HMS Royal Oak, Scapa Flow. Corporal John J Coombes. I am writing on behalf of my sister Jane. Our father, a Royal Marine Corporal at the time, survived the sinking of HMS ROYAL OAK but lost his life later in the war as a Sergeant during the evacuation of Crete. He wrote the enclosed summary of his experience of the sinking of HMS ROYAL OAK in a letter written whilst at Arborfield Camp a few months after the sinking pic of him and his trainee group at Arborfield attached, and also one of him before the War he is the one closest to the tent door. The original handwritten letter is owned by Jane and is previously undisclosed, but a copy has recently been given to the Royal Marines Museum, Eastney and, if you felt it appropriate, Jane would be pleased for it to be included in your own excellent HMS ROYAL OAK website. The Royal Marines Museum have no objection to this. My sisters and I and our spouses went to Orkney on the 7. I was privileged to meet Royal Oak survivor Royal Marine Colonel Norman Thackeray there, who had been a Marine at the time of the sinking, and remembered our father. HMS Sheffield by an Exocet missile, the full and unredacted Board of Inquiry BOI findings have been made public. A heavyhanded. H. M. S. VICTORY. There are other Victory kits on the market, but none comes close in historical accuracy, abundance of detail and ease of assembly. Victory Models wooden ships amati and Euromodels, HMS Fly, HMS Vanguard, hms pegasus, mercury. I hope you will find this of interest for your website. Best wishes. Mike Coombes. Lieutenant Commander Mike Coombes OBE BSc Royal Navy RetdNavy List Research. Woolacombe Road. Blackheath, London SE3 8. QNTel 4. 4 02. Click on the images for a larger version in a new windowExtract of letter written by Corporal John J Coombes a few months after the event, recounting his own experience on the sinking of HMS ROYAL OAK at Scapa Flow I can talk about the Royal Oak affair now very much out of the limelight without getting all upset. At first I used to feel very miserable when I thought of the splendid men who I had lost, and it unsettled me a little. I make very few good friends, two of them went with her. I was on watch, 1. Keyboard Sentry. A sailor came along for the magazine keys and as he was signing the book we heard a very muffled explosion forward. All of the plates in the ship rang against each other and the whole ship shuddered. I told the sentry, who was scared, to stay on his post, and ran forward to the marines mess deck myself. One or two men were turning out of their hammocks, most stayed where they were. They thought, I guess, that it was a small collision or something, and did not want to have to get up in the middle of the night as they were not duty watch. Hms Victory Plans' title='Hms Victory Plans' />While the United States remains distracted and divided, Great Britain draws up plans for an upcoming war with North Korea. Tossing major issues aside. Big Lizzies coming home HMS Queen Elizabeth heads to Portsmouth as onlookers catch a glimpse of the Royal Navys 3billion flagship aircraft carrier. At Portsmouth Historic Dockyard we offer a fantastic range of education visits for groups at all levels from Foundation Stage through to Post 16. We p. I can understand it. I went from there onto the quarter deck, and for about a quarter of an hour people were coming and going, and an investigation was going on forward. I was sent to tell the drifter to get up steam. We just stood and wondered and talked. Hms Victory Plans' title='Hms Victory Plans' />There was a faint smell of cordite, or something similar. We were so keyed up that the second explosion, which was terrific, was not, in my experience at least, half so bad a shock as it might very easily have been. There was a flash, the whole ship was blown up, and debris shot up into the air. It was followed almost immediately by another and the ship straight away started to heel over. Dense flames swept right over the quarter deck, they almost choked one. I could not keep my footing on the deck. She was heeling to starboard, so I ran to the port rail and hung on. Several men were either jumping into the drifter or over the boom into the picket boat. Part of the superstructure had crashed over and smashed the launch on the starboard side. When the ship was nearly on her side I decided that she really was going to sink, and made up my mind when the starboard side of the quarterdeck went up The marines mess deck below was just over the magazine I climbed the rail and ran down the ships side. Men were trying to scramble through the ports from inside. We could see the flames inside as we helped a few out. We had hardly rescued any before she turned right over. I scrambled onto the keel, and jumped as far to port as I could. Thought I shall be dragged down. I was drawn under, but not far, I kicked and struggled through arms and legs and got to the top again. The depth was not great, and therefore the suction was not too bad. Some men say that the keel re appeared, but I did not see it. The sea was thick with heads. I swam to get away from them, and struck out on my own. I must have gone about 2. I found a piece of wood, and held on to it. There were cries for help all around, the sound of engines, but I could see nothing. A sailor swam up from somewhere. I remember saying something about making our way to shore holding onto the wood. About 1 34 miles away were cliffs, the other way, low beach, about 4 miles away. We kicked out for low beach. We started out but gave up because of the cold Whilst we were still kicking the drifter came near to us, we shouted but were not heard. Usb Drive Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini there. A little later she passed again, going very slowly. We took a chance, left the wood, struck out for her and came up as she stopped to pick some men from off of a Carly raft. It was devilish cold and we stayed for another two hours in the drifter until she was nearly full. By the time that they had taken us on board the Pegasus I had nearly given up the ghost. Three or four men died of exposure. I heard all about the worst part, which I personally had not witnessed, from other men. The sheets of flame below which burned them in their hammocks, mess decks blowing up under their feet etc. Thats all. Corporal John J Coombes. HMS Queen Elizabeth heads to Portsmouth. HMS Queen Elizabeth will arrive at her home dock in Portsmouth tomorrow, with onlookers trying to catch a glimpse of the Royal Navys 3billion flagship aircraft carrier as it passes along the south coast. Britains newest aircraft carrier will arrive in her home dock after completing the latest round of sea trials a day earlier than previously expected, after weather conditions had formerly prevented the exact date from being set. The 6. 5,0. 00 tonne carrier, the largest warship ever to be built in Britain, is expected to be the Navys flagship craft for at least 5. Jurassic coast of Dorset. The huge shape of the HMS Queen Elizabeth passes Dorsets Jurassic Coast today en route to her new home at Portsmouth. The 3billion flagship aircraft carrier has recently completed a series of sea trials and returns to the UK a day earlier than previously expected. The aircraft carrier, pictured off Dorset today, will become the latest in a long line of prestigious ships to be docked in the port. The 6. 5,0. 00 tonne carrier, set to arrive in Portsmouth, is expected to be the Navys flagship craft for at least 5. The 9. 19ft vessel was previously forecast to reach its base in the Hampshire port town between August 1. Scotlands Rosyth dockyard in June. More than 6. 0 Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines took part in a training exercise aboard the American USS George HW Bush earlier this month, in preparation for the ships entry into service. The carrier will remain without aircraft until flying trials are conducted in the United States next year, with 1. F 3. 5 Lightning II jets and 1. Preparations for the ships arrival, along with her 7. Portsmouth harbour to enable her to reach her future docking at Portsmouth Naval Base. HMS Queen Elizabeth makes its way into the port of Invergordon while taking part in sea trials off the Scottish Coast on July 8. The 3billion aircraft carrier will remain without aircraft until flying trials are conducted in the United States next year. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has heralded the HMS Queen Elizabeths impending arrival, and declared last week that she would be deployed across the seven seas, using her strike power to deter our enemies. HMS Queen Elizabeth Weight 6. Length 9. 20 feet. Top speed Upwards of 2. Flight deck size 2. Keeps 4. 5 days worth of food onboard. Is made up of 1. 7 million parts. More than a million feet of pipes inside the ship. Sir Michael visited the craft for the first time last month, when he hailed the return of big decks and fast jets, and described the large scale engineering project as great for British industry. The warship is expected to arrive in Portsmouth shortly after 7am tomorrow, where it will become the latest in a long line of prestigious ships to be docked in the historic port. Last week it was revealed a drone pilot had landed his unmanned aircraft on the HMS Queen Elizabeth in high winds, after zooming it past armed police patrol boats and dropped it unchallenged onto the four acre deck. Concerned about the flight on to HMS Queen Elizabeth, the drones pilot later approached security personnel but said no one was concerned that he had touched down on the recently launched ship. As HMS Queen Elizabeth is currently on sea trials it is not yet under Royal Navy control. A spokesman for BAE and the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, the consortium that built the ship, said they would investigate the drone flyers claims. Pilots test F 3. HMS Queen Elizabeth. Pilots have been testing jet fighters for take off on the ski jump platform that will feature on HMS Queen Elizabeth. The Lockheed Martin F 3. Lightning II can take off from a flat deck carrier in a short distance and land vertically. But with the new platform on HMS Queen Elizabeth, the F 3. The ski jump platform is also said to be safer compared to US style flat decks when encountering rough seas. This video shows an armed F 3. B take off from a ramp in preparation for deployment on the Queen Elizabeth.