I’m Jesus, the Canteen Manager (Part 6-Conclusion )

Author

Zammitt, Alan

Subjects

Biographies and personal histories

Tags

Korean War, Zammit, Canteen

RAN Ships

HMAS Sydney III

Publication

October 1982 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)

During the last patrol only 293 sorties were flown, including one day on convoy escort. For the greater part of two days the weather was unsuitable for flying.

The Korean tour had been costly in aircraft, about 80 aircraft had been hit by flak, 10 aircraft being lost.

Sadly, three Sea Fury pilots lost their lives and one was wounded, although it is almost a miracle that no more air crew were lost. There were no casualties onboard, although there could have been when aircraft returning from strikes sometimes still had 60 lb rocket projectiles that had failed to fire. Sometimes these rockets launched themselves as the aircraft hit the deck. At first the rockets went the length of the flight deck and over the bow. To protect the flight deck crew, a mesh net was rigged at No. 3 barrier and, when stopped, the projectiles would be tossed over the side. 20mm cannon rounds would also go off accidentally and on one occasion a couple of 20mm rounds were accidentally fired from an aircraft in the hangar. These rounds went through the flight deck.

Sydney’s Type 960 radar excelled itself by detecting aircraft up to a range of 190 miles. While we were operating off the west coast, aircraft on the east coast were picked up. Lt. Cdr. B.S. Murray was mentioned in dispatches for his services as the ship’s Senior Direction Officer. Lt. Cdr. Murray is now Rear Admiral Sir Brian Murray, Governor of Victoria.

The awards for Sydney’s Korean Service were:

Thirteen of the ship’s company were mentioned in dispatches, and everyone received the Korean Service Medal and the United Nations Medal.

After a short stay in Sasebo, Sydney and Tobruk sailed in company for Hong Kong on 27th January 1952. A rendezvous with HMS Glory was made about 30 miles from Hong Kong, where six Fireflies were launched and landed on Glory. Aviation stores and Korean operational orders were turned over to Glory. Glory with HMAS Warramunga sailed for Sasebo on 2nd February, HMS Unicorn arriving in Hong Kong the same day. All aircraft and stores required to be left on the station were transferred to Unicorn.

Regarding Sydney’s sojourn in Korea, member Reg Lascelles has this to say.

‘You will see driving along roads under construction such signs as ‘Please turn off car radios. Explosives being used.’ This turns my mind back to the early days during the Korean War while serving in HMAS Sydney. To personnel serving in carriers, the transmission aerials are situated on the port side of the flight deck, and are about 20 feet high. While not flying aircraft, these aerials are in the vertical position, and when flying they are lowered into the horizontal position. During daylight in Korean waters with our aircraft flying, these aerials would naturally be horizontal, and after the day’s sorties were completed, and darkness fell, the aerials would be raised so that normal transmissions could take place.

It became normal procedure at that time for aircraft to be respotted, refuelled and rearmed for the early morning take off, or as we used to say, the Milk-Run over Korea.

During this period, the Armament Department got into full swing towards dusk, with gun changes, loading cannon shells and rocket projectiles with their 60 pound HE heads, into each aircraft. Rockets were loaded onto rails under the wings, 6 rails taking 2 rockets each, making 12 rockets per aircraft. At the rear end of these rails were the sockets into which the leads for each rocket were plugged. For safety reasons, into each socket a small globe was placed. If, for some reason, the globe lit up, that part of the equipment was said to be faulty, and would be replaced. The globes would stay in the sockets until the aircraft was to be positioned on the catapult for take off. Prior to this happening, each aircraft would be rechecked while the engine was being run up, to see that no fault occurred. When, to the satisfaction of the leading armourer, that all was well, the globes would be removed and the leads plugged into the sockets. The rockets were then ready for firing.