And, the "Dits"

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Murray Nash | NZ18368 | 1966

Getting to the UK

I was only 17 and this was my first overseas posting. I remember vividly the flights in the C130 Hercules and the stops on the way. I think there were five flights in total. From memory we went Fiji, Hawaii, Sacramento, Bermuda, and the UK (Mildenhall). I know we were given $25USD to buy our meals in the US but I was a young nieve child really and lost mine in Fiji, pretty much mugged by a couple of tall locals when I went to the beach with one of their 'sisters'. Lesson learned. I remember landing in Hawaii and taxiing for what seemed like hours past rows and rows of US aircraft - mind boggling. Sacramento was fun and three of us hitch-hiked to San Francisco and were picked up by a USN guy, so that was great. The flight to Bermuda took a long time, I thought 17.5 hours but not sure a Hercules can stay airborne for that long. A long time anyway. Bermuda was great, a few of his got to a private beach somehow, and that was great too. I remember landing at Mildenhall but the next few days are a bit of a blur now.

I remember we were a bit early so we steamed up and down the coast for a while, just out of sight of land, so that we could arrive in Mt Maunganui at the correct time. My mum and other members of my family were there to greet the ship and me of course, and how special was that.

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Robert Parkinson | Y18629 | 1967

WARSPITE

First TOD up top (1967-68); on exercises in Indian Ocean, we were hunting for HMS Warspite one of the early nuclear submarines for the RN. I think they (Warspite) boasted that no one would be able to detect them.

They certainly didn't figure on the crew of Waikato, We located her and picked her up at long range, around 25 miles, launched Wasp and registered a kill. Unbelievable. Warspite acknowledged this by surfacing and escorting us back to anchorage at Gan (Maldives) and flying the Waikato Flag (Red, Gold and Black) from her conning tower. Still don't know where they got the flag from but suspect this was part of a wager from the pre-exercise briefings where they (Warspite) probably boasted as above only for our team to take up their challenge and provide them with said flag on the promise that they would fly it accordingly.

Coral Sea Exercise (1968)

Two Carrier Fleets one including HMS Hermes the other HMS Eagle.

We were told that an enemy invasion fleet was on its way to Australia. Our fleet was to sail North and try to intercept them wherever they may be. A couple of days into the exercise, our Communicators picked up a transmission from an Air New Zealand flight bound for Singapore, that radioed they had sighted a number of warships below them, Ha-ha! We know new who and were they were.

At some point middle of the night, we came across said enemy and broke away to intercept them.. They, the enemy, did not know who we were. Lads in the EWO (Electronic Warfare Office) jumped on to their frequencies and started jamming them by hollering Rugby, Rugby, Rugby at a great number of decibels.

We went in hit a few of the Carrier escorts, took a few landed shots on the Carrier and then scarpered. It took a while for us to be identifie.

NZ Tour (1968)

A welcome tour. We visited Tauranga, Napier, Picton, Wellington, Dunedin (as well as a little diversion to the Fiordland Sounds).

On this trip at each of the ports we were at, so was a Port Line Merchant sip (can't remember her name) who was engaged in loading for return to UK. I'm not sure but suspect there may have been a bit of hospitality sharing amongst the Upper Deck.

Now, our last call that we saw her was Dunedin for us and Port Chalmers for the said ship. What happened next is still a bit of a mystery as to how the following event evolved, also how nobody received a reprimand or court martial or how the Dunedin Harbourmaster wasn't hot on our heels.

As we slipped from Dunedin, our Mortars were "loaded" with Toilet Rolls, Cabbages and Potatoes. On approaching up close to the Port Line ship at Port Chalmers she dutifully dipped her ensign only to be met with our response which was a barrage of the aforementioned projectiles. Great fun except we forgot we were a little down wind and got half of the "ammo" back. Just imagine trying to do this in today's environment.

Fire (1970)

In late 1970, we were on an Auckex in the Gulf when early afternoon fire broke out in the Engine Room.

At the time I was on watch in the Switchboard when all of a sudden smoke filled the flat outside and our compartment. I yelled at my opo that we had best get out of here whereby we hit the deck down low instinctively and made our way to the hatch and deck.

The fire started in the ER how those guys got out without a fatality is still an amazement.

All the crew scrambled to the deck, doors shut to Zulu and then commenced going back to fight the fire. The Bridge at first had no idea what was going on as all communication had been lost as well as steerage.

I remember sitting on the Foc'sle and thinking I hope none of our ammunitions will explode (Seacats, Mortars 4.5 Shells). There was no panic, your training and discipline kicked in automatically. We were totally out of action. Went through our foam very quickly and then the fighting was with hoses. Nearest ship to us was Taranaki (5 miles away) and came across as fast as she could as did others of the Fleet once everyone realised what was happening. There was many a brave sailor that day who received citations etc. who brought the fire under control and eventually extinguished it.

What a mess!!

Mess decks were awash. Ship's side was buckled from the heat etc.

After the ship was secure, Skipper declared that he thought it might be time for a beer. This was just great, however, during this period we were wanting a change in brand of beer and we had a number of various brands on board, These brands were all in bottles, and the beer store was not far from the engine room. Needless to say, the bottles were very warm, and of course, so was the beer. No matter, the tops came off and we well and truly downed the contents as is. As we were totally out of action, but luckily with a fleet, (we had no galley) it was either HMS Bacchante or HMS Charybdis that cooked our meals and ferried them across. We were towed back to Devonport by HMS Minerva.. On the way back Radio Hauraki were dedicating requests to us. What an experience.