Going back to Portland to join the Howe after my leave turned out to be quite a journey. I left home after tea to get the 10.30pm train from Darlington to Kings Cross. This would have got me back to the Howe easily for 9.am next morning when my leave ended. Unfortunately the trains were delayed by snow and blizzards were blowing across the country. It was after midnight when the train arrived and it was 6.30am next morning when we arrived in London, after more delays I finally arrived at the Howe at noon. I reported to the Office On Watch and was placed on commanders report for being absent without leave. The next morning I received my punishment from the commander. Altogether, I had to do 14 days number 11s which meant getting up early and scrubbing decks and also being called out in the middle of the night during a blizzard to watch the anchor and see it didn't slip. I couldn't go ashore for 14 days and what with the terrible weather I was really fed up.
At last that long winter of 1946-47 relaxed its grip and it was May when we left Portland Bay on the Howe and headed for Portsmouth. Here we took part in the Spithead Fleet Review. This was the biggest ceremony ever held in peacetime for the navy and it really was an impressive sight. The whole of the home fleet were lined up in the English Channel in two rows and stretched as far as the eye could see. Then the flagship Vanguard appeared and sailed between the rows, on board were the king and the Royal Family. They sailed between the ships and we all lined the guardrails and cheered. I could see the king and queen quite clearly and the two young princesses Elizabeth and Margaret waved to us. They were sailing straight through the line of ships and then going on to South Africa for a state visit- what an impressive send of it was.
After the Spithead Review, the Howe headed west to begin a tour of Britain, our first stop was most unusual for a battleship, it was a small fishing village in Cornwall called Mevagissey. Although a small village it had a deep anchorage and we anchored there and I went ashore for a night. The village had put on a dance for us and although there was about ten sailors for each girl, I managed to find a partner and I enjoyed a good nights dancing. I was pleased I had learned to dance in Australia or I wouldn't have enjoyed it so much.
After Cornwall the Howe sailed around Lands End and up the Irish Sea to Bangor in Wales, we only stayed there a night and I never went ashore till our next stop - the Clyde - as it was in thick fog we sailed right up the Clyde by radar. Radar was still a novelty and the main operations room was full of young officers asking questions about it. I was feeling a bit more important now.
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