Constance.
- 2 photo's.
Photo
1 above courtesy of Mr. "Ernie" Balderson,
and shows her with her
"Tiddly 8" still proudly on her funnel.
Photo 2 above is courtesy of
Mr. Derek Ernst, and shows her with her "8" replaced
with a seemingly
"unwanted and unloved" Med. Fleet "3".
"Click"
on Images to enlarge.
Derek
served on HMS Constance and has kindly provided the following short note.
I
served in "Constance" as a Telegraphist from 1953 until the
end of the Korean war, after which time we prepared to take the ship back
to the UK in 1954 to be paid off.
We had been told by our skipper,
Commander Morgan, prior to leaving the Far East, that "Constance" had
steamed more miles than any other ship in the history of the Royal Navy.
Shortly
after arriving in Malta we were informed that our return to the UK was to be
delayed by a few months.
We were to join the 3rd Destroyer Squadron, then
escorting the Cruiser "HMS Gambia" with Emperor Haile
Selassie of Ethiopia on board.
That of course created a few moans and groans,
but nothing as bad as when CinC.Med made us remove our tiddly "8" from
our Funnel and replace it with a "3".
Our Skipper then asked for our
"8" to be restored for the last leg home, but this was refused.
This meant that our ship which had, until then, spent its
entire life in the Far East with the 8th. had to end its career as a
"Med" ship.
This was obviously much to the disgust of the "Entire" crew, from
the Captain downwards.
The
"e-mail address" provided earlier now seems to be unusable so Old
"Crew" wishing to contact their "Oppo's" on HMS Constance
should write to :-
"The
Forty Niners Association"
c/o.
Mr. Ernie Balderson,
43
Old Place,
Sleaford,
NG34 7HR
Return
to "Index 10". - Destroyers, WW1 to present.
