Click image for WO/LDO info

The Royal Navy did not have the equivalent rank of Warrant Officer when I first reported aboard the Naval Base at Faslane Scotland in February 1968 with a team of Instrumentation Technicians from the Naval Ordnance Test Unit at Patrick Air Force Base near Port Canaveral, Florida. I was a Warrant Gunner (W-1) as Officer in Charge of a team of technicians specially trained in the installation, operation and maintenance of specialized instrumentation equipment built by Interstate Electronics Corporation of Anaheim California. This equipment was installed on all new Fleet Ballistic Missile submarines as well as those coming out of an extended shipyard overhaul to monitor and certify the operation of the Polaris/Posiedon Ballistic Missile Weapons Systems.

The British FBM submarines had two crews similar to the U. S. Navy. The U.S. crews were designated Blue and Gold whereas the Royal Navy designated their crews Port and Starboard. I had the unique experience of serving on Temporary Additional Duty (TAD) with both the Port and Starboard crews of the H.M.S. RESOLUTION, H.M.S. RENOWN  and the H.M.S. REPULSE culminating in the successful launch of six missiles (one per crew) on the Air Force Eastern Test Range out of Port Canaveral. What a shock it was to me when I was "piped" aboard when first reporting to the RESOLUTION! This was standard protocol for a "foreign" Naval Officer arriving. During a two year tour at N.O.T.U., I performed the same duties on many U.S. Navy FBM submarines as they completed their overhaul. This was officially classified as "Shore Duty"! The US boats sure as heck did NOT pipe me aboard...

There are no identical twins in submarines or their crews. Both crews of the H.M.S. REPULSE were among my all time favorites!

It was a most rewarding assignment that helped to get me orders (as a CWO) to the USS TIRANTE SS-420 out of Key West. I had been busted  to Ensign by the time I reported aboard in GITMO though. I completed my Officer Qualification in Submarines aboard the TIRANTE on 20 November 1970 and was presented with my Gold Dolphins.