FOl"tite1' Felicite1' Fidelite,'

l COMMISSIONING . BOOKLET

NOVEMBER 1964 H.M.S. ALBION

This booklet is produced for the information of the Ship's Company, embarked Squadron, Commandos and light Commando I Regiments, Royal Artillery; their families and friends. H.M.S. ALBION

SIXTH COMMISSION AND HER SECOND AS A COMMANDO SHIP

H.M.S. Albion commissioned on the 14th May, 1964 at under the command o£ Captain J. H. Adams, M.V.O., .

Her programme, which is subject to amendment, is:- Late November, until early Sea Trials and Work-up in the December and from mid- Portsmouth, Portland and January areas. Mid-February to mid-March Portsmouth £01'Foreign Ser• vice Leave (subject to opera• tional requirements). Mid-March Sail £01'the Station.

BATTLE HONOURS Grenada - 1779 Algiers - 1816 Martinique - 1780 Navarino - 1827 Washington - 1814 Sevastopol - 1854 Gallipoli - 1915

H.M.S. Albion was adopted by the Confederation o£the , at a meeting o£ the Courts o£ Brotherhood and Guestling, held at on 24th September, 1953. 3 A Short History of former H.M.S. ALBION's

ALBION, THE FIRST A 74 Run ship of 1662 tons launched at Deptford on 16th May, 1763. She took part in several actions in the West Indies. In ·1794 she was converted to a coastal defence ship but was unfortunately wrecked in the River Swin.

ALBION, THE SECOND An armed sloop of 366 tons, built at Deptford in 1798. Mounted 20 guns but saw no action. She was sold out of the Service in 1803.

ALBION, THE THIRD

.A 74 Run ship of 1740 tons, launched in 1802. She fought in the , East Indies, American War of Inde• pendence and Mediterranean, and was finally broken up at Deptford in 1836.

ALBION, THE FOURTH

1842.A 90SheRuntookshippartofin3,110the Crimeantons, launchedWar. atIn Devonport1861 she wasin fitted with a of 1,835 H.P., and in 1884 was sold for breaking up.

ALBION, THE FIFTH A twin screw first class armoured of 12,950 tons, with four 12-inch Runs, launched at Blackwall in 1898 by the lateof theQueenTurkishMary.DefencesII). 1915at shethe tookDardanellespart in. theandbombardmentin 1919 was sold forbreakinR up .. 5 H.M.S. ALBION range of the U.K. transmitters. Amenities include a chapel, educationalstall, fiction facilities,and non-fictionsick bay,libraries.canteen,Anbarber'sup-to-dateshop,laundrybook• This, the sixth Albion, was built by Messrs. Swan, Hunter is operated, by Chinese civilians whilst on the Far East station Fleetand WighamCarrier ofRichardsonthe "Centaur"at Wallsend-on-Tyne,Class. Her keel wasas alaidLighton who also provide tailoring, shoemaking and repairing 23rd March, 1944 and she was launched by the late Lady Atlee sportsfacilitieswheneverat low cost.the necessaryAll on boardfacilitiescan takeare partavailablein gamesashore,and on 6th May, 1947. From then until 1949 the ship was berthed while deck hockey, boxing, circuit training, etc., are carried at J arrow with only a care and maintenance party on board. out on the flight deck or in the hangar during non-flying VV ork was resumed in August, 1949 and after sea trials Albion periods. In addition to a daily tot of rum for those entitled, was accepted into Service on 27th May, 1954. there is normally an issue of beer available to all ratings daily . . She has an overall length of 737 feet and a width of 123 In her first commission, Albion steamed over 83,000 miles. feet 5 inches. is about 26,000 tons .. During the two years from May, 1954, the ship took part in Of the thirteen decks, four in the "island" contain the exercises around the British Isles, in the Mediterranean, Indian bridge, operations and wireless rooms, and the flying control Ocean and South China Sea. Among the ports visited were position. The two decks immediately below the flight deck Copenhagen, Toulon, Naples, Bombay, Colombo, , form the hangar, around and below which is the accommoda• , and . tion for 2,041 officers and men. The lower decks house the boiler and engine-rooms, workshops, store-rooms, magazines, In the second commission, from June, 1956 to November, furnace and aviation fuel tanks and a variety of other 1957, Albion visited among other places, Dover, Milford machinery. Two lifts, which when in the "up" position form Haven, Messina, , Oslo, Marseilles, Lisbon, Gibraltar part of the flight deck, are used to carry aircraft, vehicles, guns, and Malta, steaming a total of 54,865 miles. She was present at Her Majesty's Review of the Home Fleet off Invergordon, men and stores between the hangar and flight deck. Another lift can bring a variety of exploslVes stores from the magazines when Her Majesty Tl;te Queen attended the Fleet Concert held or be used to convey stretcher cases from the flight deck to the on board and also inspected Divisions. sick bay. Albion took part ~nthe Suez oI,>erations during which her aircraft flew over 1,100 armed sortIes. printerExtensivecommunicationsradio equipmentwith otherprovidesships,speech,aircraftmorseandorshoretele• The third commission involved Albion in an extensive cruise during which she visited ports in Australia, New stationschange connectsthroughoutsomethe300world.importantAn spacesautomaticin thetelephoneship, whileex• Zealand, and South America in addition to such loudspeaker systems broadcast orders and informative talks l'S well as relaying radio and record programmes in off duty hours. Manilaplaces asandMalta,Guadalcanal.Aden, Karachi,During thisHongcom:r:nissionKong, Singapore,Albion's Space in any warship is at a premium and does not allow aircraft flew in support of military operations in Jordan. luxury accommodation for the men who man her. In Albion During her fourth, and final commission as a conventional the mess decks are fitted with three-tiered bunks, some of which , Albion again served East of Suez. In addition are stowed away during the day to provide recreation spaces. to taking part in purely national exercises the ship also par• Four meals a day are served in the central dining halls on ticipated in both C.E.N.T.O. and S.E.A.T.O. exerCIses. a cafeteria system. Two different cinema programmes are normally shown each week when the ship is at sea, and tele• AmongKong, Manila,the ports Yokohama,visited wereYokosuka,Malta, Aden,Inchon,Singapore,Subic HongBay, vision sets are hired by the Welfare Committee whilst within Trincomalee, Karachi and Mombasa.

6 7 On completion of her fourth commission as an Aircraft ORGANISATION Carrier, Albion was taken in hand at H.M. Dockyard, Ports• mouth for an extensive conversion. At the completion of this The Ship's Company she emerged as the Royal Navy's second Commando Ship. This is divided into Departments with sub-departments This conversion embodied many of the features found neces• and also includes the supporting elements and services. sary from lessons learned in the first Commando Ship, H.M.S. The Seaman .De{lartment is made up of the Gunnery, Bulwark. These include even more extensive air conditioning T.A.S., CommulllcatlOns and ND sub-departments and the of living accommodation and working spaces. Regulating Staff. The majority of their tasks are self-evident In her role as a Commando Ship, Albion was modified to but Quartermasters, Boatswain's Mates and other gangway carry helicopters only. The equipment to operate conven• staff are also provided by this department. tional fixed-wing aircraft such as Catapults and Arrester Wires was removed, but light aircraft can, however, still land on and The Air Department prov~des the necessary backing for take-off from the ship if necessary. Landing Craft are also the embarked squadrons, and lllcludes the I?hotographic and carried to support the Commando in Assault and other military Safety Equipment sections in addition to alfcraft workshop, operations. firefighting, hangar and flight deck personnel. For the first fourteen months of her fifth commission, her The Marine Engineering Department -has the task of first as a Commando Ship, Albion was engaged in intensive operating and servicing the propulsion machinery, the main• operations in Borneo. In February, 1964, she joined the tenance of the structure and the operation and servicing Station and assisted in quelling internal unrest of the domestic and auxiliary machinery. in East Africa. During this commission Albion steamed The Electrical, Weapons and Radio Engineering Depart• 85,000 miles and carried more than 12,000 troops. Her two ment has a self-evident task. squadrons of helicopters, 845 and 846, flew more than 10,000 The Supply and Secretariat Department as the title impEl'S operational sorties, deployin~ 35,000 troops and airlifting provides the pay, storekeeping, victualling and clerical organi• sation which includes Cooks and Officers' Stewards. 350,000RecentlyltJs. ofshestoreshas incompletedlogistIc asupport.five-month refit where struc• tural alterations were made to increase the Commando accom• The Ship's Royal Marines Detachment provides, among modation and many min.or improvements affecting operational other things, the L.C.A. crews and a base supply and servicing ability and living conditions were carried out. organisation for the embarked Commando. The supporting elements and services include the meteoro• THE ROLE OF THE COMMANDO SHIP logical organisation, medical and dental services, the Chap• The primary function of a Commando Ship is to be a highly lains and Instructor Officers. mobile base for a military force and to land them by helicopter and landing craft wherever they are required. The force con• 848 SQUADRON sists of a Royal Marine Commando with supporting units of MOTTO: Accipe Hoc. the Royal Artillery. After a landing, the ship acts as a supply Commanding Officer - Lt.-Cdr. G. A. Andrews, R.N. depot to sU{lport the troops ashore. The Squadron was first formed in 1943 and equipped with The ShIP can also act as a fast troopship to carry Army Avengers, served in the Pacific until the end of the war. In units to troubled areas, and with her helicopters, provide assis• 1953, the Squadron was reformed with Sikorsky S55 Helicop• tance to areas hit by disaster, such as earthquake or flood. ters and was based for most of its commission in Malaya, where Albion's helicopters can also be fitted with anti- in anti-bandit operations it became the fore-runner of the detection equipment. Commando Squadron concept. 8 9 The Squadron was reformed again in 1958 in Malta, with For short periods it is possible to cl;1rry a second Com• West] and Whirlwinds and carried out Commando operations mando and elements of the Commando BrIgade Headquarters. in both Malta and Cyprus. In 1960, it embarked in H.M.S. Alternatively, equivalent Army formations could be embarked, Bulwark and carried out exercises in North Africa, the Middle although these would lack the Commando Group's training and East and the Far East. On July 1st, 1961 the Sheikh of experience in this form of warfare. Kuwaitunrest. requested300 Royal BritishMarinesMilitaryand theirAidequipmentin suppressingwere landedlocal COMMUNAL DUTIES by 848 Squadron. These duties are undertaken in turn by members of all The Squadron reformed in May this year with Westland. departments for a period of 3 months. As the name implies, Wessex Mark V Helicopters. This aircraft is powered by two these are duties common to all and are necessary for the domes• Bristol Siddely Gnome gas turbine engines and has a much im• tic running of the ship. They include the manning of dining proved performance over any helicopter previously in service halls, ship cleanliness and the embarkation of stores. It is of with the Royal Navy. The Squadron has eighteen of these air• interest that the consumption of food alone accounts for some craft and is one of the largest front-line Squadrons in the 30 tons each week, including about Ii tons of potatoes and Service. 1,000 lOs. of bread daily.

THE COMMANDO GROUP This force consists of a Royal Marines Commando and a Royal Artillery Battery and is organised as follows:- Commando Headquarters comprising the Commanding Officer and his staff. Headquarters Company this is the parent comJ?any of the signal, administratlve and transport troops. Three Rifle Companies each made up of three Rifle troops. Support Company which is the parent company of the mortar, anti-tank, recon• naisance and· assault engineer troops. Each of the Companies, including the Headquarters Com• pany, possesses its own Company Headquarters. The Royal Artillery Battery in the Commando Ship con• text, implies a Headquarters, consisting of the Battery Com• mander and his headquarters staff, and a battery of four 105 mm. guns. 10 11 POSTAL INFORMATION Concession Telegrams (CSN) Concession Telegrams lor urgent and essential private Mail Arrangements affairs only, may be sent to officers and ratings by their next• Letters to members of the Ship's Company should include ol-kin and one other nominated person (Army - next-ol-kin the addressee's Rating, Official Number and Mess, and be only). They must be handed in at a Post Office on a special addressed to H.M.S. Albion, B.F.P.O. Ships. Iorm. This Iorm may be obtained on application, by officers As long as the ship is West of Suez, normal U.K. rates of Irom the Second Permanent Under Secretary ol State (Royal postage are applicable for mail addressed to Albion and posted in the U.K. All letters and small packages (up to 4 to. at 3d. Navy,selectedNCWWel£areBranch),Depotby andNavallorRatingsRoyal IromMarinesthe otherappropriateranks for the first ounce and ltd. lor each additional ounce) are Iromthe Director ol Pay and Records, R.M. automatically consigned by Air Mail if necessary. IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO USE AIRMAIL LABELS. They are charged lor at the normal Inland Telegram rate, As soon as the ship goes East ol Suez AIRMAIL LABELS MUST BE USED and current Airmail rates are as Iollows :• canand bepassedobtainedby NavalIromcommunicationDivisional Officers.channels. Further details Forces Air Letter Forms 3d. Letters not exceeding It oz.. 6d. Each additional t oz. (max. 4 to .) 6d. Postcards 3d. Newspapers, etc. (max. 6t to.) 3d. per t oz. Irrespective of where the ship is, parcels can be sent by Sea Mail. They cannot be registered, but can be insured. Telegrams There are only two Iorms of telegrams which will be delivered to the ship anywhere in the world, at sea or in har• bour. They are the Radio Telegram and the Concession Telegram. Radio Telegrams These may be handed in at any Post Office which deals with telegrams in the or Irish Republic and must be addressed as follows:- (a) Name ol Addressee including Rank or Rating. (b) The words "WARSHIP ALBION". (c) The word "ADMIRALTYRADIO". The radio telegram will then be passed direct to the ship over any available Naval communication channel. The cost is at present l/ld. per word. While the ship is in home waters a special reduced rat,e is applicable. When using this service the word "HOME• WATERS" should be inserted before "ADMIRALTY• RADIO" . The charge is then Std. per word. • '. ~'I. ..J -::.' ~". ( .•.- 12 WELF ARE INFORMATION Wives or ratings are advised to read the hooklet "A Guide for. Naval and Ro:VaIMar~ne Fltmilies", copies of which are The follo~ing information may be of assistance to you issued to all married mel;l.. should something unfortunate occur during H.M.S. Albion's absence. Consideration can be given to the grant of compassionate Addresses and Telephone Numbers, of W.elfare Atdhorities leave to men serving abroad only in the following circum• R.N. Barracks, Portsmouth, Day: Portsmouth 22351, stances :- Hants. Ext. 2786 Night: Portsmouth 22351, (a) the serious illness or death of a wife or child; . Ext. 2181 (b) circumstances which will result in the breaking• R.N. Barracks, Devonport, Day: Plymouth 53722, up of a man's family; Devon. Ext. 941 (c) imminent death of a parent (but not after death Night: Plymouth 53722 except in very exceptional circumstances); (Ask for R.N. Barracks, (d) serious illness of a parent, provided the man's Ext. 213) presence at home will be of use, and provided there is no H.M.S. Ariel, Lee-on-Solent, Day: Lee-on-Solent 79194, other son or daughter available to render the necessary Hants. (for Fleet Air Ext. 217 assistance. Arm ratings) . Night: Lee-on-Solent 79194, ask for Duty Staff Officer. priateInWelfareany of theseAuthoritycircumstancesor from yourseeklocaladvicePolicefromortheSoldiers,appro• M.G.R.M., Portsmouth, Portsmouth 22351, Ext. 6104 Sailors and Air Force Association, as appropriate. The latter's Eastney, Southsea, name, address and telephone number can be obtained from your Hants. (Ship's local post office. Detachment). In the event of some personal tragedy it is better to advise M.G.R.M., Plymouth, . Plymouth 63066 Ext. 921 the Welfare Authority straight away rather than send a tele• Stonehouse, Plymouth, thegramCaptainto the ratin10'and ocalin theCommanders-in-Chiefship. The Welfare Authorityon the meritsadvisesof Devon. the case and IT IS ON THAT RECOMMENDATION ALONE (Commandos). that it can be decided whether a flight home can be approved. 95 Commando Plymouth 64295 A cable such as "Mum seriously ill. Letter follows" only Light Regiment, R.A. succeeds in worrying' the recipient and does not give the Naval The Citadel, authorities enough mformation to decide whether immediate Plymouth, return home is justified. Welfare Authorities marshal all the facts and make a definite recommendation. Devon. Outside the scope of compassionate leave, etc., Welfare Authorities will gladly assist the families whose husbands are PLEASE GIVE FULL PERSONAL DETAILS OF RANK abroad. If you find yourself in need of advice or assistance OR RATING WHEN DEALING WITH through ill health or have financial or domestic problems the WELFARE AUTHORITIES Welfare Authority may be able to help. On the other hand do not swamp the Welfar'e Authority with minor queries.

14 15 WIVES VISITING ABROAD Certain facilities' have very recently been introduced to assist wives (and children if they are unable to be left behind in U.K.) to visit their husbands when the ship is abroad. Local overseas allowance at married accompanied rate within normal qualifying- conditions will be paid during one private visit in the first 12 months and one pnvate visit during the remaining period of the commission. Payments will be conditional on the visitperiodsbeing-andmadewill coverduringtherefits,wife'sdocking-date ofandarrivalemergencyuntil thedefectdate of the first available passage after the ship finally sails.

BoardFreeablepassag-eto subsidisewill notthebecostavailableof passagesnor isexce{>tthe Admiraltythat all wives may travel in services charter aircraft for vIsits to the Far East and Middle East. The passages must be paid for in advance and firm arrang-ements should be made for the return passag-eto avoid the risk of being-stranded. It may be possible for your husband to obtain an advance on the ledger of all or part of the charter fare in cases of financial difficulty.

siderationsThe visitandmaymaybehaveaffectedto bebycancelledpolitical orat operationalshort noticecon•for such reasons. This scheme is in its infancy and full details have not yet been published. Nearer the time your husband will be able to obtain details from his Divisional Officer.

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