HMS Londonderry
1st West Indies Cruise

On the 1st of May 1961 amidst tearful farewells from wives, sweethearts and RAs we slipped out of Portsmouth heading south for Ponta Del Garda, there we said a brief hello and goodbye to HMS Ulster whom we were relieving on the West Indies station.


At 1710 on the 10th May we secured alongside in the RN dockyard at Ireland Island, Bermuda, with SNOWI losing no time in coming aboard and setting us off on our first West Indies cruise.

Of the many interesting diversions whilst showing the flag, St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands will be remembered for the candy stripped jeeps with fringes around their hoods, Basseterre, St. Kitts where we sent divers down to search for the wreck of the MV Silver Arrow which proved to be non-existent, St Johns, Antigua to unload anchors and cables for English harbour, Nelson's base in the West Indies. Bridgetown, Barbados, the first RN ship to enter their newly built harbour, a fantastic run ashore and the ship open to visitors when the brow collapsed under the weight of some of the 20,000 visitors. Port of Spain, Trinidad, where our berth close by the sewer pipe was definitely not Londonderry air and from where we departed none to soon to search for the MV Lady Joy which was eventually located by the USCG Cutter Santa Cruz.
At Kingston, Jamaica the ship's guard paraded with eight other military and police guards at the Queen's Birthday Parade with the ship's saluting guns firmly bedded down ashore in the polo field providing a naval spectacle of which we were justly proud.