Page 54 - ABA Salvoes 1999-2024

for the Gunnery staff. Weapon control systems were moving from analogue to digital computation, and if one takes into consideration our overseas clientele, there were upward of 8 or 9 different fire control systems and 6 types of weapons to become familiar with, sometimes in very short order. As a consequence, my staff and I tended to approach certain firing serials with apprehension, not least because the wrong advice would, justifiably, result in opprobrium being directed at the ‘sea rider’. Following one gunnery incident, not an NGS serial as it happened, my Warrant Officer on the staff (a man of very dry sense of humour), who was due to conduct a firing serial in the offending vessel the following week, approached me with a request to take a guest with him to sea. This was most unusual so I inquired who this person might be. “My solicitor” was the reply.
Sadly, the need to be at sea on a very frequent basis did not leave much time to visit St Alban’s Head during firing serials, but I still wonder if a least some of the ‘NGS control runs’ might have been conducted from the car park, or even the bar, of the ‘Square and Compass’ at Worth Matravers. I do know that aerial observation using the firing ship’s helicopter was not generally popular with the local Purbeck population. To have a Lynx helicopter (not the quietest in the Naval inventory) hover 200 feet over your house for periods of several minutes, four of five times in an hour, did not make for a peaceful summer’s afternoon. The Falklands conflict made for a very busy
period of training, particularly in Naval Gunfire Support. The discipline was fast being seen as an anachronism in a navy that was focussed largely on ‘blue water’ operations. The events following the 2nd April 1982 changed all that, probably for a very long time to come. The number of NGS serials increased substantially as ships prepared to ‘go south’. Perhaps the greatest plaudit for my team and me came from Captain (later Admiral Sir) Hugo White, who commanded HMS AVENGER in the second wave of ships to deploy. The ship had proved considerably above standard on the range and departed well prepared for what was to come. Following their return, at a ‘Bombardment’ dinner held in the Mess at Poole months later, to which I was kindly invited, he remarked upon his NGS experience ‘on the gun line’ off East Falkland. Apparently their first run did not go well, largely due to a belief in the team that they could cut corners off the established drill they had been taught. The Captain therefore enjoined them just to go back to ‘Portland Staff’ basics (orchestra and conductor!), following which their subsequent actions were most successful.
I know that there are many who will have stories to tell about the Portland/St Alban’s range. Today, when I sit in my garden, I can hear the crack of the tanks firing at the back of the Purbeck hills. I miss the more distant rumble of the ship firing on the NGS range but then, I am unlikely to be joined by a 4.5 inch ‘brick’.
881 AMPHIBIOUS OBSERVATION BATTERY RA(TA) APRIL 1947 – APRIL 1967
By Malcolm Fordyce
Following the reconstitution of the Territorial Army on 1 January 1947, 881 Combined Operations Bombardment Battery RA (TA) was formed. It recruited many former members of the wartime COBUs and was based in Windsor and Leeds, where the founders, who had both served in wartime units, lived. When the TA was reorganised in 1950 the title changed to 881 Amphibious Observation Battery RA (TA). Throughout the twenty years of its existence, 881 was proud to wear the wartime Combined Operations shoulder badge. The main areas of training were Cape Wrath and Malta, although some NGFO parties managed to see a bit more of the world and of course we worked with all the NATO navies at various times.
In 1958 the first NGFO parties were parachute trained and this opened up greater scope for interesting and challenging exercises. At this time the Battery was commanded by Major R F Collins MBE TD, who had served with COBU. In 1965 the Battery was given a new challenge, being selected for the RM Commando Course. Several months of intense weekend training took place and in
May 1966, on completion of the course, we became the first TA unit to qualify for the Green Beret. The CO of 29 Commando, Lt. Col. AGE Stewart-Cox DFC RA, who was a great supporter of 881 at this time, presented the berets. For our BC, Major S L Reed TD, this was his second Green Beret as he had qualified at Achnacarry prior to being a BLO on D-Day. Bdr W Short was awarded the Commando Medal, an unusual event even for a Royal Marines course. Later at a Dinner at ITCRM, Lympstone the Battery was presented with a commando dagger. Our future seemed secure but by the autumn of 1966 a reduction and reorganisation of the TA was in preparation and to our dismay 881 was to be disbanded on 1 April 1967.
On 1 April 1967 a small number from 881 were posted to CVHQ RA to continue an NGS presence in the TA. We called ourselves the NGS Troop RA(V), and after a further reorganisation we were designated the NGLO Section RA(V). Thus, today’s NGLO Section forms a continuous link back to 26 April 1942 to the formation of the Forward Observation and Bombardment Unit.
52 | Amphibious Bombardment Association