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, Royal Marines 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 Portsmouth under the command o£ Captain J. H. Adams, M.V.O., Royal Navy. 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 Plymouth areas. Mid-February to mid-March Portsmouth £01'Foreign Ser• vice Leave (subject to opera• tional requirements). Mid-March Sail £01'the Far East 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 Cinque Ports, at a meeting o£ the Courts o£ Brotherhood and Guestling, held at Dover 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 English Channel, 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. Inat Devonport1861 she wasin fitted with a steam engine of 1,835 H.P., and in 1884 was sold for breaking up. ALBION, THE FIFTH A twin screw first class armoured battleship 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, stall,educationalfiction 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. Displacement 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, Singapore, form the hangar, around and below which is the accommoda• Hong Kong, Malta and Gibraltar. 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, Cyprus, 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, South Africa 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 aircraft carrier, 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 hull structure and the operation and servicing Middle East 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 completedin logistIc 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.