HRH Visit to Courageous

On the 5th December 1972 an Able Seaman RP3 Ray Hutchins was lost overboard during a storm from HMS/M Courageous. All the emergency procedures were carried out and full searches conducted by warships and helicopters in the area but the body of the Able Seaman was never recovered. This cast a pall over the boats homecoming and everybody was understandably upset and down in the dumps over the loss of a popular shipmate.

No sooner were we alongside in Faslane than the skipper informed us we would be having a royal visitor, Princess Anne, on the next exercise. The crew felt that this was a little inappropriate when they had just lost a shipmate in tragic circumstances; plus all the additional effort and BS that would be required in getting the boat ready for a VIP visit.

Eventually this was done and everything was spick and span for her arrival. She came aboard with an armed detective who had to give up his weapon and she even had a lady-in-waiting in tow. We slipped and headed out to the open sea whilst the Princess went around dispensing good will and bonhomie in the various messes during her tour of the boat. Up close and personal she looked a lot fitter than her photos gave her credit for, with a pretty trim figure under the chunky sweater and tight slacks that she wore. Our young single officers tried hard to chat her up, but to no avail, as she was already madly in love with an Army officer at the time.

On entering the Junior Rates Mess she was confronted by five very tastefully framed nude centrefolds from the Playboy magazine which had not been removed from the bulkheads.These had been a gift from the Playboy Club 'bunnies' in San Francisco on one of our courtesy visits there. At first, she observed them with the raising of a very Royal eyebrow, and then with a grin, asking the JRM president if this was his own private art collection or had he inherited it. HRH went down well with the Junior Rates and she seemed to be enjoying herself with them too.

A little later we dived and HRH was escorted to the Control Room by the Coxswain who seated her at the planes controls and after explaining things let her have a go at the joystick. This princess was quick on the uptake and was soon turning in a credible performance as a planesman (planeswoman).

When she was ‘relieved’ the skipper ordered “Angles and Dangles” and then “Revolutions for 16 knots; 50 degrees bow down; keep 400 feet.” It was then that the Assistant Marine Engineering Officer (AMEO) noticed with horror that HRH now standing by the autopilot, was directly under the forward lip of the shallow tray that catches oil drips from the block of hydraulic system valves for the masts and periscopes. Vickers Shipbuilders solution to leaking ‘O’ seals that dripped incessantly was to fit drip trays, with taps so they could be emptied periodically; this one need to be emptied every hour at least.

As the bows dipped down towards that dramatic 50 degree angle, right in front of the AMEO, was a member of the Royal Family about to collect a couple of pints of PR1192 hydraulic oil on her head. The AMEO later explained his dilemma. The skipper was forever telling him to ensure that these drips trays were always emptied regularly. What should he do? Should he yell, “Shift your arse Ma’am?” Should he rush across the Control Room and rugby-tackle her out of the way? Or should he just go straight to the eight-berth cabin and fall on his sword?

As he was deciding on the rugby-tackle (the detective had surrendered his gun and couldn’t shoot him, at least not immediately) and tensing himself to spring into action, he became aware of thought waves being projected at him from the area of the panel. Our Engineer Artificer, an MEM, was grinning at him and making a gesture that might have been considered an obscene insult to a junior officer who was about to be removed to the Tower of London. He, however, interpreted the gesture correctly, to mean the MEM had, unlike him, foreseen the situation and had emptied the drip tray only a couple of minutes beforehand. He had made a mental note to recommend the MEM for a VC, or at least buy him a pint at the 50-year reunion.

I then became an unwitting bad example of engine room tact or shall we say lack of that particular virtue. I never liked the idea of this visit from the get-go and back aft we didn’t want to be doing this. Nothing against Princess Anne but because of the loss of Hutch; I personally thought that had she known about Hutchins she would have postponed the visit anyway.

By this time I was becoming frustrated with the timimg delays as I had members of my team who needed to get their dinner breaks but no one could leave the engine room until HRH had visited with us. She spent a lot of the time forward but she did eventually come back aft. Not knowing this I went into the Manoeuvring Room and by the control panels I spoke to a group gathered there. I think the words that came out were: “Anyone any f****** idea where this bloody Princess is?” At first, you could have heard a pin drop, then there was a sharp collective intake of breath from the group as they all went red faced. From behind me a female voice said: “Here I am.” So I also went very red in the face and melted away back aft very quickly.

HRH later caught up with me in the Senior Rates Mess at supper and taking me to one side said: “I couldn’t help but hear your earlier outburst Chief. It was totally uncalled for, so may I suggest you think about moderating your language towards or about the female gender, because one day they will be serving alongside you on these war canoes of yours.”

Naturally, I apologised profusely to HRH and she graciously accepted it and then started talking about how impressed she was with the boat etc. I don’t actually have a misogynistic bone in my body but I kept thinking; “Yeah! right. That will be the day when we have female crew members on submarines.” Forty years on and that is all about to happen, so Annie was absolutely spot on with her prediction.

Prior to leaving Faslane most of the crew had gone ashore to the QM’s stores to draw new issues of No 8s working rig for the VIP occasion. And some new crockery had appeared in the messes to ensure our visitor did not get served her afternoon tea in a cracked mug.

One AB was in the JRM, possibly waiting for his dinner only to find himself sitting by the Princess. She proved to be quite at ease and a good flow of conversation resulted. Later our AB was summoned by the Navigator and gently reminded to make a greater effort in polishing his footwear when they had Royalty aboard. To be honest his old shoes had seen better days being salt encrusted and nearly bleached white, scuffed and turned up at the toes. It seems that HRH had jokingly remarked to the skipper that she had never seen such disgusting and filthy footwear in her (right royal) life. Luckily the skipper, Commander Sam Frye, was having a good day and let it go.

The rest of the visit seemed an anti-climax after that, but the ‘powers-that-be’ were probably right to make us host that visit. It turned out to be extremely successful and the feeling of intense gloom on board was lifted by it. Courageous bounced back to being a happy boat.


Peter

Where are you from? England