HMS Glamorgan

  

I left HMS Collingwood with my green pusser’s suitcase and my kitbag. The sum of all my worldly goods, at least I didn’t have to take a hammock with me that would have been too much. I got a taxi all the way to the ship as the weather was not in my favour.

Portsmouth dockyard was a dark and dismal place normally but when it was raining it was just the pits. The many jetties were doubled up with ships, the dry docks were all in use but on a wet Sunday in spring there was hardly anybody to be seen.
The taxi driver knew his way around the dockyard, the knowledge gained over many years, his wealth of knowledge of shipping movement in and out surprised me but listening to drunken matelots on return from the various pubs and clubs every evening gave him a better insight to what was happening with the fleet than most admirals.

We arrived at HMS Glamorgan in good time, I remember just sitting and staring for what seamed ages, my thought pattern was broken by being asked for the fare.

Having disembarked from the cab I remember just standing for a while looking at my first ship she seamed huge, she was shored up in a dry dock there was no grey paint on her at all, she was orange from the bow to the stern, looked like vandals had been tagging, someone had painted right across the stern "R.O.M.F.T.

It was months before I heard the ROMFT said, this time in a drunken conversation, I was to embarrassed to ask what it meant. That would have shown my greeness, I found out later it was “Roll on my fucking time”, it was said commonly by disgruntled sailors if they wanted to move jobs, ships or even out of the navy, on one occasion I heard it used when talking about a divorce.
I eventually managed up the gangway with my cumbersome load the boatswain at the top watched me struggle, I remember the smirk, "Salute the flag", he shouted at me as I arrived at the top, I had completely forgot the naval etiquette in my labours. I gave him my papers, he knew I was coming. Just seventeen I was feeling overwhelmed and he obviously sensed it. He made a phone call and shortly afterwards someone arrived to show me to my mess deck.