Genealogy Chat

Hi usually 18 months ,but if posting (DRAFT ,in Navy) is country where wives are permitted then2 years usually

Hi usually 18 months ,but if posting (DRAFT ,in Navy) is country where wives are permitted then2 years usually

Thank you SO much - very helpful info ;-) :-)

OH was in the Royal Navy. We got married in June 1960 and life was as follows:

Autumn 1960 - various courses in preparation for next job.

Jan 1961 - OH flies out to Singapore to join HMS Belfast for 18 month commission. Only means of communication what is now called Snail Mail.

June 1962 - Belfast arrives in Portsmouth and OH has 6 weeks leave followed by a course at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich.

Jan 1963 - OH flies to Ghana to start 18 months with Ghana Navy. Elder son has measles so I follow a month later!!

Mar 1964 - OH is brought home early to do a Clearance Diving Course and we bought our first house.

Mar 1965 - OH joins HMS Bossington and sails for Singapore. I follow with children in May for what should have been 2½ years, but again it is cut short and we return to UK in Oct 1966.

This is just an example and we were very lucky in that we had so much "accompanied" time. For someone so junior this was unusual, but it should give you an idea of what life was like. I enjoyed all the travel but some wives refused to go and then didn't like being alone!!

Just rang my brother-he was in the Navy 1956-1968 and says:

Before WW2 tha average posting was 3 years and after the war it was reduced to 18 months,never longer but...you could be sent out (either by sea or flown) as a replacement and join a ship for the remainder of their cruise.

He did that twice for 12 months and 6 months (I found him on the passenger list of a liner to from Southampton to South Africa !!) :-)

Thank you for your replies. He was a 'communications yeoman of signals in the Royal Navy' and his home address in 1959 was Southampton.

This is american navy personnel, but he might have some idea of british, posted because he includes an email address so wants to be contacted:

http://www.pbase.com/modelsmodels/navy&page=all

Just try a basic google search.

Interesting question since many of these would have been National Servicemen. In peacetime the Admiralty would surely have been less demanding. This requires a response from somebody who lived through those years I think, but I'm sure there must have been huge variance depending on the type of vessel and the political demands of the moment. I know, for instance, that Soviet submariners went on incredibly long cruises during the Cold War.

Are you able to tell us what role the person you are researching had in the Navy and the type of vessel they served on? They could even have been based ashore. Given that information you may be able to find from released public records where your subject was at any particular time if you know the name of the vessel.

This might seem like a bit of an odd question, but I was wondering if anyone had any idea how long someone who was in the Navy during the 50's/60's might spend away from home at any one time?
Thanks

PS - I had this on the 'military' section but there were no replies and I wondered if it might be more of a general type of question.