That name seems vaguely familiar to me. Do you know what he did or where he worked onboard? I was the ships rugby team skipper and I think he may have played?
He is my uncle, Graham "Popeye" Ashman, he was a cook, he spent many years on her, did play a lot of sport in his day, didn't mind a beer or two as well
I recall him talking about that trip, and he was there until her last day, he always spoke fondly of his time on Melbourne, but never enjoyed in the later days having the asbestos clumps fall off into your face or on your bunk when you were sleeping !! She was a tired old thing by that time.
Could be the case, I am also going from memory of conversations I had with him when I was a young fella and when I first joined in 87, I believe he was a Kellick, and from memory because of a particular incident that took place on Melbourne, he was never to be promoted any higher ! he paid off at Cerberus in 88 I think it was, pretty sure I was in Comms School at that stage, he did over 40 in the Puss
Icing on the cake.
The decision is only a couple of months away so expect a flurry of last minutes deals being offered.
The RCN didn’t go with Thales APAR for Halifax even though Canada was nvolved in its development. An Ottawa company is also involved with APAR 2. Not impossible that Ceafar could be considered (TTP advantage for OZ) and Navantia is the least risky option for the CSC IMO but the BAE team has Lockheed-Martin Canada, CAE, etc.
The first Halifax class was 10 years old when the first ship with APAR was commissioned. APAR could only have been fitted in refits, e.g. for the Halifax modernisation.
So where are you in relation to CMDR S?
I think my ability to pick the winner has been as good as yours, my picks were Soryu and Fassmer too, I'm 0 for 2 too.
No not there, I must have been mistaken, I though it was the trip he spoke of, but obviously not. The guy in the centre row left, second one sitting sorta looks like him though
I will dig up a pic of him and message you, might help trigger the memoryActually it wouldn't surprise me if FREMM got up. They are already building cruise ship blocks in Adelaide with the promise of a lot more to come.
What is it with this inclination - not just by you - to consider buying ships in penny packets and change mid stream for the sake of a few percent - maybe - better performance? Consider that there would be a great financial capital cost of change, lengthy delays and all followed by an increased operating cost with a fleet of bits and pieces. Not to mention that at every "wait and see" we give the political and bureaucratic establishments the opportunity to reduce the numbers built, and the press the chance of some more idiotic beat ups.