MOST MEMORABLE PART OF NS

Posted to RSS Endurance

After 6 months, I was posted to LST. It was a familiar ship; I had lived there during my 2 months of sea training. This time I wouldn’t to sleeping in the crowded and hot aft mess. I was a functional and qualified naval officer. I will be having my own cabin. I was appointed Assistant Navigation Officer. I served my remaining 6 months on this ship till my ROD on 25 Jun 1976. It was the most enjoyable and memorable part of my NS Life.

Exercise Starlight

Our government had an agreement with the Taiwanese government to allow the army to train in Taiwan. As RSS Endurance was a transport carrier, naturally she was tasked to ferry all the military vehicles needed there. I could vividly remember the ship’s main deck and the tank deck were stacked with Land Rovers, 3 tonners, unimogs and ambulances. It must be about 60 vehicles in all. The ship beached at East Coast next to Bedok Jetty. This area was reclaimed land and the area was cordoned off to public. The East Coast Park and Marine Parade was not developed then. The beaching operation was exciting to execute. I was too inexperience to be directly involved and just watch from the bridge. The trip to Kaohsiung took one week. So a round trip with one week in harbour took 3 weeks.

Navigating South China Sea

If I remembered correctly, it was the early part of 1976, maybe March. The sea was mostly calm. We navigated with celestial navigation and LORAN as well as some coastal fixes. When we arrived at Kaohsiung Harbour, we were met by harbour pilot who guided us in. Of course we were met by very senior Taiwanese naval officers on arrival. In 1976, the Taiwanese was still under Marshall Law.

Rest and Recreation

As part of the naval tradition, a port call is consider incomplete without R&R for the crew. So a tour was organised for us to visit Taichung, Sun Moon Lake, Hualien and Kaohsiung. I remembered staying a night at Sun Moon Lake. It was freezing cold. We failed to see the famous sunrise from the sea of cloud due to overcast condition. Nevertheless, the other sightseeing was very enjoyable. We acknowledged that this was national service and we couldn’t have bargain for anything more.

Kaohsiung

It’s the 2nd largest cities in Taiwan. Hokkien was the local dialet and so I had no problem and most of them spoke mandarin. There were lot of shopping to do for the ship’s crew. The ‘imitation’ book was so cheap which I bought a few. Then there were red jade and ornamental stones. Many of my ship crew befriended the girls. It seems so simple to hook one up but I refrained. Apparently, most of these girls wanted to get out of the country due to hardship. There were hardly any luxuries. I learnt that apple and even coffee were considered luxuries. On the subsequent trip to Kaohsiung, the crew came with crates of apples and bags of coffee to impress their newfound friends. Subsequently, I heard of many ‘broken hearts’.



2nd Taiwan trip. Most scary

The second trip to Taiwan was mainly loaded with ammunitions in the tank deck and utility vehicles up on the main deck. Towards the end of the cruise, we hit a storm that lasted a few days. The sky was perpetually overcast, wind was howling with rain. Because astro-navigation was not possible, we had to depend on DR (dead reckoning) or in another word, estimates. Without knowing the prevailing currents, it’s impossible to determine an accurate position. It must have been stressful for the CO and NO. On top this; the scariest part was the dangerous cargo we were carrying. The ship was really tossing up and down, rolling too much to left and right. We worried the cargo may broke loose and explode on impact or collision. I don’t really think anyone onboard where ready for that kind of emergency. The storm passed and the CO and XO must be really relieved.

4 hours late

We messaged our HQ with primitive radio using morse-code of our ETA based on our estimation. But alas, we were late by 4 hours. We subsequently heard that the Head of Army with his Taiwanese counterparts were waiting at the wharf for our arrival. Imagine how embarrass he was when we were 4 hours late. My CO had a trashing and we really felt sorry for him. We were thinking, how to explain to an army bloke about the storm, loss of navigation, primitive navigation and communications equipment. How to let the army guys appreciate the ship cruise at 6 to 10 knots and if we were out by 30 miles, it meant 4 hours! Under the circumstance, an error of 30 miles over a trip distance of 1350 was not really unacceptable. Unfortunately this error can only be confirmed by the ship’s radar within 50 miles of landfall. The CO must have learnt a hard lesson. On hindsight he could have given a later ETA and hold the ship over water to achieve a punctual arrival.
When the job was done, it was time for R&R. The sailors brought their secret weapons of apples and coffee, ready to impress. We all had our shopping lists this round. I couldn’t remember which tour I took.

3rd Taiwan trip

By now, we were familiar with the operation. But this operation was special. It was to ferry our tanks and armour vehicles. To watch the ship beached, then the tanks rolled into the ship was like a set from the movies. The cruise to and fro was really uneventful and routine. Onboard, the officer after so many months together had also bonded. We often played cards in one of a diehard gambler’s cabin. During the R&R, together with my fellow officers, we went to Tainan and Chiayi by rail.

A few weeks after return from Kaohsiung, I ROD with mixed feeling.