The Last Commission:

Jacksonville Seas

15-30 May 1978

Soon after leaving St Thomas we rendezvoused with HM Ships DEVONSHIRE, ANTELOPE, and RFA’s LYNESS, OLMEDA, RESOURCE and PEARLEAF which had either being visiting St Thomas with us or had been to other islands within the Virgin Islands. On completion of a massive RAS the whole group set off in a NW’ly direction towards the Jacksonville Sea Areas a distance of some 1100 miles. The route took us through the infamous Bermuda Triangle – but we survived!

The highlight of the passage was the Flight Deck Fair on the afternoon of Wednesday 17^th May. The Fair was opened by the duty vicar (the Captain) and his lady (rumoured to be Rev. Batten in drag). The members of 4Vo Mess appeared on the scene in the guise of The Court of King Neptune together with his musicians for the Ceremony of Initiation of Selected Members into the Bermuda Triangle Crossing Society. There were numerous stalls, raffles and horse racing and everyone appeared to enjoy themselves. The afternoon raised £585 for the ship’s charities fund which was a good effort by all concerned.

Since we have been this side of the Atlantic we had been warned about the excessive use of fresh water and so it came as no surprise when water rationing was introduced on Sunday 21^st May for 24 hours until we had RASed some from the OLMEDA.

During the period off Jacksonville, the American Fleet conducted their annual exercise to the north called “Solid Shield”. The ARK ROYAL group took part on the 23^rd and 24^th May and in particular our role was to strike the carrier USS J. F. KENNEDY. The flying was a little more intensive than it had been of late and the Squadron’s air and ground crews as well as the ship’s supporting departments gained valuable operational experience under the first exercise conditions of this deployment.

However for many on board the main event of the 24^th May was the grand opening of 4B heads after their redecoration by a team from the MTD department, and what a vast improvement this was over the previous décor.

Thursday 25^th May saw a completely different type of flying from the flight deck when “Hands to Kite Flying Stations” was piped to announce the Grand Kite Flying competition. During the previous few days, messes, sections and individuals had been busy designing and building the kites. Well over 60 kites were entered, and the winners of the various class of kites were selected by a strong team – the Captain, the Commander and the Chaplain.

When the time of reckoning arrived and the launchings took place on the after end of the flight deck, some of the kites made graceful ascents while others found the sea a watery grave. However all agreed that it was a successful and entertaining competition.

While this leisurely sport was taking place, a completely different event took place on the remainder of the flight deck. This was the Inter Mess Sports competition for the more energetic and 21 teams took part in the 8 event competition with 6E mess eventually taking the honours. On Saturday 27^th May the air world gave a shop window display in which the Squadron gave a fire power demonstration and mini air display. The entertainment included live rocketing and bombing, inflight refuelling, ASW attacks, formation flying and solo aerobatics and those of us who witnesses this display in fine flying conditions were most impressed.

By now most people’s thoughts were on our next port of call, Fort Lauderdale, and on completion of flying on the 29^th we left our exercise area and headed south. By the following morning the flat, straight coastline to the north of Fort Lauderdale was clearly visible with the blocks of flats breaking the horizon.

Our entry into Port Everglades during the late afternoon of the 30^th seemed very quiet with few people there to greet us. After all the stories that had spread around the ship that this would be the best run of the deployment, were we in for a big disappointment?

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