Thought Id Jump in

Along with The Captain I have a history of boats..

As in the Captain served on them I built them...I worked in The Shipyard from 1981 until 1994

This was the first and last Surface Vessel i was on before we went total submarines...and as all leisure Liners were built in USA and Europe it was shortlived....

HMS Manchester





it was equipped with sea dart and that bad boy on the front was a 4.5 inch Mk 8,must have worked on 10 of these when i was in The Gun Shop

The boat was a Type 42 Destroyer ,nicknamed the Busy Bee ,served in the Gulf war,5000 tons.. and sadly decomissioned last year...

it was great working on the ship,but due to the time they werent needed ,all the focus was on Trident,And i was on all 4 of them...plus 6 Hunter Killer subs and 3 diesel electrics...

That's really interesting.

Does that sound sarcastic? It's not meant to be, I remember having a long chat with Ian about his time in the ship yards, sounds like an equally brilliant, scarey and dangerous place to work, fair play to ya.

navy what navy sadly nearly all gone now,saw the 4.5 gun then sea dart behind it,and on the arse end a chopper thinking a Lynx,what a great job you had in the shipyard

When you said Boat's I thought you were on about your shoes
Seriously thou it's a great sense of achievement knowing you had part in building ships,Subs etc for the finest navy in the world.
Now we have 2 Nautilus members on the forum
All we need to know now is... Which one is seamen stains & who is masterbates.

Crad wrote:When you said Boat's I thought you were on about your shoes
Seriously thou it's a great sense of achievement knowing you had part in building ships,Subs etc for the finest navy in the world.
Now we have 2 Nautilus members on the forum
All we need to know now is... Which one is seamen stains & who is masterbates.

it was a great job but hard work...made a man of you..Shipyards were Tough Places,Youd crumble if you were soft..

Not their fault but I look at 16 year old schooleavers and back then 6 weeks after leaving school..we were crawling through ship bilges...it was hard work but shaped you into a man for sure

Too right... These mardarses nowadays haven't a clue.

this was the real deal...Trident





each had 16 missile tubes pointing upwards..64 over the 4 subs and i worked on every tube...also armed with torpedoes for underwater attacks..








these things can do some damage...and no one at any times knows where they are,even the sailors on board,i think like 4 people know where they are ,senior officers,they could be submerged for 40 days and then they get told where theyve been !! could have been Hong Kong or Scotland !!! and yes its true where the control panel is with the dreadded red button there is a baseball bat which a sailor holds to protect the captain if anyone trys to tamper!!!

Real top stuff

Excellent stuff Ian

Ah good old Vickers shipyard,many of my relations worked there and some still do. Me and my grandad used to go down to meet family members after work, i will never ever forget all the bicycles coming through the front entrance.Saw a few launches in my time, the townsfolk took such pride in so many ships being built in their town. How times have changed last time i was there some young idiots were spraying their names on the Cenotaph in Barrow park....
I do have quite a few pics that my dad had took during his time at the shipyard,sadly working at Vickers was what killed him.He used to use asbestos rolls to lag pipes on some of the vessels he worked on,right up to his last days he loved to talk about his mates and times down at the yard.

great pics and story

So Ian ,you worked for AIRFIX!!
Seriously though , it must have been a hard job but very rewarding? (And you Captain...?)

BeansOnToast wrote:Ah good old Vickers shipyard,many of my relations worked there and some still do. Me and my grandad used to go down to meet family members after work, i will never ever forget all the bicycles coming through the front entrance.Saw a few launches in my time, the townsfolk took such pride in so many ships being built in their town. How times have changed last time i was there some young idiots were spraying their names on the Cenotaph in Barrow park....
I do have quite a few pics that my dad had took during his time at the shipyard,sadly working at Vickers was what killed him.He used to use asbestos rolls to lag pipes on some of the vessels he worked on,right up to his last days he loved to talk about his mates and times down at the yard.

Sorry to hear about your Father. If only we knew then what we know now about the dreaded asbestos....

madmark wrote:

BeansOnToast wrote:Ah good old Vickers shipyard,many of my relations worked there and some still do. Me and my grandad used to go down to meet family members after work, i will never ever forget all the bicycles coming through the front entrance.Saw a few launches in my time, the townsfolk took such pride in so many ships being built in their town. How times have changed last time i was there some young idiots were spraying their names on the Cenotaph in Barrow park....
I do have quite a few pics that my dad had took during his time at the shipyard,sadly working at Vickers was what killed him.He used to use asbestos rolls to lag pipes on some of the vessels he worked on,right up to his last days he loved to talk about his mates and times down at the yard.

Sorry to hear about your Father. If only we knew then what we know now about the dreaded asbestos....

well said mark

madmark wrote:

BeansOnToast wrote:Ah good old Vickers shipyard,many of my relations worked there and some still do. Me and my grandad used to go down to meet family members after work, i will never ever forget all the bicycles coming through the front entrance.Saw a few launches in my time, the townsfolk took such pride in so many ships being built in their town. How times have changed last time i was there some young idiots were spraying their names on the Cenotaph in Barrow park....
I do have quite a few pics that my dad had took during his time at the shipyard,sadly working at Vickers was what killed him.He used to use asbestos rolls to lag pipes on some of the vessels he worked on,right up to his last days he loved to talk about his mates and times down at the yard.

Sorry to hear about your Father. If only we knew then what we know now about the dreaded asbestos....

Thanks Mark...At the time my father was diagnosed i found it astonishing that something that he had done 30-40 years previous could have affected his health so badly.

As Ian said in his previous posts the shipyard in Barrow was the heartbeat of the town,not sure if it is still the same these days but its part in the town's history will never be forgotten.

Ive been on a few ferries/boats etc but could never imagine being on a submarine,they look way too confined for my liking.I would be on pins when under the water thinking the bloody thing could collapse.

when i was in the navy it was volunteers only who went on subs

And you had to be the same height as Ma

Victor Meldrew wrote:And you had to be the same height as Ma

Just like Mrs SOUTH all good woman come in small packages

Great pics and story

TONYSOUTH wrote:all good woman come in small packages

Well said