HMS KILLIECRANKIE	

HMS KILLIECRANKIE was a Ton class wooden minesweeper, lent from the RN proper and renamed - the Tender to HMS CLAVERHOUSE – the RNR Sea Training Centre for Edinburgh.

The Ton class were built, over 100 of them, after the Korean War when someone noticed that every ship in the Russian Navy from Heavy Cruisers to submarines, could lay mines. And the designed in 1908 Russian mine type is still going, many were laid by the Iraqis in the Kuwait war.

The minesweepers were used to clear NEMEDRI routes, across the North Sea. These were for ferries, telephone lines and the fishing fleet. German mines were of three types: Acoustic, which lay on the relatively shallow sea bed, listening for ships’ engines; Influence which detected the magnetic influence of iron hulled ships (hence the sweepers being wooden), and finally contact mines.  These were buoyant mines, ideally floating just below the sea surface, linked by a line to their sinker on the sea bed.  

These contact mines were the sort that had spines, and retired ones were used in the past to collect funds for the RNLI on various sea fronts. They went off – originally -when the spine was broken by a passing ship.

The German mines also had possible ship counts. This meant that a varying number of ships had to pass before the mine was activated – the idea was for the sweepers to assume they’d done the job, a convoy came past, the mine was triggered by say the fifth ship to pass – and the sixth ship was sunk. This meant that we had to keep sweeping.

The mines were swept using paravanes, and otter boards to extend the sweep wires on each side of the sweeper, for the contact mines;  two types of acoustic hammer slung under the sweeper for the acoustic mines - different frequencies, and a magnetic loop towed astern for the influence mines. Team sweeps also were possible, with only the lead ship exposed.

In those days the minesweepers had open bridges, which were cold and wet in the winter in the North Sea, and the ships themselves were very tender. The Ton class were officially Coastal Minesweepers – they weren’t!  We had bunks, fitted with lee boards, but they were very tiring: to sleep at sea you had to wedge yourself in. And the mess deck was also cold, and damp.

Under the bridge was the wheelhouse. This had straightforward windows, none of the heating and windscreen wipers of later ships. They did have a Kent Clear-View Screen. This was a rotating 12”or so disc of glass, which by a driving band and centrifugal force, kept clear the worst of the spray and rain coming over the bows.  Inside, was a wheel, about two feet in diameter, with eight spokes, and the engine repeats to pass the engine orders to the engine room.   Above eye level, there were two tape repeaters – a gyro tape and a magnetic one, which the steersman followed, while also watching where possible the direction of waves. It was very easy to follow the tape in the wrong direction which resulted in a circular course, not what was wanted. Orders came down a voice pipe, occasionally lubricated with sea or rainwater.

In January 1959 I was a 12 year old Sea Cadet, in TRINITY Sea Cadet Corps, which used the Sea Training Centre building in Granton Square as its Drill Shed (and still does, though STC CLAVERHOUSE itself has gone). The RNR at that time had plenty of ex-officers and senior rates, but not enough Indians, so that when I asked if I could go to sea, I was accepted instantly.  For the next five years I spent about one weekend a month and a usually a fortnight in summer, at sea; the last two years of which I was – while at school – in the RNR. The pay was most welcome!   

My role during minesweeping was, with two others, to shoot at the surfaced contact mines, once we’d severed the linking line to their sinkers with our sweeps. The wire sweep was either a cutting line, or we   mounted wire cutters on the sweep wire. We had Lee-Enfield rifles, and the idea was to hit one of the spines and detonate the mine. It was much better to blow it up than to sink it, as swept up in a trawl net, it could cause big problems to a trawler. Because I was quite wee, they found me a short butt Lee-Enfield. When the mine had gone off, we put a boat in the water and collected the stunned or dead fish after the explosion. Very tasty they were too.

My sea daddy (minder) was Alfie, in normal life a welder, but an AB RNR. He must have been at least 20. He was very friendly – goodness knows what he made of a 12 year old Sea Cadet.

We were regularly on watch in the wheelhouse: Alfie on the wheel, myself on the engine room repeater; we alternated.  Or I was a lookout and kai - naval cocoa - maker. Kai is made from grated block hard chocolate, a little hot water and condensed milk.

The RNR junior officers were quite smooth well spoken young Edinburgh lawyers or Accountants.

Scene: the wheelhouse, Alfie and I, at about 0300, bouncing around.

On the bridge, above us was the Officer of the Watch (OOW) – and to be fair, he was undoubtedly cold and wet and perhaps a bit seasick, and trying hard to navigate.
     
OOW:   “Starboard Ten!”
Alfie:     “Ten o’ starboard wheel on, sir.”
OOW:    “Steer 270.”
Alfie:      “Steer 270, sir”
A little later: Alfie: “Course 270, sir.”
OOW:     “Roger!”
Alfie:      “It’s no “Roger”, it’s Alfie!”

Those were the days. And very useful they were too – my first ship as a Midshipman was HMS MARYTON, for six months on patrol during Confrontation with Indonesia.