The Last Commission:

Mayport Naval Base

 23 June to 8 August 1978

The main purpose of the visit to the American Naval Base at Mayport was to put the ship through a Contractors Assisted Maintenance Period (CAMP). As we all knew, the Marine Engineering Department had experienced many problems while we had been at sea, and it was hoped to rectify these during the period alongside. The work involved was far more extensive that at first envisaged and the department worked continuously round the clock to get it completed in time. The daily visits of the milk tankers with fresh supplies of feed water for the ship reminded us that the work down below was still in progress. Other departments too were busy doing their own maintenance and repair work and the never ending tasks of cleaning and painting the ship continued daily. By the end of the CAMP the outside appearance of the ship was vastly improved.

Our stay in Mayport was dominated by an ambundance of American hospitality plus about 400 family visits from home, making the period a truly enjoyable and memorable one. The smiling face of Mrs Johnnie Cordell of the Ground Transportation Office of NAS Jacksonville was a constant reminder of the hard work and preparations that had been made on our behalf. Those that wanted to get away for the odd day or for leave managed to do so by themselves or with the help of Detours, and members of ARK ROYAL appear to have visited almost every part of the USA. Obviously the heaviest concentration was in Florida with Disney World and the Orlando area, Cape Kennedy, Daytona, St Augustine and even Fort Lauderdale being the most popular. It can safely be said that the vast majority of us saw and did things that we had never seen or done before thus extending our own personal experiences.

During the stay in Mayport, the ship worked Tropical Routine and this gave everyone the chance for sport and recreation. From an official sporting view point there was a full and extensive sports programme which was enjoyed by those who took part. The ship produced teams to represent us in many sports against local opposition and we enjoyed a varied amount of success. In house the majority of competitive sports were contained in the Olympiad Competition and this included the Swimming Gala, Sports Day and the Chain of Command Canoe Race on Lake Wonderful. The eventual winner of the six week Olympiad was the Seaman Department with the Air Engineers taking second place.

Besides all the organised sports there were many who took advantage of the excellent facilities on the base the most popular of which were golf, swimming, tennis, fishing, ten pin bowling and even darts. Away from the ship activity that proved interesting and enjoyable was Tubing at the Ichetucknee Springs near Lake City. Obviously the beaches were a constant attraction for sport and relaxation and throughout the CAMP the keenness and enthusiasm shown by all was encouraging.

Although work, recreation and sporting activities took up a lot of time, there were many other things happening. Some even managed to escape for a week in the ship’s boats on what were officially termed “expeds”, although the definition of exped was often in doubt. On the other hand six members of the Communications Department walked 91 miles for charity and collected £347.52 for the St Vincent De Paul Society in Leeds which is a home for under-privileged children.

 The Squadron continued with their flying programmes throughout this time. The aircraft of 892 & 809 had disembarked to the United States NAS Cecil Fields and 849B, 824 & SAR to NAS Jacksonville before the entry to Mayport and the remainder of the Squadron’s personnel joined them afterwards. Each Squadron concentrated on its own particular role and even managed a few navigation exercises to other parts of America. As with the ship, a lot of maintenance was carried out and most people took advantage of leave, sports and the great American hospitality

As usual there was a vast amount of entertaining both officially and unofficially in the ship and ashore. The Royal Marine Band were kept busy with many performances and they proudly flew the flag, as did our sportsmen and many other members of the ship’s company on their travels around the USA. In general the majority of us were a credit to the ship and to the country

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