HMS Tartar 4th Commission 1970 18

Exercise Midlink was hard work for us, we were in company with the Americans and Iranians, our repairs before we left Bahrain had got us back to sea but we now found our air conditioning had to be turned off and our fresh water rationed as mechanical breakdowns still plagued us. During one night exercise an ever watchful seaman spotted a periscope which was determined to be HMS Orpheus pretending to be a Russian submarine, in fact it turned out to be a Russian submarine keeping an eye on the exercise, he was awarded two guineas, a small fortune to spend in the Naafi.

The watches had been changed for the exercise and we are doing watch on, watch off, each of six hours, we are all disgruntled to say the least. The Iranians have been less than brilliant during the exercise, the only high point with them was an attack by their hovercraft, we on the other hand have been pretty sharp, especially as we were trying to do better than HMS Eskimo who had turned up for the exercise and when it is complete will take over from us a Persian Gulf Guardship.

Exercise and handover done we say farewell to the Gulf and head east, the Gulf has never actually been boring but we have had enough of it and look forward to the fleshpots of Singapore, legendary tales abound in the messes, old salts relive dodgy memories.

At some point we arrive in Columbo, Ceylon to take on fuel, as we enter the harbour masts and funnels from at least two sunken ships litter the way in, a breakwater perhaps. We managed a run ashore in Columbo but it was as if the place was asleep, the two bars we managed to find served us in a haphazard way as if we were an annoyance rather than a chance to fleece some matelots, even the local floozies were uninterested. So after a fairly bland time we got back onboard and thankfully waved goodbye to Ceylon.

We arrived in Singapore on November 28th, we had to anchor out at first then the next morning had to de-ammunition ship, a job I hated as even being a Radio Operator you were not exempt. I was in the line at the top of a hatch just inside what was the hanger for the Wasp helicopter, 4.5 inch shells were being passed up and passed on. Now, I was 17, all skin and bone and fumbled one shell, they were heavy sods, I don't think I have ever moved so fast in my life, I caught the thing as the point hovered an inch above the steel deck. Now there was no fuse in it and I am sure it would not have went boom, but this was not what went through my mind when I dropped it. I never dropped another one.

The next thing for the crew before making our way into the naval part of the harbour was a meeting with Special Branch. The point of this exercise was to let us know how different things were here in the East and that there were all sorts of temptations waiting for we green sailors, being an RO we were especially warned against Russian agents who wanted our secret codes. I had been warned about this since joining up and had never been the victim of a honey trap yet, let alone offered money, and I never would be. The last thing I remember the speaker saying was that while frequenting some of the more popular bars "if it looked like a woman it was a man".

Three days ago I became 18, my good friends and I got drunk, which is very easy in Singapore (not now I believe), and I could now stay out all night long should I feel the need as long as I was back for 0800 to start another day fighting for freedom.