Coachlines - May 2024
31.05.24 Liveryman Martin Derrick
Coachmakers’ visit to the Submarine Museum at Gosport
On 24th April, Coachmakers and their guests learned first hand from the former Captain of one of the Royal Navy’s nuclear attack submarines what it was like dicing with Russian submarines in the Barents Sea. And what the reaction was on board when the sonar operator reported a torpedo launch from the Akula-Class Russian boat that was very close.
The Museum offers a fascinating insight into the RN’s first ever submarine – HMS Holland, the X-Boat mini submarines used during WW2 to attack the German battleship Tirpitz in the Norwegian fjords, and the later nuclear submarines that have provided our nuclear deterrent over the past 40 years or more. There was also a guided visit on board HMS Alliance, a war-time diesel-electric submarine, which was later used as a training boat.
But the highlight of the day was lunch with former Commander Ian Hewitt whose stories of his career had us all both fascinated and engrossed. Interestingly, one of his first postings in the submarine service was third officer in HMS Alliance, the very boat we had just visited. His next posting was aboard HMS Sealion, the Porpoise-Class boat whose first skipper was Lt Cmdr A.N. Derrick – Liveryman Martin Derrick’s father.
But the majority of Ian’s tales derived from his time as Commanding Officer of HMS Sovereign, involving landing SAS troops covertly, capturing the acoustic ‘signature’ of a newly-launched Russian submarine so it can be accurately identified in the future, and much, much more.