6.
Aug. 23, 2012

I have just found your site, and read the comments and looked at the photograph of HMS Andrew. I joined HMS Andrew in the Far east on the 2nd August 1968 as part of the crew to bring her home. I was a Leading Seaman UW2 based in the after ends. We had quite a eventful passage and ended up in Brisbane, Australia for a few weeks. I am based in Burnham on Sea and run a on line company.

Kind regards,
Mike Corbin

5.
June 26, 2012

I served on the Andrew from Jan 66 to mid 69. The third photo down in the photo gallery was taken mid 66 not long after the 4" gun was fitted. The 5th photo down was taken in 68 after coming out of refit when the telescopic snort mast was fitted. After a recent visit to the s/m museum in Gosport I was surprised to see a sign saying that it took 36 seconds to get the first round away. As I was the gun trainer from the day it was fitted until our return to the UK, Dec 68, we could easily get the first round away in half the time. At the end of the day a surface gun action was based on surprise.

Tom Leworthy, "Taff"

4.
Dec. 9, 2011

I am ex Navy but surface ships, one of my good friends from Gosport, our home town was in the crew of HMS Andrew during the making of "On the Beach", the Nevil Shute classic. He was Terry Alan, later an instructor in the Diving Tank at HMS Dolphin. Do you know of a nominal roll of the crew at that time and any pic taken then?

Tony,
Perth, Australia

3.
Apr. 19, 2009

Just a brief note to compliment you on the site. My name is Andrew Pearson and my father Michael served on the RN Submarine HMS Andrew in the late 1950's. (Yes I was named after the boat). Dad passed away in January 2008 and remained involved with the ‘Submariners' throughout his life. I would be interested in receiving any information and or images of his days in the service.

Best Regards,
Andrew Michael Pearson
Brisbane, Australia

2.
Jan. 4, 2009

The photograph of Andrew in 1972 is probably mislabeled. In 1972 she was recently out of refit in Portsmouth, and did not have the deck gun. This was replaced somewhat later, and contrary to reports that it was Amphion's old gun, was Andrew's original Vickers 4”; we also had the last remaining bullets, and in December 1974 Andrew was the last Royal Navy submarine to retain a deck gun and fire it.

Her commanding officer, Paul Hoddinot, signaled the Admiralty: "The reek of cordite has passed from the Royal Navy's submarine service. Last gun action conducted at 03 13:30 Zulu. Time to first round: 36 seconds. May the art of submarine gunnery rest in peace, but never be forgotten." Taff Evans was the gunner. My other comment is that the officer on deck is wearing white shorts, and to my best knowledge (bearing in mind that I was usually in the motor room where it was always warm, and I didn't get to see the sky too often) Andrew did not go to warm, tree-lined places in the final commission. Our time was spent in Northern waters, broken up by one memorable trip to the Med (which included a damned fine extended run ashore in Corsica). We did a lot of running for other, less well-maintained boats; we always thought that Corsica was a prezzie from a grateful FOSM. Our next Andrew reunion will be Exeter in April 2009.

I served on Andrew and ended up as the Killick Greenie, from refit to decommissioning, when POLTO Mick Devonport and I put the shorting straps on the battery and then went to the “Avondale” pub outside Plymouth dockyard to get pissed.

Doug Craig (aka Flash)
Alexandria, Virginia

1.
Nov. 22, 2008

I'm an ex-RN submariner and was on the Andrew when the second photo down on the Andrew page was taken. I can confirm it was taken in 1969, not 1972, and we were just off Portsmouth when we sailed (gently) past this little boat bobbing up and down with the photographer and a couple of other bods in it. I have a copy of the same photo, and I'm the fourth person from the right on the casing. The casing officer was (if I remember rightly) Sub-Lieutenant Elson.

Also, one of my mother's uncles was Alfred Oliver Matthews, killed on the Zebrugge Raid, 23 April 1918, on HMS Phoebe. If you could dig up any photos of the 'Phoebe', it would be appreciated.

Regards,
Philip Curtis
Present location: Brittany, France