Ammunitioning Ship (1988)

Naval Instructional Film A3322. Government film uploaded as "fair use."

[@MarketScoop]

I served as an OUT on the Cardiff during Armilla '87 with Lt Cdrs Maxwell (XO), Kerr (SO) and Dyer (MEO) the first two featured in these rather stilted Exec/Ops meeting. As a young middy the wardroom struck me as a pretty intimidating but capable bunch. While on WIGS patrol on Gloucester in '89 I bumped into Maxwell while he was in St Lucia as RN liaison officer and couldn't quite understand how he came to be passed over... he had us OUTs take it in turns to conduct evening rounds of all the mess decks with him 'supervising'. Unforgettable experience - 6 month deployment and as an OUT in the Grot 6 berth on a T42 was not for the fainthearted. Lt Mike Petheram (NO) stood out as an especially kind and capable young officer. Sadly Mike passed away several years back to cancer. Mike, I still remember my first watch as OOW2 on the Cardiff and 'accidently' rubbing out part of your Nav Track - you were gracious enough not to throw a parallel ruler at me! After my first job as an OOW I was to pass FNOs myself. I tried my v best to mimic your example...

[@MrDastardly]

Now who does not adore the Exocet missile? From Sheffield to Glamorgan, 220 miles between each location, the Exocet is loved. Even across the Atlantic, the Exocet has fans. 👏👏

[@EnglishroG]

This is a really good film as it shows the boring reality of day to day life in the Navy - the 99% that never makes it into the history books.

[@allandavis8201]

Same applies to all 3 services unfortunately, and the 1% that does make the history books will invariably be divided up by 90% Ship/Sqn/regiment, 9% officer Corp and 1% enlisted personnel, but it isn’t really happening like that, it will invariably be an enlisted person that prods an officer into giving the orders that earn the a “gong” or “title”, and the enlisted guy might get mentioned in dispatches, and those enlisted personnel that do get a “gong” their actions must be extremely outstanding. YES, I am bitter and twisted, won’t go into detail but there are a lot of men still alive because of my actions, twice. What recognition did I receive..??????, Jack Sh1t, apart from an early return from Kosovo/Macedonia, thanks for that HTB. 😤👍🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@vxrdrummer]

Yep. One of the worst days on board. Moving 600 shells on and off. As a Stoker I used to cringe at being made ammunitioning party!

[@DaveJMcGarry]

@12:40 I love the fact that the banksman has a hard hat on but no one else has to! Theses were the days i remember.

[@willb3698]

"...and it takes a very special kind of person to assume damage is not worth reporting.."

[@jerrymccrae7202]

I can imagine what the court of inquiry would be thinking if any damage was not reported!

[@Joelontugs]

That very special person is normally the creator of the damage lmao

[@williamnorton7697]

Steady, boys, steady. Fine stuff! Didn't we all love the 'Yes, Minister!' paperwork? I am completely tagged out!

[@skippyripley1239]

Mickey Ford & Dave male ..amazing guys to work with...

[@flagwanker6346]

Love the filing trays....”In. “out. “Pending

[@spin3635]

This takes me back :)

[@59patrickw]

when 4.5 rounds and cordite came in two parts not in grp containers as one

[@nikerailfanningttm9046]

18:03 *”why on earth didn’t he start the dump from aft”* This is bloody brilliant!

[@turboconqueringmegaeagle9006]

The music! Nice upload, cheers.

[@LazlowUK]

These are so interesting to watch

[@MrDiredemon]

Lived in gosport for so many years in between sultan and daedalus :)

[@vectorbrony3473]

and you don't see much footage of Frater when they were linked to the mail line railway

[@allandavis8201]

During my time in the armed forces I was involved with a lot of dangerous work, all a lot safer if the safety rules and working procedures were followed correctly, and your team did the same, but, I reckon that the resupply at sea must be the most dangerous and have so many physical hazards that you need eyes 👀 in the back of the head and your neck in swivel mode, obviously the hazards during peacetime are enormous, but in a combat theatre then it goes off the chart. Whilst each branch of the military would probably claim that theirs is the most dangerous I think during peacetime it’s, for me, the Royal Navy, in wartime you can take your pick, whoever is in the wrong place and at the wrong time would definitely get my vote.

[@mikewalrus4763]

Surely the most dangerous loading of stores is loading NAAFI store - specifically Beer! With a mixed services team! You'd never be sure who had pinched the most, but at aguess it would be Jack and Royal working together - there again you'd never know because they tend to scupper it as soon was purloined!

[@juliusraben3526]

I love how "stiff" people appear to be in those older clips. Im from the Netherlands and its the same, but Brits seem to over do it haha

[@garyshepherd9367]

🤨

[@juliusraben3526]

@@garyshepherd9367 try again with word?

[@flagwanker6346]

Look!! A working Xerox machine!

[@HydroSnips]

Jeez, 1988.

[@dugclrk]

I dreaded anytime we had a ammo replenishment.

[@nate9253]

Roger that! RAS used to piss me off. But then again so did alot of things in the RN .... defense watches ..... part of ship muster ..... captains table .....

[@alanlane3670]

Especially if hungover....

[@nobbyclarke9166]

Because you weren’t allowed to tab up

[@rauldempaire5330]

In a docummentary regarding th Falkland War, several of these issues were pointed out....

[@stevenbevis9290]

Wessex left naval service May 1987 . Earlier it said filmed 1988

[@darrenhillman8396]

Sounds like the late actor Richard Todd narrating.

[@riff2072]

"Hold Until Relieved."

[@mikebennett3812]

Memories!

[@xmeda]

Such overcomplicated procedures.. good for peace time, but horror during any hot situation.

[@user-pv4hx8hs3f]

Thats why we have wartime procedures and peactime procedures

[@sheadjohn]

6wks of planning to get ammo. What would an officer from this time period do if he were to be dropped into a warship in WW2?

[@sheadjohn]

@HaloLoreNerd not that broad. Doubt he could fulfill that role do to the fluidity of the war.

[@ke6gwf]

This is showing the process of making a special order for ammo in peace time . In ww2, they would have been prepositioning ammo based on expected usage, so they would have just taken whatever the ammo dump had available. And all the other logistics would have still been going on, just by the logistics staff who would have a rough idea of how much ammo to send where.

[@HydroSnips]

Peacetime rules. I read some guys from the Falklands saying that The Rules basically went overboard and they just pulled on ammunition quick as a flash then sailed south as fast as they could. The stopover at Ascension saw a lot of rearranging and restowing. Dunno if true or I’ve misremembered it.

[@Matelot123]

Sure this is 1988? Looks earlier to me. Some of the uniforms and badges are definitely not 1988.

[@dulls8475]

Test plate says March 79 but i would not know how often they are checked. (6.03)

[@ke6gwf]

The film was copyrighted in 88 according to the title card, who knows how much older stock footage they used, or how long it took them to release it lol

[@flym0]

Whats a TAS badge with WA underneath? I thought Weapon's Analysts were WRNS?

[@louiswilkins9624]

Interesting

[@Johnpugwash]

Portland Dorset and it’s Thursday wars !

[@notyou6950]

It helps if you go to actual war sometimes. Nothing motivates men more than the real thing.

[@bigshiro]

the oxymoron of BGM and narrator

[@mitchellfraser6530]

12:30 they will warn of possible problems *shows backwards lifting hook* - doesn't fix it 😂

[@leehotspur9679]

Hook should face out

[@henryvagincourt]

Nice mucker.

[@davedixon2068]

just as well it wasnt a war

[@charlesfitton9677]

2,6, heave.....Can someone explain that?

[@lordsummerisle87]

It's from gun (cannon) drills in the days of muzzle-loading. Every member of the gun team had a number assigned to their position. After the gun was loaded "two six heave" was the command for No.s 2 and 6 to heave on a rope each, which would push the gun out the gunport ready to fire at the French. It's stuck around to this day, about 150 years after all naval guns switched to breech loading, as a general instruction meaning "prepare to pull... PULL".

[@petemcdonald8894]

@@lordsummerisle87 o m g .... lmao I always wondered what the hell we were shouting that out for haha, cheers shippers

[@flagwanker6346]

And then all them bullets need checking and counting.

[@lordsummerisle87]

3:58 What's the navy using that .22LR in in 1988? SLR training conversions?

[@neildahlgaard-sigsworth3819]

lordsummerisle87 for line throwing when conducting replenishments when underway.

[@bugler75]

And also used for marksmanship training on indoor/ pipe ranges when full ranges not available

[@bostavely204]

My biggest regret. I joined the Army and not Fleet Air Arm .

[@rcdogmanduh4440]

Brit's invented the bomb!

[@lablackzed]

I say chap's tell the enemy we not ready we are still waiting for ammunition .😂😂😂😂

[@angrydragonslayer]

Wait..... Wtf is the navy doing with .22 rimfire?

[@flagwanker6346]

Not a lot of RADHAZ I notice.

[@andreicampeanu1884]

Wonder when they find time to fight a war if needed

[@waynerainey2606]

The Brits sure can make a boring ass documentary!

[@sjames5027]

Its a training film obviously

[@whiteknightcat]

@@sjames5027 I'd rather watch a film about trains.

[@Infidel7153]

The British scare no one this is kinda funny.

[@lizlawrence4553]

Actually very interesting. Your comment sums up your ignorance. Got it you retard

[@snowflakemelter1172]

Cry more

[@juk-hw5lv]

Civilians handling torpedoes and missiles, and ordinary accountants knowing how many weapons of eacg type are stored? A goddamn spy's paradise. The train should be convoyed by a platoon of RMs and everyone from an ordnance technician down to a floor moppper should be a serviceman and be audited by MI5 weekly

[@michaelkingdon3500]

juk123 45 Having been there I can tell you it's what you don't see,,,,

[@robertlygo4762]

So, In the intelligence community, it's fairly common to have civilians working within military organisations. one such example is "Mothers": the affectionately named secretaries and trusted typists. Ostensibly, anyone in a skirt, according to John La Carres. Other types of workers within the intelligence community: www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/8765109/The-secret-codes-of-John-le-Carres-Tinker-Tailor-Soldier-Spy.html

[@mbaker335]

I used to be an ordinary civilian designing such things. Nothing special about servicemen. Design data is the juicy info not the number and location of L2A2 ammunition.

[@robertlygo4762]

mbaker335 That makes sense, what would be the reason for spying on logistics.

[@EthanThomson]

Robert Lygo you know what is where. Its surprisingly useful to know what weapons your enemy has in certain locations

[@robinmyman]

The Russians and Iranians have supercavitating fish...do we?

[@Trevor_Austin]

All that effort for a useless weapon like the Sea Dart.

[@blazer666del]

Wasn't useless down the Gulf in 1991.. HMS Gloucester

[@MikeMikeSmith]

@1:17... Lost a lot of respect for the British Navy... That’s the type of chair you get your ass kicked for sitting in.

[@daveybernard1056]

This is how hard and bureaucratic it now is to buy civilian ammo in California. Thanks, liberals.

[@flagwanker6346]

Love the filing trays....”In. “out. “Pending