Bart Bear's Blog

One of the things that the Oldies did while they were in England was to go for harbour cruises whenever they could. I have almost forgiven them for leaving me at home with my uncles..... Some of the harbours had not just ferrys, cargo ships and passenger liners, but warships as well. The most exciting ships are aircraft carriers. I mean, the Oldies and I love ships and aircraft, so carriers are the ultimate. When they were at Plymouth they could see, way off in the distance, HMS Ark Royal being guided out of the harbour by tugs and they could see destroyers going out to form the screen for her. She was so far away that the best photo they could get at maximum zoom was not too good, but they were really excited to have seen her at all. A week later they were at Portsmouth and there was the Ark, moored at the naval dockyard. Their little cruise boat went so close that they couldn't fit her into the camera frame from the side. Happy Oldies. Ark Royal is the fifth Royal Navy ship to carry that name, three of the earlier ones were also carriers. She went into service in 1985 and is the RN flagship. At present she only operates helicopters and is mostly used as a Commando Carrier. I would have liked to see her a few years back when she had Harriers on board. There were some more carriers at Portsmouth, a French one and HMS Illustrious. The only thing missing was a small bear or two. Oldies please note.

Labels: boats, England