HMS Queen Elizabeth.

The leading lights/aircraft story is a spoof I'm afraid.
There has never been a requirement to land on in port (fixed wing) and even rotary very seldom did it. There simply isn't any need and a carrier or other ship alongside is rarely able to clear to flying stations due to all the other work going on when in harbour.
Aircraft embarcations take place at sea.
Also pilots, especially Navy pilots, hardly need leading lights to find a ship and land on it even when they don't know exactly where it is. ...let alone when it is in port and it's position known with utter certainty. What a bizarre notion! The system described by Seajet was for instrument recoveries in near zero vis.
 
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Normalfornorfolk said:
The leading lights/aircraft story is a spoof I'm afraid.
There has never been a requirement to land on in port (fixed wing) and even rotary very seldom did it. There simply isn't any need and a carrier or other ship alongside is rarely able to clear to flying stations due to all the other work going on when in harbour.
Aircraft embarcations take place at sea.
Also pilots, especially Navy pilots, hardly need leading lights to find a ship and land on it even when they don't know exactly where it is. ...let alone when it is in port and it's position known with utter certainty. What a bizarre notion! The system described by Seajet was for instrument recoveries in near zero vis.
Click to expand...

Pity I.W. Soapy ' The Alraigo Kid ' couldn't make use of it !

As I heard it, due to the exercise they wouldn't answer his pleas on radio, which if true seems pretty silly but so did the E2 compass, and should he have been alone ?

We had the aircraft back to Dunsfold, damage was very minor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD4oiBSXGDM
 
Seajet said:
I remember reading of when Vanguard went aground near the Gosport sub base HMS Dolphin; the surface fleet tried racing destroyers around in the hope their wash might help her off, but no joy.

The sub officers sent a signal ' Officers welcome in our mess for the duration of your stay ' :)
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This post has been nagging away at the back of my mind, as it reminded me of one of my dad's stories, so this evening I checked it with him. (My Dad is an ex Submariner).

In his story, in 1946 one of the slippery s class subs rammed the battleship HMS Nelson at Portland; the Captain of Nelson sent a signal welcoming them aboard and offering the sub's officers the hospitality of the Wardroom during their stay. Not that long afterwards HMS Nelson ran aground going into Pompey Harbour, when the offer was reciprocated. The Vanguard signal would seem to be the recycling of an old joke (and in any case, as Vanguard was being towed to the breakers when she ran aground the ship's officers' would no longer have been aboard).
 
I'm not sure it was when Vanguard was on her way to the breakers, I thought a previous time - and who was in control of a whacking great battleship on her way up to the breakers anyway then, failed Kreigsmarine sea cadets with a grudge to settle ? :)

I'd have thought old battlewagon types would have been all over her for the last trip.
 
Seajet said:
I'm not sure it was when Vanguard was on her way to the breakers, I thought a previous time - and who was in control of a whacking great battleship on her way up to the breakers anyway then, failed Kreigsmarine sea cadets with a grudge to settle ? :)

I'd have thought old battlewagon types would have been all over her for the last trip.
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Lt. CDr Frampton plus a pilot.

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/heritag...t-fateful-day-in-portsmouth-harbour-1-6091906

Lots of myths busted here too. No destroyers whizzing around! Good story from local reporter on board.
 
My mum wants to go and take a look - I can't see her getting on board - not much stops her however !
I'm off next few days Any ideas on the best vantage point ? Don't want to fork out for historic dockyard if can help it
Thanks
 
When I was in the Navy any UK citizen could turn up at the dockyard gate and ask to have a tour of the duty warship. As Officer of the Day I did a number of such tours with punters who had just turned up. Not a lot of people knew about this facility.
HMS Queen Elizabeth is not in commission yet so that trick won't work yet but maybe next year. Then again, maybe they have stopped the procedure, probably due to security and all that.
 
I caught a repeat about the construction of the two ships on Yesterday... It was focusing on the number of sub contract contracts and the steel supplier.

The program said they would be in service by 2016?
 
I don't know what all the fuss is about..... In the early 60s, probably 1963, the Yanks brought one of their huge Nuclear Powered Carriers into the Harbour or should that be Harbor. When tied up in the Dockyard it extended almost to the Gosport Ferry pontoon. I can't remember her name, but someone on here will...

I was working, as Summer job, on the Isle of Wight ferries - in those days run by British rail. The Police were intercepting trains at Portsmouth and Southsea Station and putting all the 'Ladies of the night' back on trains to London.....

Odd what you remember :)
 
Maybe, but even the smaller USS Forestal had to anchor mid Solent as she was too big to get into Portsmouth.

We took 45 minutes just sailing past her, then when tied up in Bursledon a chap came on the VHF, " We're all on the same side, tell Forestal's crew the skipper of ***** will happilly buy them a pint "

There were over 5,000 people on that ship...

The American chap on the radio was utterly professional ' Gee thanks Sir ' while I'd have been hustling everyone into the boats, ' we've got a right one here '

Just after the transmission ended another voice came on, ' **** you're a prat ! ' :)
 
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Boz said:
I don't know what all the fuss is about..... In the early 60s, probably 1963, the Yanks brought one of their huge Nuclear Powered Carriers into the Harbour or should that be Harbor. When tied up in the Dockyard it extended almost to the Gosport Ferry pontoon. I can't remember her name, but someone on here will...

I was working, as Summer job, on the Isle of Wight ferries - in those days run by British rail. The Police were intercepting trains at Portsmouth and Southsea Station and putting all the 'Ladies of the night' back on trains to London.....

Odd what you remember :)
Click to expand...

It maybe that your memory is not what it was.
Not enough water to get a CVN into Portsmouth itself and anchoring in Stokes Bay is de rigour.
In any event the earliest visit of a CVN was actually late 70s. (Nimitz - 1975)
http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/uscarriers.html
 
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NormanB said:
It maybe that your memory is not what it was.
Not enough water to get a CVN into Portsmouth itself and anchoring in Stokes Bay is de rigour.
In any event the earliest visit of a CVN was actually late 70s. (Nimitz - 1975)
http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/uscarriers.html
Click to expand...


Digging a bit further, I was clearly wrong about the Nuclear bit, but I reckon it was USS Wasp which visited Portsmouth in March 1962. The timeline is about right. Her LOA is said to be 250 meters... and I remember her alongside 'cos I could have reached out and touched her (slight exaggeration)

Then again I could have the year wrong, I'm sure it was earlier than this photo
http://c7.alamy.com/comp/HG2B56/uss-wasp-cvs-18-at-portsmouth-in-september-1968-HG2B56.jpg
 
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