A sad sight :(
Discussion
Just looked out the window and saw them moving the Ark Royal off the jetty, I'm presuming it's today it gets taken away to be prepared for scrapping then? I know they had their farewell this weekend, I forgot to tell my old man about it too as it was the last ship he'd served on that was still in commission 
Im an Aero Engineerer in the Royal Navy, and yes its very sad, fortunatly i work on Lynx helicopters but alot of my friends chose harrier, they still havn't been given new drafts yet.. just waiting about. Not to mention theres no room accomodation wise to move them all and my beloved single man cabin will soon be getting a bunkbed in it... Crap!
Wilfko said:
Im an Aero Engineerer in the Royal Navy, and yes its very sad, fortunatly i work on Lynx helicopters but alot of my friends chose harrier, they still havn't been given new drafts yet.. just waiting about. Not to mention theres no room accomodation wise to move them all and my beloved single man cabin will soon be getting a bunkbed in it... Crap!
That's what I wanted to do when I start, but I figured in the current climate it might suddenly be over-subscribed (plus there's currently a 48 month wait...) so I chose ET(WE) Submariner instead. 
Never served on the Ark myself but it I am sad to see it go. A lot of my mates spent time on there and I know it was a good ship.
Why would you want to join the submarine service? My dads been in for 32 years on subs and always told me to look elswhere, hence I joined the Marines. The only good subs are the T and S boats, but you still don't get that much travel with them. Avoid Faslane if you can! I know from experience. Having family in all 3 services I'd actually recomend joining the Army as an officer or engineer. Seems to be the way ahead.
Why would you want to join the submarine service? My dads been in for 32 years on subs and always told me to look elswhere, hence I joined the Marines. The only good subs are the T and S boats, but you still don't get that much travel with them. Avoid Faslane if you can! I know from experience. Having family in all 3 services I'd actually recomend joining the Army as an officer or engineer. Seems to be the way ahead.
Sadly I'm too old to join as an officer now unless I wanted to be a loggie officer (which I don't)...
S-Boats are all retired now, but I want one of the T's as I wanted to avoid being based in Scotland if I can. Submarines have a very short waiting period compared to the other branches, and I gather they're also one of the least difficult routes to move from chief -> officer thinking longer term.
And immediately short term, the extra money would be useful as I'm going to be dropping a lot during my basic at Raleigh.
The only reason I'm not after the Army is because SWMBO doesn't want me too - otherwise I'd have been in the RMP for 3 years by now as I got my join date and then she kicked her toys out the pram - mostly over the fact we'd almost certainly be moving to Germany.
So a few years later here we are, and since I only have 4 years till I'm too old to join as a rating even, I wanted to choose something that would get me in quickish, have good longer term prospects, and in the short term wouldn't leave me bankrupt.
Bearing in mind my current joining date is May 2012... Surface fleet in the same job was 36 months, and they told me not to bother with the marines since I can write in Pen and everything rather than crayons
S-Boats are all retired now, but I want one of the T's as I wanted to avoid being based in Scotland if I can. Submarines have a very short waiting period compared to the other branches, and I gather they're also one of the least difficult routes to move from chief -> officer thinking longer term.
And immediately short term, the extra money would be useful as I'm going to be dropping a lot during my basic at Raleigh.
The only reason I'm not after the Army is because SWMBO doesn't want me too - otherwise I'd have been in the RMP for 3 years by now as I got my join date and then she kicked her toys out the pram - mostly over the fact we'd almost certainly be moving to Germany.
So a few years later here we are, and since I only have 4 years till I'm too old to join as a rating even, I wanted to choose something that would get me in quickish, have good longer term prospects, and in the short term wouldn't leave me bankrupt.
Bearing in mind my current joining date is May 2012... Surface fleet in the same job was 36 months, and they told me not to bother with the marines since I can write in Pen and everything rather than crayons
Seriously though, I'd love to go for the marines but being realistic, I don't think I have the mental toughness for it. And that's the last time you'll ever hear anything complimentary on the subject from me, it's a good job my old man's not on PistonHeads, I'd get the beating of my life if he thought I'd been weak enough to find anything positive to say
A Guardsman, a Para and a REME are each given a ball of brass and locked in seperate rooms. A week later, the rooms are unlocked and their brass balls are inspected
In the REMEs room there is a working clock bodged from the ball, some duct tape, and some cable ties - the source of which nobody is entirely sure...
In the Guardsmans room there is a glow brighter than the sun, from a weeks worth of polishing.
As the door to the Para's room is opened, all that can be seen is the young para looking sheepish. Upon asking what happened to the brass ball, he replies: "I broke it".
In the REMEs room there is a working clock bodged from the ball, some duct tape, and some cable ties - the source of which nobody is entirely sure...
In the Guardsmans room there is a glow brighter than the sun, from a weeks worth of polishing.
As the door to the Para's room is opened, all that can be seen is the young para looking sheepish. Upon asking what happened to the brass ball, he replies: "I broke it".
Ark Royal won`t be scrapped for the forseeable future, there is a deal in place for the sale of Invincible which will be gone shortly.The Ark will go into the same basin eventually and be mothballed, and possibly used for parts for Illustrious, i did 5 years on carriers,Falklands on Hermes, then 5 years on Submarines, Bombers, (Repulse)
Brother ex booty 42 commando, mainly K coy.
Brother ex booty 42 commando, mainly K coy.
T66ORA said:
Ark Royal won`t be scrapped for the forseeable future, there is a deal in place for the sale of Invincible which will be gone shortly.The Ark will go into the same basin eventually and be mothballed, and possibly used for parts for Illustrious, i did 5 years on carriers,Falklands on Hermes, then 5 years on Submarines, Bombers, (Repulse)
Brother ex booty 42 commando, mainly K coy.
Following 'Tiffs' course and a short stint on Dreadnought my dad served on the Polaris boats. He started on Resolution and worked his way through the rest of the Polaris fleet back in the 80's and early 90's before overseeing the planning of its decommissioning. Think he finished on Reso as a Charge Cheif. Then he went into the Vanguard fleet following his Senior Upper Yardy's course at Manadon, Plymouth. Now the most senior WEO in the Navy he is sunning himself on a 3 1/2 year holiday care of the US Navy, all expenses paid. Sweet! Pays off in the end.Brother ex booty 42 commando, mainly K coy.
I was based all over the place. Lympstone, Chivenor, Faslane, Leconfield, Plymouth, Larkhill. Very Busy!
Dad went the Tiffy route too, apart from the Ark I think it was all Leanders for him. The Scylla will always hold fond memories for me for awesome Christmas parties and the first ship I really remember. He couldn't watch the documentary when they sank it to make a Reef
I thought lusty was going too in favour of the Ocean?
I thought lusty was going too in favour of the Ocean?
dwilkie said:
Dad went the Tiffy route too, apart from the Ark I think it was all Leanders for him. The Scylla will always hold fond memories for me for awesome Christmas parties and the first ship I really remember. He couldn't watch the documentary when they sank it to make a Reef
I thought lusty was going too in favour of the Ocean?
Yep not until 2014 though .I thought lusty was going too in favour of the Ocean?
T66ORA said:
dwilkie said:
Dad went the Tiffy route too, apart from the Ark I think it was all Leanders for him. The Scylla will always hold fond memories for me for awesome Christmas parties and the first ship I really remember. He couldn't watch the documentary when they sank it to make a Reef
I thought lusty was going too in favour of the Ocean?
Yep not until 2014 though .I thought lusty was going too in favour of the Ocean?
Oh, and the ship i was on in the Gulf sank a Leander off a private Omani island back in 2000. It was going for scrap so we towed it out to sea for some fun. We spent about an hour blatting it with the 30mm cannons, 4.5inch gun, Lynx flew all round it with its .50 cal Pod, GPMG, Sea Skua and a depth charge. Finished it off with Stingray. Big mess!
Edited by ecain63 on Tuesday 25th January 17:07
ecain63 said:
T66ORA said:
dwilkie said:
Dad went the Tiffy route too, apart from the Ark I think it was all Leanders for him. The Scylla will always hold fond memories for me for awesome Christmas parties and the first ship I really remember. He couldn't watch the documentary when they sank it to make a Reef
I thought lusty was going too in favour of the Ocean?
Yep not until 2014 though .I thought lusty was going too in favour of the Ocean?
Oh, and the ship i was on in the Gulf sank a Leander off a private Omani island back in 2000. It was going for scrap so we towed it out to sea for some fun. We spent about an hour blatting it with the 30mm cannons, 4.5inch gun, Lynx flew all round it with its .50 cal Pod, GPMG, Sea Skua and a depth charge. Finished it off with Stingray. Big mess!
Edited by ecain63 on Tuesday 25th January 17:07
One of the smaller ships (can't remember which one) was the same when I did work experience at CFM (while we still had CFM) too - I spent most of my work experience painting the inside
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