On the 2nd. November, 1957, H.M.S.Gambia weighed anchor and sailed from Aden, out past Steamer Point, heading for the Strait of Hormuz en route to rendezvous with the cruiser H.M.S.Ceylon at Bahrain
At 0800 hrs, on the 6th. November, H.M.S.Gambia. anchored a few cables from CEYLON where we were due to receive the Flag of the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies.
The next morning Gambia’s crew massed for’d to give Ceylon three mighty cheers to speed her on her way home.
Bahrain is the Navy’s only "home from home" in the Persian Gulf. The Sheikh, a loyal old man who is very pro-British, was delighted to give the Navy a small piece of land when the Persians asked us to vacate our base at Bushire in 1936. H.M.S.Jufair is our base in Bahrain and was built before the war for the princely sum of £5,000.
From the B.A.P.C.O. jetty, which carries the oil pipelines from the refinery into deep water where all but the super tankers can berth – reputed to be the longest jetty in the world.
On the 10th. November, we departed for Basra, an Iraqui town on the river Shatt-al-Arab, arriving there on the evening of the following day.
At Basra, we were all able to see for ourselves a little of what the Iraqis, who stand out as being several cuts above their neighbours, are doing with their oil revenues. During the round of usual hospitality, given and received, we found time for a children's party and daily visits to a test oil rig a few miles north-west of Basra.
Gambia gave a public staging of the world premiere of "On the Quarterdeck", Gambia’s contribution to the world of art and comedy.
On the 16th. November, Gambia moved 30 miles downstream to ABADAN. We were fortunate again, that tours were laid on for us and many were able to see once again the Gambia’s concert party doing its stuff. The Royal Marines Beat Retreat, and local British community made the crew most welcome.
After 5 days at Abadan, we raised anchor and sailed for Umm-Said (a duty call) arriving there two days later After a further two days of staring at sand dunes, we departed.
The visit to our next port of call, Dubai, was cancelled as they recently suffered severely from a tropical hailstorm. At this juncture, we headed for Khasab Bay arriving on the 26th. November, 1957 and anchored off Khor Kuwai. The village is no more than a small fishing community presided over by a Wali
A personal call on the Wali by the Commander-in-Chief was doubtless appreciated. Shortly after this, word was received that all at Umm Said was not well so at the end of our only day at Khasab Bay, we weighed anchor and made off for Bahrain at high speed with the intention of picking up a number of Cameronians and taking down to Umm Said where they would look after the situation ashore.
By the time we reached Bahrain the situation had so improved as to make unnecessary the army.
After fuelling, we were on our way to join up with Exercise "Crescent" in the Arabian Sea
Our tour of the Persian Gulf was over
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It was that sort of exercise. Which isn’t to decry it at all. Just that it was pleasant, warm and simple, instead of unpleasant, cold and complex unlike the N. A. T. O. exercise held a few months earlier in the North Atlantic, with ships ploughing through grey, North Atlantic weather.
This was the first big exercise run by the Pakistan Navy and very well they did it too. It was also the first important exercise for the navies of the Baghdad Pact Powers. Besides Gambia and two British frigates, there were a cruiser, destroyers and frigates of the Pakistan Navy, destroyers and submarines of the U.S. Navy, Turkish submarines and a small Persian contingent. The Pakistan Air Force also played an important part.
The exercise started with a week’s weapon training off Karachi, but the Gambia wasn’t in that. The general idea of the main part of the exercise which followed was the Gambia, accompanied by the Pakistan destroyer Khaibur and the U.S. destroyer Ross, would make a series of attacks on a convoy which would be protected by most of the rest of the ships in the exercise. The submarines and the aircraft from ashore would also be attacking the convoy and its defending force.
For Gambia the exercise started on Monday, 1st. December, when we met our two destroyers and then fuelled at sea from a tanker.
H.M.S.Gambia taking fuel on board from the tanker Wave Premier
Then, for the next four days the exercise was well and truly on. Twice a day we steamed in at high speed and engaged the enemy ships, weaving in through the protecting smoke screens and imagining the enemy shells bursting all around us. Sometime we attacked at night too, and then there would be star shells to illuminate the battle and make it seem even more realistic. The tactical side of the battle was full of interest; that practice for the guns’ crews and for the Control and Operations Room crews was invaluable though sometimes a little tedious; but it was the men in the boiler rooms and engine rooms who really sweated and the communicators who never stopped.
By the fourth day everyone was pretty well exhausted and glad to make for harbour. That meant Karachi and on Friday, 6th, December, we arrived there for a five day visit.
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