The Last Commission:

Malta & On Passage

6-20 November 1978

HMS ARK ROYAL’s arrival at Malta during the forenoon of Monday 6^th November was greatly appreciated by many Maltese who follow the ship’s programme with enthusiasm. Once more the ship was ceremoniously backed into Kalkara Creek and secured between two buoys, indicating that a boats routine would be the order of the day for going ashore.

Although the ship’s side was painted during the ten day period, and many departments continued with maintenance and repair work, the general atmosphere was quiet and relaxed for the visit. Many took leave and over 300 families joined us for holiday in the Maltese Islands.

The official receptions and visits by service representatives were greatly outnumbered by the unofficial hospitality offered by the locals and by ourselves. Many Maltese have always had a great respect for the Royal Navy and ARK ROYAL in particular, and they were joined by the large number of British holidaymakers to the Island. Over 4000  people managed to come on board and full marks must go to the duty guides who showed them round with patience and understanding. The extent to which they appreciated our effort was illustrated by the many “grippos” that were received and accepted by the ship and by individuals 

As expected, sport played a large part in the ship’s programmed and a wide variety of events took place either inter-part or against local service and civilian opposition. They included soccer, cricket, hockey, rugby, volleyball, squash, basketball, golf, tennis, shooting and an attempt on St Angelo’s Ramp Race. Eight teams took part in “It’s a Knockout” against a Combined British Forces team at RAF KUQA and this year the trophy returned to the home team.

The longest running spoof came to an end on Tuesday 7^th when the “Malta Dog Shoot” did not take place!!! The planning and arrangements had begun while the ship was at Athens and about 20 members of ARK ROYAL had managed to come through a vigorous and searching selection routine in order to participate in this special event

For their last involvement as the ship’s travel agent, Detours organised several shopping and sight seeing tours. The former included the Marsovin Winery, Farsons Brewery, a sheepskin factory and the Ta’Quati Crafts Village, while the tours of Malta and Gozo ensured that some managed to see the historical buildings, ruins and other tourist sights. The cheap local buses were used by many and there were few places on the islands that were not visited by ARK ROYALS.

Towards the end of the visit, the ship’s next group of visitors arrived on board. They included television crews from the BBC and ITN who were to film as much as they could during the next phase at sea. They were joined by Mr David Shepherd, the well known wild life artist, conservationist and steam engine enthusiast. He came to photograph , sketch and to get the feel of ARK ROYAL as he is to paint the Ark for the Fleet Air Arm Museum.

David Shepherd

Sadly, on Thursday 16^th November, an era came to an end as Britain’s last conventional aircraft carrier slipped and proceeded from Kalkara Creek. The warm welcome which we had received and experience during our visit was confirmed when over 10,000 Maltese and British people lined the various vantage points to say farewell to HMS ARK ROYAL as we sailed with the paying off pennant streaming behind in the breeze.

Soon after leaving the safety of Grand Harbour, the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Terence Lewin, GCB, MVO, DSC embarked for a short visit. As the ship and her escorts, RFA’s LYNES, OLWEN and RESOURCE headed towards Sardinia, the last full scale four ship RAS of the deployment took place.

First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Terence Lewin, GCB, MVO, DSC

By the morning of Friday 17^th, we were in our new operating area to the south of Sardinia where we remained for two days. During the forenoon Admiral Lewin left after a full and comprehensive twenty hours on board, and no doubt he felt some of the nostalgia associated with the ship. The following message was received from the First Sea Lord on his return to the UK:-

 “I thank you for an uplifting 24 hours, I have never seen the Ark looking smarter and for everything from Flying Operations through to the Evaps to be at such a high pitch at this stage is a tribute to you all. Good luck to each one of you for the next few weeks and for the future, whatever it may hold.”

During the afternoon there was a sad farewell, when the faithful Wardroom Piano was ceremoniously launched from the bow catapult and buried at sea. Many gathered on the flight deck and island to mourn the passing of this friend and the Captain commended it to the waters of the Mediterranean as he lowered the FDO’s green flag.

Throughout this two day period, the Air Group were quite active flying final sorties or assisting in a Saturday War with HMS GALATEA. Two Buccaneers and two Phantoms launched during the forenoon of the 18^th, never to recover on board again as they flew off to St Athan near Cardiff. However some of the aircrew rejoined us in Palma to help fly off the remaining aircraft.

During the day our visitors departed. The television crew had filmed launches, recoveries and many other events throughout the ship. David Shepherd gave three presentations whilst on board and is probably the most interesting civilian visitor we have had. The film about himself “The Man Who Loves Giants”, and the informal chat show were extremely entertaining and many were impressed by his sincerity in his beliefs. Saturday 18^th was the last operational day as far as the air group were concerned and in the late afternoon, the last ever fixed wing recoveries on board Ark took place. The type of aircraft to have the honour of being the last to recover was, as usual, the Gannet, and on this occasion it was 044 piloted by Lt Slade with Lt Cdr Rotherham and Lt Cass in the rear. So ended an era of naval aviation at sea.

Overnight and on Sunday the 19^th we were on passage towards the Balearic Islands and to Mallorca in particular. The high light of the Sunday at Sea was the Car Raffle Draw in the evening. Most of us watched ARK TV or listened to Radio 433 to see if we had won any of the prizes. The Captain drew the first three prizes and the winner was PO Caterer I Richie who decided to take the money instead of the car, whilst the smaller second car was won by LMEM Barnes. Despite many unhappy faces at not winning a prize the Raffle had been quite successful.

As the ship’s company settled down for the night, thoughts were probably on what lay ahead at our final port of call in the Mediterranean

Final fixed wing recovery

Peter Cook & Dudley Moore also launched a piano in their famous Goodbyeee

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