I reported on board Khukri, an anti-submarine frigate mid-December 1962. The ship was operational almost throughout my stay and part of the Indian Fleet, there being only one fleet in those days. As the Captain was also F 14, the Squadron Commander, the ship had three specialists on board, Navigation, Communications and Torpedo Anti-submarine. So I got the only non-specialist job, Gunnery, with the main armament of 3X40/60 anti-aircraft Bofors guns.
Since fleet activities kept us busy, my tenure was very useful professionally but not anecdotally! However, there were a few incidents I can recall and laugh at today. The first was the formal 'call' at the Captain's house which the latter was very particular about but I wasn't because I found him a bit boring. So having learnt in social etiquette classes conducted by the pucca Britisher, Lt Col DM Kee, during our cadet days in the NDA that the first call should not be pre-arranged, a friend of mine and I, both bachelors, found out when the Captain would be otherwise engaged and dropped in at his house and left our visiting cards. The next day, the Captain called us to his cabin and apologised for not being able to see us the previous evening. The formality of the call at the house was dispensed with by his calling us to his cabin for a drink on the next occasion he visited the ship with his wife.
In September 1963, we had a change of Captain. There was a farewell party for the outgoing Captain and after a few drinks, he said he was leaving. In a happy mood I requested him to have a 'last drink'. That got the Captain in a terrible rage and he scolded me for a good 10 minutes telling me that while he could have the 'other half', he had no intention of having a 'last' drink as he intended to live for many more years and would have many, many more drinks. The net result was that he stayed on and had a number of 'other halfs'! And I since that day have never asked anyone to have a 'last' drink or any other 'last' thing.
In those days, there was a custom of the outgoing Captain issuing to each officer a printed form called the 'flimsy' which was supposed to be a very brief statement of what the Captain thought of the officer. Printed on the form was "The Officer has performed his duties ........" after which the Captain usually filled in his own handwriting 'to my entire satisfaction'. In my case, the Captain decided to condense it to just 'to my satisfaction'. Which was still better than 'to HIS entire satisfaction'!
The new CO was Capt 'Pat' Telles, one of the best officers I ever served under. Apart from being professionally competent, he was a very kind father figure with broad shoulders to take any blame rather than pass it down to a junior. I had only three months with him before I got transferred out but learnt a lot from him.
We spent a number of weeks in A & N Islands where there was little to do except going on picnics with Ludo and Snakes and Ladders to keep us entertained. The evenings were spent imbibing good spirits and listening and singing bawdy songs of Oscar Brand.
Back in Bombay in December, I got my marching orders to NDA Kharakvasla.
Since fleet activities kept us busy, my tenure was very useful professionally but not anecdotally! However, there were a few incidents I can recall and laugh at today. The first was the formal 'call' at the Captain's house which the latter was very particular about but I wasn't because I found him a bit boring. So having learnt in social etiquette classes conducted by the pucca Britisher, Lt Col DM Kee, during our cadet days in the NDA that the first call should not be pre-arranged, a friend of mine and I, both bachelors, found out when the Captain would be otherwise engaged and dropped in at his house and left our visiting cards. The next day, the Captain called us to his cabin and apologised for not being able to see us the previous evening. The formality of the call at the house was dispensed with by his calling us to his cabin for a drink on the next occasion he visited the ship with his wife.
In September 1963, we had a change of Captain. There was a farewell party for the outgoing Captain and after a few drinks, he said he was leaving. In a happy mood I requested him to have a 'last drink'. That got the Captain in a terrible rage and he scolded me for a good 10 minutes telling me that while he could have the 'other half', he had no intention of having a 'last' drink as he intended to live for many more years and would have many, many more drinks. The net result was that he stayed on and had a number of 'other halfs'! And I since that day have never asked anyone to have a 'last' drink or any other 'last' thing.
In those days, there was a custom of the outgoing Captain issuing to each officer a printed form called the 'flimsy' which was supposed to be a very brief statement of what the Captain thought of the officer. Printed on the form was "The Officer has performed his duties ........" after which the Captain usually filled in his own handwriting 'to my entire satisfaction'. In my case, the Captain decided to condense it to just 'to my satisfaction'. Which was still better than 'to HIS entire satisfaction'!
The new CO was Capt 'Pat' Telles, one of the best officers I ever served under. Apart from being professionally competent, he was a very kind father figure with broad shoulders to take any blame rather than pass it down to a junior. I had only three months with him before I got transferred out but learnt a lot from him.
We spent a number of weeks in A & N Islands where there was little to do except going on picnics with Ludo and Snakes and Ladders to keep us entertained. The evenings were spent imbibing good spirits and listening and singing bawdy songs of Oscar Brand.
Back in Bombay in December, I got my marching orders to NDA Kharakvasla.
I was on Khukri too post Long C with Captain SS Sodhi and then RB Mukherjee. Got transferred to DNS well before 71 ops.
ReplyDeleteVijji