Royal Navy Submarine Museum - yet I almost did.

I’d be forgiven for the fact it’s currently concealed under tarpaulin as it undergoes a major £6.75 million conservation restoring it back to its former glory - but that’s not why I almost glanced past it. The truth is, I hadn’t been prepared for the sheer size of this World War Two era submarine - the only surviving one which remains in the UK - and I was genuinely enthralled as I climbed up to the gangway, ducking through the hatch into the forward torpedo compartment.

Pictured: Submariner Peter Chilcott shared his experience of life beneath the waves.

While conservation works continue through next year in preparation for the re-launch ofHMS Alliance in 2014, it’s business as usual for the Royal Navy Submarine Museum - and this includes the chance to climb on board and take a tour with a real submariner. Our guide was Peter Chilcott, and it was a real privilege to listen and learn as he guided us through the cramped living quarters, control room and engine room, sharing his personal experience of the submariner’s lot and revealing what these men are tasked with in the service of their country.

The Royal Navy Submarine Museum offers discounted group rates for parties of ten plus, with free entry for GTOs and free coach parking. Welcome talks can be arranged on arrival, and additional attractions include the Royal Navy’s very first submarine Holland 1 and midget X24. Combined tickets with neighbouring attractions are also available, including the option to travel via Portsmouth Waterbus Service between Explosion! Museum of Naval Firepower.

“We’ve had a wonderful day in Gosport - a place I’ve never ever thought to visit before. I’ve got loads of ideas for my group and we’ve been made really welcome by people from the tourist board and all the attractions. I think it’s probably a place that people have forgotten to visit and I would strongly advise that everyone visits Gosport as there’s lots to do.” - June Barnard, Shepperton Ladies Club

Two Nations Divided By An Uncommon Sentiment

A strange thing happened to me last week. It was quite surprising although not unpleasant. Two merican gentleman had taken the tour on HMS ALLIANCE and in conversation afterwards, it transpired that they were over here for a month or so, visiting sites with a D-Day history and would finally end up in France. As we talked and I told them a little about the HOLLAND 1, they asked about the guides and I told them we were all volunteers. They asked how long I'd served in the Royal Navy and I replied that it was for 32 years. "Thank you for your service", one of them said.

A quite un-British thing to say.

Generations

This past Sunday was a day of generations at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum. I worked with a man who was on board HMS BELFAST as it undertook the bombardment during the D-Day landings at Normandy in 1944; guided visitors on a Cold War submarine, talked to submariners who were on HMS CONQUEROR when it sank the ARA Belgrano during the Falklands War in 1982, and worked with a young man who's been patiently waiting to join the Royal Navy at HMS Raleigh for several months despite knowing that others who join up quit within the first week because they find the training too hard.

THE ROYAL NAVY SUPPORTING ALLIED FORCES 

IN NORMANDY, JUNE 1944. Starboard 4 inch guns of 

HMS BELFAST open fire on German positions 

around Ver-sur-Mer on the night of 27 June 1945.

Spooky and not so spooky events

This past couple of weeks has seen a step change in the activity at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum. We have seen the start of the cofferdam, I met one of the earlier Staff Operations Officers of my first ship, HMS GALATEA, the new, albeit temporary, Director has been appointed and the half term has had the Spooky Tours taking place on the submarine.

The refit of HMS ALLIANCE will start next year but requires the building of a cofferdam around the boat. This will have a main purpose of allowing visitors to view the submarine from all angles but will also provide a platform for a lot of the refurbishment work to take place. The piling for this is being put in place and is impressive in it's simplicity and ease of installation. Along with this progress there has been the appointment of the new Director and at a recent meeting with local sponsors, supporters and interested parties the way ahead was highlighted.

There has been a lot of changes on the site as the worksite is cleared for the refurbishment. Sadly this has meant that the car park is now looking like Steptoe's yard, and is not helped by there being 3 yachts in the car-park. The museum had been holding elements of a Kaiten for some time but these have now been transferred to Explosion! who will restore it and recreate the missing sections. This blogger hopes that the submarine museum won't be completely denuded of its other exhibits once the site has been developed. He feels that it already looks Spartan and dare I say, tatty in places? In fairness, Explosion! does have a much greater storage area and already has many submarine related artefacts.


This half term, HMS ALLIANCE has been the site for some ghoulish goings-on, some submarine scariness, as the we've been running Spooky tours through the boat. The kids have loved it, as well as a few adults. But also during this half term I had the opportunity to meet a gentleman who was an officer HMS GALATEA in the mid 60s. He was showing his grandson around the boat and in conversation, our tenuous but common link became evident.

From the Submarine Guide of the Year, as voted for by readers of Bunty (Google it)

I know you all like to keep up to date with the comings and goings of the visitors to HMS ALLIANCE, so here's today's report.

A really busy day today with the Waterbus bringing over loads of folks on the Big Ticket, even though the Submarine Museum gets very little of that ticket price. The cosmopolitan crowd today included Germans, a German doctor and his family, more Germans a family from Cape Town, the father of which has done the Comrades Marathon in about 7 hours, some French folks, a colleague from work with his family, inclusive of fun and extrovert daughter, ex submariners from the Amphion class and the Oberon class, a guy who had been on the Port crew of HMS REVENGE (my boat and crew) but a couple of years after me, and 6 US servicemen from RAF Molesowrth, who seemed jolly nice chaps. Oh yes, and lots of other people.

We did start doing tours but we became overwhelmed by the numbers coming off the Waterbus, so ran a free-flow system to allow people to see the boat but still be able to chat to a guide if they wished. That works well to 'break the back' of the numbers, and allows us to revert to tours if we're able.

Oh, by the way. Harbour Stations, the onsite cafe, does a mean mocha

A Submarine Weekend - kinda

Another weekend, another day acting as a guide on HMS ALLIANCE at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum. The big turnout would seem to indicate that t was either a rainy day (it was), or that the summer holidays are almost here (they are); the 4 guides were taking a tour of 25 people through every 20 minutes.

This weekend I was able to cross the generations. It's always good to chat to the older, more experienced guides for it's always possible to learn something new about the boat (more in a later blog) but the tours often include other older submariners. This weekend I encountered a Chief Stoker from the modern day HMS VANGUARD,

HMS VANGUARD S28

HMS TAURUS P399

and an old salt who served on the previous T Class of submarines, and on X craft (Coincidentally, this article appears in today's Daily Mirror). Both were able to give me the benefit of their experience and that will enable me to give a better tour next time I'm there.

Then there's always the kids :) When you get the good ones, they are so curious and so well informed and they are a joy. Some do seem to have fairly gruesome ideas that involve either the destruction of the boat, or the world, or where is the dead body is kept if someone dies. Then you get the one who will cling to his mum with his cuddly toy and not even say hello. I'll take the former every time.

X24

Images from Wikipedia

Amazing coincidence Number 91387

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I was taking a group through HMS ALLIANCE last week. As a diver I recognised the Scapa Flow polo shirt one of the visitors was wearing and remarked upon it, and continued with the tour.  A friend commented on a Facebook post of mine today where I said I would be guiding today, that it was his diving club that were on the boat; their diving trip had been blown out so were filling their time. A minor, so slightly amazing, coincidence.

One of today's trips included an original crew member of HMS ALLIANCE, a comms tech (another name for an intelligence gatherer, and some Poles who were sailing back to Poland having started in Brest.

And if anyone knows about the strongbacks on the Tube Space doors, and the locking rings, I'd like to hear from you.

Octonauts

A little boy called Isaac (less than five years and 3 feet) asked me yesterday on one of the tours what kind of submarine was HMS ALLIANCE. Having answered his question to my satisfaction and, thankfully his, we moved on. Later on we met again in the cafe and his gran, him and I had another quick chat. Out of that conversation came the subject of Octonauts, of which I was competely ignorant. I've done my research and am now less so, and I'd like to introduce them to you.

Ladies and gentlemen, The Octonauts!

On Youtube

And the BBC