My
name is Frank Wilson; I served in the Royal Navy, on board the submarine HMS Resolution
for seven years. I read with interest the two articles on your website about
the collision/near miss, depending on whose version you read.
I thought your members who
where on board at the time might be interested in the following.
I
joined the HMS Resolution after it came back from its 1st trip to the States in
68. At the rear of the control room was a small compartment containing hydraulic
valves where I spent some of my time on watch. On the bulkhead in pencil in the
top corner someone had written, “The Fred T Berry is above us”. This statement
was still written there when I left the boat seven years later.
We
have a very strong Resolution Assoc and on our 1st reunion in 2010 we were able
to visit the boat which is decommissioned and awaiting disposal in the dockyard
in Rosyth Scotland, unfortunately the compartment which the statement was
written was locked for safety reasons, so I don't know if the “Fred T Berry is above us”, is still
there, but I like to think it is. I think your correspondent, Virgil, who was
officer of the watch at the time of the incident, would like to think so too.
Regards
to you all from this side of the pond, have a Merry Christmas, best wishes for
2014.
BZ Frank Wilson (Tug)
Just as an add on , to my
previous email it was 45 years ago this week (1969), Feb 15th in fact, that
HMS/M Resolution fired its 1st ,A3 Polaris missile ,with the USS Fred T Berry
as guard ship, the boats log states that we were in fact 15 milliseconds late,
but we will settle for that.
Thanks to the USN for all the
help .
Stay Safe
Tug