John Hake

Ex-matelot ('63-'74)

[John Hake @jehake]

@professorvaness Thank you for the reply. 👍
Is this another instance of the media trying to modify our history.🤔

[John Hake @jehake]

@professorvaness Just listened to your snippet on Blackpool Tower on BBC4's My Space program.
You mentioned towers at Wembley, Douglas, Brighton and Morecambe, but no mention of the tower at New Brighton on the Wirral. Completed in 1898, demolished in 1919 and was 567ft high.

[John Hake @jehake]

@OnthisdayRN @RoyalNavy @UKMCCMiddleEast The three ton class sweepers are Appleton (inboard), Chawton (centre) & Burnaston (outboard) about to depart Bahrain for our return to the UK via Simonstown & Gib. The date was 24th March 1969. Note:-All three ships are flying paying off pendants and everybody is wearing whites.

[John Hake @jehake]

@Forbes11David @HMWarships It was during the 1st cod war,1958/61 and could have been the Palliser because she got caught in a hurricane and had to return to Rosyth to go into dry dock for repairs.

[John Hake @jehake]

@NatMuseumRN I beg to differ, surely his best known role was that of Chief Petty Officer Pertwee in The Navy Lark that ran on BBC radio between 1959 and 1977, 244 episodes.

[John Hake @jehake]

@Bruce437t @T5topcat @OnthisdayRN @HMNBDevonport Ah! is that the dulcet tones of the ammunition hoist?
I was on the Eastbourne, our mess was below the gun bay and above the 4.5 magazine.

[John Hake @jehake]

@Louise_Rowntree @RNRMC @RoyalNavy @NavyBritish @NavyLookout @ModernNavy @OnthisdayRN The branch badge of a Wireless Telegraphist is shown at the top of this page, the title was changed to Wireless Operator postwar. The more senior you were the more stars you got on your badge until you got a crown.

[John Hake @jehake]

@Louise_Rowntree @RNRMC @RoyalNavy @NavyBritish @NavyLookout @ModernNavy @OnthisdayRN On the badge front, he would wear his petty officers badge on his left arm and his branch badge (what area he worked onboard ship) on his right. I've have a leaflet showing RN badges that is about the right date. The PO's badge of crossed anchors is shown with a King's crown.

[John Hake @jehake]

@Louise_Rowntree @RNRMC @RoyalNavy @NavyBritish @NavyLookout @ModernNavy @OnthisdayRN Early shipborne radar sets were huge and couldn't be fitted in an aircraft so not sure why he would go to HMS Ariel, a naval aircraft traing school, maybe it was to learn radar theory, so he knew the basics of how it worked.

[John Hake @jehake]

@Howard_Lpool My God, that is ugly!
Are the designers living in the past? 1960's maybe when this design of high rise was fashionable.

[John Hake @jehake]

@OnthisdayRN @RoyalNavy White belt & gaiters (anklets!) were never part of your kit unless on some shoreside duty. They were kept clean with blanco (whitening), then it would rain and the blanco would run down your No.1s and you would get a bazzy on 'cos it would take a forenoon to get them clean again.

[John Hake @jehake]

@OnthisdayRN @RoyalNavy Ben-My-Chree in this context is Girl of my heart.
Chorus from an old Manx song :-

Girl of my heart, sweet Ben-ma-chree,
Though for a while I part from thee,
Long as the stars shine over the sea,
Girl of my heart, I'll love but thee;

[John Hake @jehake]

@OnthisdayRN @RoyalNavy @HMNBDevonport Union Street, our ship's co. run ashore pub was the An-tel-o-pe and then on to the magic-stick (Majestic Ballroom) or the Paramount aka The RN School of Dancing

[John Hake @jehake]

@Capt_Navy Classic example of basic RN fault finding.
The float test!
Is the equipment serviceable or not?
Throw it over the side, if it sinks it's U/S
If it floats it's serviceable
Simples!

[John Hake @jehake]

@WilshireTony @NatMuseumRN @Pussers Bloody hell, he must be a muscle bosun, those wooden rum tubs were not light.

[John Hake @jehake]

@WelshMatelot Simple question, difficult to answer!
Ideal day
Breakfast - shit on a raft
Dinner - babies heads
Supper - CHE
Ideal run ashore big eats - nasi goreng then egg banjo when returning back onboard.

[John Hake @jehake]

@OnthisdayRN When this system was deployed on merchants ships they were designated as CAM Ships, Catapult Aircraft Merchant Ships and I believe the aircraft were flown by RAF pilots.

[John Hake @jehake]

@OnthisdayRN @RoyalNavy @HMNBDevonport @HMS_Collingwood @RNRMC Fieldgunners, nutters to a man.
Used to watch them in amazement in the 60's practising in Drake barracks.
Seems we don't breed roughy-toughy matelots any more.

[John Hake @jehake]

@OnthisdayRN @DefenceDailyUK Not quite the same now those gigantic sheerlegs have gone!