I joined HMS Zulu in late August at Rosyth. She was due to sail for Portland and a mini work-up prior to proceeding on deployment to the Far East the following morning. It being a Sunday evening; most of the crew were still taking advantage of the weekend for last runs ashore and longer week end visits. I was taken by the duty petty officer to the mess and made welcome and allocated a bunk and locker.

The following morning we sailed at 0900: it did not give me much time to acclimatise myself with the layout of the ship. It normally takes several days on a small ship to find where everything is. This is normally done in the comparative quiet of the harbour; not racing around at sea.

The "Zulu" was one of seven tribal class general purpose frigates laid down and commissioned in the early '60's. "Ashanti, Eskimo, Ghurka, Mohawk, Nubian & Tartar" The "Zulu" being the youngest, commissioned in 1964. Originally intended for service in the Middle East and Persian Gulf; to relieve the ageing "Loch Class" that fulfilled that role. They had wooden boat decks as an added protection from the intense heat. Single screwed with diesel fuelled turbines she was capable of around 27 Kt's full power. When originally designed; several new gun and missile systems were under development; but not ready for fitting to ships. As an interim measure Tribal's were fitted with a single 4.5" gun forward and aft - they were never replaced during the life of the ships. Also fitted were Seacat Anti Air Missiles, two single Bofors guns and a single triple barrel Mk 10 Anti Submarine Mortar weapon.

After all these weapons were fitted; a decision was made to include a helicopter deck and hanger to operate a small Wasp helicopter. A unique type of hanger was developed for the tribal which incorporated the flight landing deck as a lift. This was squeezed between the after 4.5" and the Mortar Mk 10 A/S weapon. Unless one actually witnessed the helicopter taking off and landing on this minute deck; it would be hard to accept it as a flight deck. Once the Wasp was on deck, she was spun around athwart ships, rotors & tail folded and secured to the deck. The deck was then lowered inside the housing and a portable roof placed on the top. In this state it did not resemble anything that might be loosely connected with operating an aircraft.

Interestingly enough there had been Tribal class destroyers during W.W.II. and the badly damaged Nubian and Zulu, were cut in half and then the two good halves welded together to create a new ship called the "Zubian". Commonwealth countries such as Australia and Canada also had the Tribal's during W.W.II. One - HMCS Haida - is still afloat in Lake Ontario as a tourist attraction and sea cadet training ship.

I was posted to the ship as the Senior Torpedo Anti Submarine rating and would be responsible for Sonar, Anti Submarine Weapons and Systems, Demolition's, Torpedoes, Depth Charges and all the spaces on the ship that housed this equipment and munitions. The Torpedoes, Depth Charges and another unmentionable strategic anti submarine weapon were delivered by the helicopter and were all kept in a stowage in the hanger which was very confined.

Relieving another TASI with different values than me, I had with the divisional officers blessing, I cleared lower deck of all the Sonar & Weapons rates and had them muster in the Sonar Control Room. Delivering the standard: "we work hard and play hard" lecture I informed them the old TASI was 'dead' and gone along with his fairly slack ways of running the department. Ordering clean working uniform at least twice a week, more often if required; hair cuts and general personal self examination of their appearances drew somewhat strange and amused looks - especially from the senior leading hand; a three striper; who was deserving of special attention. The men filed out when I had finished; not at all sure if they were happy with this new regime.

Word quickly spread around the ship that I meant business. Seaman from other branches and men from other trades approached me warily. My philosophy of cracking down hard would pay off dividends later. It is easier to start hard and ease off, than trying to be one of the boys then tighten things up.

I kept the divisional officer informed of all my actions and he was in complete agreement with me. His function onboard was Navigator - a little unusual as normally the TAS Officer or Principle Warfare would have assumed the role of TAS divisional officer. However because of his very busy schedule he largely left the running of the department to me; even turning over all the men's Service Certificates (including my own) and documents which was highly irregular. I examined all the men's reports to get a better feel for their potential, character and efficiency in the past. Several soon emerged who would be worthy of special observation; whilst others looked like developing into worthwhile leaders in the future. Enclosed in mine was the Staff-in Confidence report raised by the young Sub at the end of my course in Vernon; as yet unread by anybody. I decided to put it in a very safe place as it was of a very delicate nature. I ran it through the confidential book and signal shredder and then placed it in my confidential waste bin. It would be safe from prying eyes there!

As we were simulating war conditions, the ships company's were closed up at permanent action and defence stations. Our Captain not wanting all personnel to changeover at the same time at the end of watches, (that being the most likely submarine attack time) devised a system that had the junior rates change every four hours as normal; the officers every six hours and the operation senior NCOs’ worked a seven on five off, five on seven off routine. This was to ensure there was always somebody fresh on watch. It was extremely tiring for us senior rates and we kept this up for almost five weeks. After seven hours on watch in the ultra violet light of the operations room on constant alert; watching radar; listening to sonar and the multi channel fighting alpha radio net we crawled exhausted to our bunks.

We were thankful to reach Piraeus and a few days break before we started the next exercise. Letting our hair down for a few days, it was literally the first chance we had of getting to know one another and meet men of accompanying ships.

After visiting all the ancient monuments including the Parthenon and original Olympic site and enjoying the brief respite after our long haul at sea, we sailed for Alexandria in Egypt. I had volunteered for liaison duties here and was heavily involved in organising trips to the pyramids etc. On arrival in Alexandria; I met with the British Council, British Embassy and local officials to put the finishing touches to the visit. I took the opportunity of a trip with the embassy official to the British Embassy in Cairo and was given a tour of the city and then on to the Pyramids.

Some of the officers had managed to wangle indulgence passages for their wives on the RFA's so that they could get a free trip to Australia and back. They had also planned to socialise with them in our various ports of call. However our officers wives were on the "Tarbetness" who always seemed to be detailed to a different port than us, so their plans had back fired. One amusing incident occurred when we were storing ship at sea from the "Tarbetness" We had a heavy jackstay rigged forward for the transfer of stores and the helicopter was detailed to transfer stores aft from the stores ships flight deck to our quarter-deck. On the first flight over to "Tarbetness" the 'chopper' mysteriously broke down on the stores ship. The pilot was seen scurrying down below as fast as his legs would carry him. He did not emerge for almost an hour; when the helicopter amazingly seemed to rectify its former fault and took off to return to our ship. The flight deck crew soon noticed that the pilot had his flying suit buttoned up all wrong and his belt was inside out. Word rapidly passed through the ship that the pilot was much relieved!

I had noticed on joining the ship; that there was an old red road works warning lantern in a display case in the mess. It was beautifully painted and inscribed with a lot of the other Tribal class names, crests and dates. Many years before two Petty Officers from one of the Tribal Class frigates had been wandering back to their ship in Bandar Abbas in Iran; when they had picked up the lantern as a souvenir. A new tradition had evolved and been born that night. It had been decided that it would only be kept by petty officers messes of the Tribal class. When coming upon another Tribal class; a signal - which had to include an anagram of the words "Tribal Lantern" - had to be sent to the other ship. A warning they were about to be invaded by another tribal petty officers mess; who would require free beer for as long as the candle burned in the lantern. The other rule was that you could not pass it back to the tribal that had presented it to you. Therefore after being stung for a lot of beer, it might be a long wait before you got your own back.

The "Zulu" had been hit by the "Tartar" a few months before I joined and the mess were planning their revenge by organising a raid to the "Mohawk" as soon as the opportunity presented itself. However the programme indicated we would not be together in harbour or anchor until Bandar Abbas in the Persian Gulf. This was a most appropriate place to pass it over as it had started here and with the age of the ships, it might possibly be the last time it was passed over. That was in the future though.

Anchored off Bandar Abbass the mess had been poised waiting for such an opportunity and quickly had the Yeoman of Signals send a signal off to the "Mohawk" The signal read:

From: Petty Officers Mess Zulu

To: Petty Officers Mess Mohawk

"The RN Ballet Train is on the move"

'RN Ballet Train' was an anagram of 'Tribal Lantern' they would quickly work out what it meant. We were very surprised to receive a reply to the signal stating it was not convenient for us to visit! That made us all the more determined. To really teach them a lesson for not playing the game; one of the Stoker PO's manufactured an extra thick and tall candle which just fitted the lantern and no more.

The two ships boats loaded all the petty officers not on duty and proceeded to the Mohawk. Their Officer the Day - a Captain Royal Marine - at first refused to let us come aboard. After a bit of persuasion and an explanation he gave his approval and we proceeded down to the Petty Officers Mess. They must have thought their signal would stop us; as we took them completely by surprise. The lantern being lit just prior to entering their mess; we settled back for a lot of free beer. Not one of them thought to look inside the lantern and see the extra large candle. Although after several barrels of beer had been consumed we noticed their eyes darting nervously toward the lantern. Eventually the candle burnt out and we returned to our own ship much the worst for wear. As far as I am aware that was the last time the raid ever took place, and the lantern by now quite famous; eventually ended up in the Naval Museum in Portsmouth.

On the rare occasions we were on passage and not involved in exercises we celebrated "Up Channel Nights" This was when everybody let their hair down and ships routines was relaxed as much as possible. On the last night of our passage between Bunbury and Geelong such a night was declared. In addition as it was close to Christmas and we would be in harbour for Christmas holidays; the mess had long planned a mess Christmas party for such an evening. Several weeks before all the names of the mess members were placed into a bag. Each one of us had to draw a name; make an appropriate Christmas present for the person we drew; from items found on the ship - no more than 20p being spent to make up for anything that could not be scrounged. You were not allowed to let anyone know whom you had drawn.

On the evening, after much refreshment had been partaken, their was a rap at the mess door and "Santa Claus" (The PO Writer of similar proportions) appeared. He carried a sack in which all our individual presents had been placed. The names were called out as each one was drawn, which had to be unwrapped in front of everybody. They were all brilliant and appropriate to the person. One man who was always sleeping; received a miniature blanket mounted on a small wooden plaque suitable inscribed with appropriate rude words. There were so many that I cannot remember them now. The one that stands out in my mind was presented to a man in the mess who was a keen model maker. The plain brown paper package which was quite heavy was labelled " Do-it-yourself kit of HMS Tiger" The opened package revealed a 6" x 6" block of wood about 18" long, a chisel and a mallet. There was a ball-point line drawn about 3" from the end of the block and written on it were the words " Bonus 3 free helicopters". It was by far the best and funniest of the lot.

Eventually after a few Australian ports we arrived in Sydney. Initially we were berthed alongside HMAS Hobart; an American built large destroyer. They had logo and car stickers everywhere with the caption "Hobart - The Destroyer man's Destroyer" It was not to long before our lads had crossed out 'Hobart" and substituted 'Melbourne’^s It almost caused a major international incident. It was felt prudent to shift us, so dockyard tugs hauled us away and pushed us alongside our flag ship "HMS Tiger". This brought about an expected meeting. Since leaving basic training many years before; I had not met up with many of the boys in my entry. I was invited onboard to the W.O. & CPO'S Mess for a drink and sitting in the mess was one of the men I had joined with. We were soon swapping yarns and he informed me that the majority of the lads had remained in the navy for pension engagements. It was strange that after almost twenty-one years in the navy I had never met up with them.