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Tony Hills 1955 - 1957
Hi, I had the pleasure of serving on board HMS Manxman
during my "National Service".
On
January 16th 1956, we were bused to, I think
Croydon
Airport,
and from there, we flew to Malta
to be temporarily stationed at Ricasoli
Barracks and HMS Phoenicia.
It was
from this location that we would begin to
refurbish a well known WW2
navy ship
HMS Manxman.
When I saw Manxman for the first time she was a bit of a mess and I envisaged long hours of scraping scrubbing and painting, and I was right. We were bussed on a daily basis from the barracks to the dockyard where we put in some long hours getting the ship ready. I am not sure how long it
AB. A.W. Hills Feb 1956
was before we actually moved on board and began to function as a ships company, but it must have been a matter of weeks. I was assigned to the forward mess, just below the anchor chain deck. This was a noisy location when the anchor was being "slipped ", or when it was being brought back in. Most times though, we were up on deck when these functions were being operated.
Seaman duties included many aspects of life. General duties for us was mostly painting and cleaning, but we did many other things. Refuelling and taking on supplies at sea was always a big challenge. Imagine two ships side by side in sometimes heavy seas, with a distance of less than a hundred feet between them. This can cause you to be a little nervous at the very least. On one occasion I was the sailor on the very front of the ship holding the line(rope), with flags attached to it indicating the distance between the ships so the ships pilots knew how to steer and make any adjustments. Other sea duties were being the lookout on the bridge, in the wheelhouse, or on one of the engine telegraph handles, and also as a radar screen monitor in the ships plot room. When we were at action stations, I was either on the front B gun turret as a gun loader, or in the wheelhouse on an engine telegraph.
I am not sure of the exact date when the Manxman was commissioned and ready to put out to sea for time trials, but we soon got her in good running condition. To be on that ship when she was going full speed was fantastic, and the view from the quarterdeck, i.e. the rear of the ship, was a sight to behold. She left a wake behind that was unbelievable. I was glad to be part of her and proudly displayed her name on my sailors hat when I was ashore.
The Suez Crisis
On July 25th 1956, we left Haifa intending to head for the refuelling station at Port Said in Egypt, when news of Nasser's takeover of the Suez Canal reached us, we were diverted to refuel at sea off the coast Cyprus before returning to Malta. Speed was of the essence, and Manxman knew how to deliver that.
Manxman's role during the Suez Crisis, a role which I might add, was a lot more important than people were led to believe. On October 20th 1956, Manxman was in drydock at the Malta Dockyard. Shortly thereafter, the dock was flooded, ammunition was taken on board, and a few days later we were given the ready and fit for sea approval. Manxman, together with numerous other ships, formed a convoy, and we were off to a supposedly unknown destination. All of our letters home were censored, so we could not tell our family where we were headed, but everyone knew it was to the Suez Canal.
Manxman was quite active in this crisis, and her speed came in useful once again. We used to do all the mail runs, picking up mail from other ships in the convoy, and taking it to Limassol in Cyprus, and collecting incoming mail for everyone. I remember one time I was assigned to be the Mailman's Guard. So the Mailman, who was an Irish kid named Murphy,(we called him Spud), myself and two other sailors, were boated ashore on the motorboat, where we were met by three soldiers. From here, we were taken to the nearest bar where we all enjoyed a beer, and then we proceeded to pick up the mail. We were oblivious to the fact that Cyprus was a place of hostility and conflict, even though each of us was carrying a rifle. I should add that, had we been attacked, there was little I could do with just the five bullets they had given me. When we got back on board our ship we were required to unload our rifles and clear the breeches. Part of this procedure was to pull the trigger, and one of the guards still had a bullet in his rifle and managed to put a hole in the awning covering the quarterdeck. No it wasn't me!
Manxman's mining deck which was void of actual mines, was,
among other things, used to store fresh fruit and vegetables during the
Suez Crisis, and we made many a run back and forth as a convoy supply ship.
Manxman was also very instrumental in determining the position for
landing craft attacks during the Suez Crisis. She was fitted
with two huge drums which were located on the
quarterdeck. These drums had hundreds of miles of piano wire reeled
onto them, which was used as a measuring device, to give an exact fix
on the Egyptian coast. Port Said's canal entrance
is rather shallow, and Manxman's draft allowed her to float in
shallow water without any problem. With Manxman leading the
way followed by the landing craft, then, after a few short bombardment
bursts, and aircraft attacks from above, the landing craft dropped
their troops ashore, followed by other troops via helicopter from the
carriers. Only a short time after the initial landings were made, there
seemed to be a cease-fire, and Manxman spent the next few days anchored
off Port Said .
We had one scare during this time, when we heard a report that a large number of Russian Mig fighter planes were on there way from Turkey, headed toward the Suez Canal. We were closed up at "action stations " for a short while, but that report seemed to be without any credibility, and the planes never arrived. Fortunately our anxiety was short lived.
In the latter part of December, the mine and bomb clearing crews had
completed their job of removing the wreckage that Nasser had
placed in the canal. Now it was Manxman's job to find out if it was
safe for ships to once again navigate through the canal. So
all hands were up on deck, except for the engine crews who were kept
down below. We then set off up and down the canal, and
determined that it was safe for other ships. With
the Suez Crisis now resolved, HMS Manxman was the last ship to leave
the canal area, she carried away the top brass, together with
all the newspapermen, and returned to Limassol Cyprus where they were
dropped off.
Although we were based at Malta, we spent quite a lot of time at sea, and went on cruises to other ports along the Mediterranean. These trips were very exciting and I could probably write a chapter for each place I went.
H.M.S Apollo
It was amazing how two years seemed to go by, in April/May of 1957, we were given the job of de-commissioning HMS Manxman, and putting her into what was called "mothballs ". This was a long and tedious job, and involved lots more scraping and painting, something I was already an expert at. In addition, certain parts of the crew were required to repair, grease and cocoon all of the ship's guns. When she was complete, the ship was supposedly ready to be re-commissioned at a moments notice. She looked great with fresh paint everywhere, and her guns silenced by the silver painted cocoons. I was proud to have served on her.
One Sunday afternoon, I was required to get a small crew together, i.e. me, a stoker, and coxswain. Our job was to take the Captain's young daughter from Ricasoli to Valletta, which was located around the harbour, out to sea, and back into Valletta Harbour. It was certainly my lucky day, because the Captain's daughter was a real looker. As me and my two crewmen helped her get on board the small motorboat we had for the occasion, we were treated to a round of cheers, applause and wolf whistles, from the vacationing sailors sunning and swimming in the area. It didn't help that her frail though long dress was kept above her waist by the constant breeze blowing across the harbour. She tried, I think, to hold it down the best she could, but to no avail, and I'm not sure, but I think it was my 15 minutes of fame. It was certainly hers.
With Manxman now mothballed, we were scheduled to be returned to England, and found ourselves embarked onto a civilian liner.I did my bit for "Queen and Country " as they say, so now I was ready for the next stage of my life, a stage which I felt would benefit from my two years in the Royal Navy.
I dedicate this the crew and officers who served with me on HMS Manxman. A.W.Hills. R.N.
