Discussion
Corvid-2020 said:
Slop said:
Benmac said:
Mikebentley said:
As a kid was on the Herald of Free Enterprise within 24hrs of the disaster.
We may have crossed paths. My family and I were on the corresponding sailing to the one that sank the day before the disaster.Well yeah, Dad, doh.
Many years later, after I'd done a course on risk analysis at college and read some of the HoF stuff in our HAZOP / safety studies. When I pointed out to my Dad if the boat hadn't sunk the day it did, had they carried on the way they did three days later the sea had a much better surge pattern and she would have certainly gone down then (though I could never find out if the sailing schedule meant that the actual boat would have been the HoF or a sister ship). After that his pub claim to fame used to be "I've never been on the HoF".
Hammer67 said:
Slightly off topic but I`m pretty sure there is/was a PHer who was good friends with the crew member who was widely blamed for the sinking. I didn`t know him but he was a customer of the dealership in Ashford that I worked at, at the time. Think he died quite young a few years ago.
Mark Stanley.peterperkins said:
Some very interesting lucky people on here. The sub one and all the disasters etc. 
'Random chance seems to have operated in your favour.'
It's called survivor bias.'Random chance seems to have operated in your favour.'
There are all the opposite stories that we're not being told because the poor buggers aren't around to tell us anymore...
Posts (in a minute) new thread - "Unlucky no escapes".
My two to start will be the nicest lad you ever met school mate of my sister, venture scout, church helper, handsome, king of the Sixth Form without being arrogant, four A-levels at A, place at Cambridge, died middle of August 1986 before uni of an annuresym. Don't remember if anyone knew why.
His younger sister and three fiends died the February after in a car crash on the A6 toward Buxton one winter morn going to High Peak College.
His elder brother committed suicide in the mid 2010s despite being a stock broking millionaire. Believed he was going to lose a load of money on a deal and shot himself.
Parents moved to Ireland then and as far a I knew for nearly a decade had a quite life....until/another thread mode.
My two to start will be the nicest lad you ever met school mate of my sister, venture scout, church helper, handsome, king of the Sixth Form without being arrogant, four A-levels at A, place at Cambridge, died middle of August 1986 before uni of an annuresym. Don't remember if anyone knew why.
His younger sister and three fiends died the February after in a car crash on the A6 toward Buxton one winter morn going to High Peak College.
His elder brother committed suicide in the mid 2010s despite being a stock broking millionaire. Believed he was going to lose a load of money on a deal and shot himself.
Parents moved to Ireland then and as far a I knew for nearly a decade had a quite life....until/another thread mode.
peterperkins said:
Some very interesting lucky people on here. The sub one and all the disasters etc.
'Random chance seems to have operated in your favour.'
Must be very difficult to be completely objective and calm about such narrow squeaks even years later.
In the Sub event you all, crew and trainers alike, have to be completely honest with yourselves and each other as your lives always depend on it. The Trainers admitted that had not retained control over the events and did not mindfully look ahead to the effects of the combination of those events should an actual failure then add itself into the mix. The back-afties were reviewed to have done a good job but no more than should be expected in those circumstances. I believe the Commanding Officer insisted the Trimming Officer buy everyone onboard at least three drinks.'Random chance seems to have operated in your favour.'
Must be very difficult to be completely objective and calm about such narrow squeaks even years later.
About a dozen crew were pretty/very shaken up and asked to leave the Submarine Service with immediate effect - I think they all did.
Once the formal objective review was over it wasn't discussed in any great length except when drinking and dit-spinning and I think Service personnel in general either have the ability to compartmentalise their thoughts about significant events, have a drink and then throw away the key.
Personally that event, and a few other hairy moments as well as ten years as a Paramedic have shown to me that life is fragile and death is somewhat arbitrary. Depending on what you believe you arrive and depart this world by divine interference and/or biological mishap and however much you may think you're in control in between those key events, somethings going to jump out and surprise or nearly kill you.
Carpe diem and all that, and hope the knob on the panel does the right thing.
take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey said:
Worth adding for those intetested... Beyond a certain depth a submarine essentially becomes a plane. You can blow like a cheap hooker but the only way you're getting back to the surface is by 'flying' back... So having propulsion is pretty important.
Busy day in manoeuvring that day.
What do you finish as then Cat A or B?
I suspect we probably know a few of the same people.
ETA... As for crush depth calcs. Just a made up number. If you're around that depth, you're probably f***** anyway so it's kinder for it to be a surprise. Plus it saves a few quid off the design cost
It was a busy and quite warm day, and I was busy again about six months later when a middle watch group change caused a wee rod drop and I was blamed by a few morons. An investigation by JTBS (you might know him) actually proved it was an switch fault and instigated a Fleet wide immediate check and switch change. Busy day in manoeuvring that day.
What do you finish as then Cat A or B?
I suspect we probably know a few of the same people.
ETA... As for crush depth calcs. Just a made up number. If you're around that depth, you're probably f***** anyway so it's kinder for it to be a surprise. Plus it saves a few quid off the design cost
I was a Cat B, very young when I first qualified and perhaps too soon to run a section but I was a fair maintainer and as the event showed, a bloody good operator.
hotchy said:
My partner and her entire family was on holiday in london during the london bombings. They had a ticket for the very tube that got bombed. Her brother (who they was visiting so wouldnt abandon him haha) slept in as for no apparent reason his alarm never sounded. Seems a bit freaky how unexplainable events can potentially save your entire familys life.
It was also the exact time we had started texting and doing the young teenage flirting thing with my 5 free texts a day for life on orange so would have completly changed my life path aswel. Crazy.
they had a ticket for that very tube huh?It was also the exact time we had started texting and doing the young teenage flirting thing with my 5 free texts a day for life on orange so would have completly changed my life path aswel. Crazy.
Edited by hotchy on Monday 29th June 08:50
Nothing really like a lucky escape, but I used to attract IRA bombs in London. Living in Jockland I didn't go down very often but was a coach passenger going up Park Lane a couple of hours before the 1982 Hyde Park bomb went off. Was weird looking back that the car bomb was probably in place with the timer going a few hundred yards away.
I was in Oxford Street in 1993 when the Bishopsgate City bomb went off. I didn't hear a thing (probably in HMV at the time) despite it being 1 tonne of ANFO. Only later when popping into a shop in Tottenham Court Road did the assistant mention it had just happened.
My (then) Navy WREN girlfriend passed through Kings Cross tube station a couple of hours before the fire in 1987. This was before mobiles of course and it was a frantic few hours before she called from Hampshire where she'd arrived safely at her base oblivious to what had happened.
My parents missed a flight in a Bristol Britannia to Yugoslavia in 1966 which piled-in on final approach a couple of years before I was born.
I was in Oxford Street in 1993 when the Bishopsgate City bomb went off. I didn't hear a thing (probably in HMV at the time) despite it being 1 tonne of ANFO. Only later when popping into a shop in Tottenham Court Road did the assistant mention it had just happened.
My (then) Navy WREN girlfriend passed through Kings Cross tube station a couple of hours before the fire in 1987. This was before mobiles of course and it was a frantic few hours before she called from Hampshire where she'd arrived safely at her base oblivious to what had happened.
My parents missed a flight in a Bristol Britannia to Yugoslavia in 1966 which piled-in on final approach a couple of years before I was born.
A good friend of mine travels the world, or used to, with his job. He’d been staying at this hotel for a couple of weeks and checked out on the afternoon of 20 Sept 2008. Had just taken taken off when it happened and had no idea of it until he landed in London to lots of missed calls and texts...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamabad_Marriott...
My mum’s cousin was a BA flight attendant on this flight as the 747 lost all four engines...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Fl...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamabad_Marriott...
My mum’s cousin was a BA flight attendant on this flight as the 747 lost all four engines...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Fl...
McGee_22 said:
It was a busy and quite warm day, and I was busy again about six months later when a middle watch group change caused a wee rod drop and I was blamed by a few morons. An investigation by JTBS (you might know him) actually proved it was an switch fault and instigated a Fleet wide immediate check and switch change.
I was a Cat B, very young when I first qualified and perhaps too soon to run a section but I was a fair maintainer and as the event showed, a bloody good operator.
Don't recognise the name. Not surprising though, as I wasn't on subs... Ex RR so know many many back-afties via that route. Quite a few S class enjoying second careers + a juicey pension. I was a Cat B, very young when I first qualified and perhaps too soon to run a section but I was a fair maintainer and as the event showed, a bloody good operator.
I was on the A-Class design team (MR design) too so met a lot of S, T, and V lads when they popped up / down to test out iterations of the design. Funnily enough, one of the scenarios we used was almost what you encountered. Had some fun nights out with them*.
- Not with the v boys... Straight off a record breaking patrol and no lash in months. You can imagine the state of them.
Funny dit for you which you may appreciate given where you sat.
Reactor Panel Operator decided to play a joke on his supervisor. He'd spotted the similarities between the handle on the pillar drill in the machine shop and the (as you put it) knob.
Supervisor comes into manoeuvring to find his Cat B stood with his back to the RP obscuring the RC lever, tapping the pillar drill handle in his hand.
As in intended, supervisor loses his s
t because he thinks he's removed the RC lever. When ordered to replace it immediately the RPO starts to leave manoeuvring to head back to the workshop, which further infuriates the supervisor...until he sees the RC lever. Relations were a little frosty for a while. I used to love working with them. The creative ability of a bored submariner to wind up their mate is beyond compare.
What made you become a paramedic, most MEOs go and drive an AGR for silly money or join RR or BAE?
take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey said:
McGee_22 said:
It was a busy and quite warm day, and I was busy again about six months later when a middle watch group change caused a wee rod drop and I was blamed by a few morons. An investigation by JTBS (you might know him) actually proved it was an switch fault and instigated a Fleet wide immediate check and switch change.
I was a Cat B, very young when I first qualified and perhaps too soon to run a section but I was a fair maintainer and as the event showed, a bloody good operator.
Don't recognise the name. Not surprising though, as I wasn't on subs... Ex RR so know many many back-afties via that route. Quite a few S class enjoying second careers + a juicey pension. I was a Cat B, very young when I first qualified and perhaps too soon to run a section but I was a fair maintainer and as the event showed, a bloody good operator.
Am I the only person who didn’t understand a word of this?
I was on the A-Class design team (MR design) too so met a lot of S, T, and V lads when they popped up / down to test out iterations of the design. Funnily enough, one of the scenarios we used was almost what you encountered. Had some fun nights out with them*.
- Not with the v boys... Straight off a record breaking patrol and no lash in months. You can imagine the state of them.
Funny dit for you which you may appreciate given where you sat.
Reactor Panel Operator decided to play a joke on his supervisor. He'd spotted the similarities between the handle on the pillar drill in the machine shop and the (as you put it) knob.
Supervisor comes into manoeuvring to find his Cat B stood with his back to the RP obscuring the RC lever, tapping the pillar drill handle in his hand.
As in intended, supervisor loses his s
t because he thinks he's removed the RC lever. When ordered to replace it immediately the RPO starts to leave manoeuvring to head back to the workshop, which further infuriates the supervisor...until he sees the RC lever. Relations were a little frosty for a while. I used to love working with them. The creative ability of a bored submariner to wind up their mate is beyond compare.
What made you become a paramedic, most MEOs go and drive an AGR for silly money or join RR or BAE?
Two days of advanced driving practice at Millbrook and I was driving my Westfield up the a14 in torrential rain when I started to aquaplane, went from outside to inside lane and back before I got it under control (thanks for the previous two days practice!)
On my way to my first wedding.from London to Liverpool on my gpz in the early 90s, overtook a panel van (that had been annoying me) on a straight bit of road to see a car just ahead stationary and starting to turn right. Just had chance to flick left and just squeezed between the can and a solid brick wall at about 90mph.
Had to pull up for a breather, my mate said he'd already started thinking what he was going to say to my fiancée
On my way to my first wedding.from London to Liverpool on my gpz in the early 90s, overtook a panel van (that had been annoying me) on a straight bit of road to see a car just ahead stationary and starting to turn right. Just had chance to flick left and just squeezed between the can and a solid brick wall at about 90mph.
Had to pull up for a breather, my mate said he'd already started thinking what he was going to say to my fiancée
Mikebentley said:
Partly short hand.
Partly a deliberate bit of being vague so as not to get into trouble.
To translate my bit.
I'm an engineer who used to design subs (bits thereof)
Spinning dits - telling stories. My story, reactor driver thinks it would be funny to convince his boss that he's removed one of the most important controls for the Reactor. He hadn't. Boss not so amused. Think removing steering wheel and waving in front of person next to you.
Edited by take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey on Tuesday 30th June 09:13
2010 and I was heading to Scarborough for a mates birthday, got about 2 miles from home before realising I’d forgotten a bag with his present and a few other bits in, so turned round and nipped back for it. It was late October and quite cold so decided to put a coat on, a big “fur” lined thing but I zipped it right up to the neck whilst I warmed up.
Set off again, and was in the last village before joining the motorway and I was t-boned at about 30mph by a Passat pulling out of a junction blind. The Passat took my drivers door clean off, and the top of the door bent in and brushed my neck, exactly where I’d zipped my coat up to. If I hadn’t put that coat on, the door would have severed my corotid artery. All the air bags went off and I was left pretty battered after and needed a few years of physio to sort my back out.
Set off again, and was in the last village before joining the motorway and I was t-boned at about 30mph by a Passat pulling out of a junction blind. The Passat took my drivers door clean off, and the top of the door bent in and brushed my neck, exactly where I’d zipped my coat up to. If I hadn’t put that coat on, the door would have severed my corotid artery. All the air bags went off and I was left pretty battered after and needed a few years of physio to sort my back out.
I was on the train behind this one - 35 killed and hundreds injured.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clapham_Junction_rai...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clapham_Junction_rai...
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