The story of HMS Victorious' 1960-1961 Far East commission.

PORTSMOUTH. HMS Victorious lies alongside with HMS Victory in the background. Before she leaves on her Far East tour she must work up. She leaves Portsmouth for the Mediterranean. GIBRALTAR. First self-maintenance period - for some of the crew this is their first time abroad. The carrier heads for Malta. The Captain Air, Mediterranean flies in to arrange for air exercises, and the Whirlwind HAS.7s of 825 Squadron are flown off for training ashore. Victorious carries out her first replenishment from RFA Fort Duquesne. MALTA. Victorious enters Grand Harbour passing Ark Royal which has manned ship to honour her arrival. NAPLES. A visit by Victorious to show the flag. Exercises at sea in company with Ark Royal and Hermes under the command of Flag Officer, Aircraft Carriers. FOAC departs in his COD Gannet and Victorious heads out into the Atlantic and heads south, escorted by HMS Blackpool. The ship into a routine of four days of flying followed by one of aircraft maintenance. On flying days, operations stop at 4 pm to allow those who work below decks to get some fresh air and exercise. Victorious crosses the line. Arrival in CAPETOWN. Presentation of new Queen's Colour for the South American and South Atlantic Station. Ship opened to visitors. ADEN. Victorious enters the harbour - a Wessex overflies the ship. At sea again there is a replenishment from Fort Dunvegan - new strops and extra cylinders of oxygen for high altitude flying operations are among the items transferred. SINGAPORE. Victorious joins the Far East Fleet. Crew enjoy the facilities of the naval base, HMS Terror. Exercises in the South China Sea - HMS Belfast comes alongside and 2-in-C Far East Fleet transfers to Victorious to inspect the ship. PULAU TIOMAN. Crew relax on the beach and enjoy hamburgers and beer. Travelling north to Hong Kong the carrier is diverted to the Persian Gulf as part of the British response to the crisis in KUWAIT. After refuelling from Grangeleaf, Victorious steams back across the Indian Ocean with the destroyer HMS Cassandra. In the Gulf, the carrier stands by for "twenty one stifling days", providing air surveillance for British operations with her 984 CDS radar and ready to fly off interception or strike missions. The aircraft must be cleaned constantly because of the sand blowing off the desert. Hoses set up on deck help keep the crew cool. On being relieved, Victorious leaves the Gulf for a rest period at MOMBASA. After twelve days R&R the carrier heads back to SINGAPORE, and then on to HONG KONG. As they leave the colony the carrier's crew fall in on the flightdeck, outlining the figure of Victory, the ship's crest. At SUBIC BAY in the Philippines arrangements are made for SEATO exercise with the US carrier Ticonderoga. Various US aircraft - the Sparrow-armed McDonnell 3FH-2M Demon, the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk and AD-6 Skyraider - land on and are flown off of Victorious in a cross-decking operation. Homeward bound, Victorious is diverted to Mombasa in KENYA to land 825's helicopters for flood relief work. Operating from temporary airstrips, the helicopters distribute supplies and seed for the next year's crops to scattered villages, and airlift cattle across the swollen Sabaki River to their Masai owners stranded on the other side. Meanwhile Victorious has reached ADEN, where the crew do some Christmas shopping. Passage through the SUEZ CANAL to the Mediterranean, passing a local dredger, Tohotmos, at work. On the approaches to Port Said stands the ANZAC memorial. Victorious refuels at MALTA and the fixed-wing aircraft are flown off. On 18 December, Victorious enters PORTSMOUTH. "Those presents will come in useful for Christmas, and that sun tan will look pretty good around the Christmas tree."

Notes

Summary: the fixed-wing aircraft are Scimitar F.1s (803 NAS), Sea Vixen FAW.1s (892) and the usual Gannet AEW.3s (849B). It would seem that the bridle catcher fitted to the port catapult during Victorious' 1960 refit was not a complete success, for in one shot a Sea Vixen launched from the port side is seen dropping a strop into the sea. Black and white archive footage is used to show the work of the absent 825 Squadron in Kenya

Remarks: an unpretentious, travelogue-style account