“RETAINER”
Pennant No. A 329 International Callsign GGVC Registered LONDON
Previous Name “Chungking” (Renamed 1952). Lloyds Identity No. 5293470
Builder Scott’s Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd, Greenock. (Yard No. 197).
Launched 19th January 1950. Completed November 1950
Displacement (Light-ship) 6,500 tons. (Loaded) 14,000 tons.
Measurement Tonnage N.R.T. 3,984 G.R.T. 9,498 DWT 7,500
Dimensions Length O.A. 477 ft. Beam 62 ft. Draft 25 ft.
Main Machinery 1 x Scott’s / Doxford 6 cylinder marine diesel engine.
Single shaft. Speed 15 knots.
Ships Badge Granted in 1968. The badge features a golden eagle flying over water, bearing a clutch of three arrows, and thus representing a weapons carrier.
Remarks This ship was a former passenger and cargo liner, operating on routes around the Chinese coast and to Hong Kong and Australasia.
She was purchased from the ‘China Steam Navigation Co’ by the Admiralty in 1952. She was then employed on charter work for several shipping companies for a couple of years. Between the autumn of 1954 and April 1955, she was converted into a Naval Store Ship by ‘Palmers Co Ltd’ at Hebburn on the Tyne.
Further conversion work was carried out by ‘Palmers’ between March and August of 1957, to extend her facilities as an Armament and Naval Store Ship. This included the fitting out of the holds to carry a variety of munitions, as well as the installation of cargo lifts, extra handling gear for replenishment at sea and the fitting of new bridge wings.
“RETAINER” is the sister-ship to the “RESURGENT”, (ex “Changchow”), also purchased from China Steam Navigation Co.
Her replenishment conversion work involved the fitting of heavy jackstay rigs and the associated automatic tensioning winches to locations either side of her foremast and mainmast. A small helicopter winching platform was built over the poop for the transfer of stores by ‘Vertrep’.
“RETAINER” was finally laid up at Rosyth Dockyard in April 1978. Sold to Spanish breakers, she left Rosyth under tow on 29th October 1979, arriving at Barcelona on 19th November 1979. Demolition work began on 19th February 1980.
“RETAINER”
4th February 1969 to 9th October 1969
British Crew
2nd Officer
I flew by a British European Airways ‘Viscount’ to Gibraltar to join this ageing armament supply ship, arriving at the ‘Rock’ in the late afternoon. The steep turn into the landing strip, so as to avoid Spanish airspace, was quite exhilarating to say the least. It also afforded a good view of the harbour, where there was no sign of my ship. I was met by the local RFA agent, who took me to a hotel and assured me that “Retainer” would be arriving the following morning. Following a good night out on the town, the next afternoon I walked up the gangway of my new home, which was lying alongside the south mole of the harbour.
Although getting on in years and much modified, the “Retainer” still had the pleasing traditional lines of a cargo-passenger liner, which was her original purpose. The cargo lift housings on the upper deck and the helicopter platform down aft were the only real outward clues to her naval adaptation. The ‘officers lounge’ was one of the nicest I had ever seen. It was located at the after end of the boat-deck, with wide concertina doors on the port and starboard sides. When these were opened on a warm tropical evening they presented a wide airy room befitting any passenger ship.
Sailing from Gibraltar, the ship returned to the U.K. for load adjustments in Plymouth Sound. We then sailed up through the Irish Sea to the Clyde and into Loch Long, where we secured to the armament jetty at Glen Mallen. Following further load adjustments we were off to the Mediterranean again, to join up with a British naval task group that was taking part in a wide ranging NATO exercise. Occasionally the group would disband to visit various ports and ‘show the flag’. We were fortunate to be allocated visits to Malta, (Marsaxlokk), Villefranche on the French Riviera and we also had a few days in Venice. At the last two places we were in company with the amphibious assault carrier HMS Bulwark.
At Villefranche we secured to a buoy in the middle of the bay and were soon surrounded by dozens of smart looking speedboats and other luxury craft. We were now in the playground of the rich! During our visit and on one of my runs ashore, I took the opportunity to catch a train with a couple of other officers, to see the sights of Monte Carlo, which was just a few miles along the coast to the east.
Rejoining the NATO exercise, our orders directed us to a position in the eastern Mediterranean. Just for a change, we routed ourselves to pass the active and smoking volcanic island of Stromboli and then down through the Straits of Messina. Both were very interesting and impressive sights. Going through the straits, I recall passing several fishing boats looking for tuna. They had unusually tall masts, presumably to enable a lookout to spot a school of these delicious fish.
In Venice, and despite the fact that we were full of munitions, the ship was given a berth alongside the quay, right in the middle of town! After being treated like a leper around the U.K. coast, this was a rare and much appreciated treat, made all the more so when the ‘Bulwark’ had to lie out in mid-stream tied to buoys. On a run ashore, we saw a lot of the main sights like St Marks Square and the Rialto Bridge and explored many of the nooks and crannies of this unusual city. The gondoliers wanted a fortune for a ride in one of their boats, so we didn’t bother and found a nice little bar instead!
A large naval exercise in the Aegean Sea was very interesting and took us close to many of the Greek islands, which looked beautiful in the blue sea and bright sunshine. The anchorage during the amphibious assault and landing phase of this exercise was in Saros Bay, right up in the north-east corner of the Aegean and close to the Dardanelles, an area steeped in history and during this era of the “Cold War”, still considered vital to NATO in order to monitor or contain a part of the Russian fleet within the Black Sea.
On detaching from the exercises, our business in the Mediterranean also included a visit to Cyprus. For a short period we anchored off the then small fishing village of Limassol, where I recall taking a boat trip ashore for a haircut and a shopping run, picking up a couple of goat skin rugs and a cushion. We then moved to anchor close to a tiny dock at the RAF base at Akrotiri, where we discharged a quantity of 500 and 1000 pound bombs. From our anchorage at the eastern end of the main runway, we had a grandstand view of the RAF “Red Arrows” team, who were probably practising for the following season of displays back in the U.K. The RAF laid on a liberty boat service for us during our stay and I remember during one off-watch period finding a wonderful beach for swimming and sunbathing.
I paid off the ship at Cyprus, in order to be home with my wife for the birth of my first son. The flight with the RAF from Akrotiri took me high over Monte Carlo and I could see far below, the bay and swimming pool that I had walked around just a few months earlier.