Please forgive me for coming back to this mighty Battleship. It was so interesting to see that just a year after we sailed in her, she was sent back to England to be scrapped.
In 1958 she was in Gibraltar standing so very proud and gigantic, against the dockside buildings. 'A' Company ( in Moorish Castle) were lined up on the quayside waiting to embark, with weapons and heavy back packs. Then we were ordered to lay down our weapons/backpacks and to carry aboard the Cruiser those metal containers which held '303 rounds. Up the gang plank, across the deck, and down many steel staircases to the very bottom deck to store those canisters. Christ it was hot sweating work. I am quite sure some of you will remember this?
Then she sailed out from Gibraltar. Mighty blasts from her sirens. We all lined the rails watching Gibraltar fade into that wonderful blue sea. The trip to Malta quite uneventful; except for the gymnastic exersises laid on for us by the PT staff on the top deck.
For me it was just looking at this massive Cruiser, and her mighty guns, her decks, her sailors, her cleanliness, her ease at parting the seas, and the togetherness of all the men aboard her.
I am so sad that this very fine Cruiser ended her life the following year, in a cheap scrap yard. She just did not deserve it.
Mike