The Making Of A Man.

Baptism of Fire Part 1

On the 16th of September 1954, David was commissioned to be on his first ship, HMS Whitesand Bay.

HMS Whitesand and Bay had been back at Portsmouth since the 24th of August after returning from Hong Kong after a refit. She was being prepared for home fleet service under the command of Commander D.N Forbes.

The photo below shows David in his Whitesand Bay uniform.

On the 22nd of September HMS Whitesand Bay left Portsmouth to carry out trials, but she had problems and returned to Chatham in December. With the help of a former ship mate on board at the time I have discovered that HMS Whitesand Bay had condenser problems and a cracked funnel deck as the result of bad weather in the Bay of Biscay.

HMS Whitesand Bay was paid off and placed in reserve. The ships company were based at Chatham whilst they waited to be commissioned to another ship.

In January 1955, another Loch Class frigate was nominated for service in the Persian Gulf to relieve HMS Flamingo, HMS Loch Killisport was already at Chatham undertaking a refit.

Whilst at Chatham David received an inoculation for yellow fever. Yellow fever is an acute viral disease that is spread by the bite of a female mosquito.

On the 8th of February, the crew were transferred to HMS Loch Killisport and she carried out sea trials in the Nore Area.

She then left for Portland with a stop at Portsmouth, she arrived on the 16th of March and performed weapon test's.

She then took passage to Malta with a stop at Gibraltar on the 21st.

Malta's location in the Mediterranean had been of great strategic importance over the years for the Royal Navy and it was the main Naval base in the area.

HMS Loch Killisport arrived in Malta on April 1st 1955 and spent fifteen days exercising with the Mediterranean fleet.

Killisport left Malta on the 16th of April for Aden, Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, she arrived in Aden on the 24th but only remained their for three days before leaving for Bahrain on the 27th.

During this time David was fast approaching his 17th birthday and his record was signed twice for passing some test's. Both were signed by Commander Forbes and they were listed in his record as TR and TR2.

I have been unable to find the exact meaning of these test's but I think it's safe to assume to TR is a reference to Torpedo Rating. This assumption derives from two things, firstly we will later find out more about how David's Naval career progressed and it's clear that torpedoes, mines and submarines were a big part of it. Also Loch class frigates were considered to be submarine hunters so it would make sense that he would be receiving training on the use of torpedoes.

Whilst on the way to Bahrain, Loch Killisport stopped at Salalah and Khor Kuwai, both in Oman.

She arrived in Bahrain on the 8th of May and for only five days before being deployed on Dhow patrol.

A Dhow is a traditional sailing vessel with one or more mast's with lateen sails used in the region at the time, they were popular with pirates at the time and this was the purpose of these patrols.

HMS Loch Killisport stopped at ports in Abu Musa and Sharjah, on the 17th of May she was back at Khor Kuwai, and on the 18th was at Khor Fakkan.

This was David's seventeenth birthday, it is unlikely that he left the ship as it was only at Khor Fakkan for one day.

On the 19th they were in Muscat, HMS Loch Killisport was despatched to assist in a reported collision between to ships at the entrance to the Straits of Hormuz.