Royal Navy and
Maritime Book Reviews PROVIDED BY - Rob Jerrard
H.M.S. VICTORIOUS
The Mighty "V"
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Coloured Photos
by, Copyright (Peter Hillier-Brook) 
H.M.S.
VICTORIOUS 1963- 1964, Capt P. M. Compston Royal Navy
Built
by Vickers Armstrong, Newcastle. Laid down 4 May 1937. Launched 14 September
1939. Commissioned 15 May 1941. Took part in the Bismark chase soon after
commissioning. Refitted at Norfolk Navy Yard USA, winter 1942-43, after which
she was loaned to the US Pacific Fleet until being replaced by USS Essex.
British Pacific Fleet 1945, hit by two kamakazes, repaired in Australia.
Reconstructed October 1950 - January 1958, ship rebuilt from hangar deck
upwards with angled flight deck and large increase in hangar height:
Displacement:
30,530 tons standard ; 35,500 tons full load
Dimensions:
781 oa x 103.25 x 31 feet Propulsion: reboilered Compliment: 2200 (including
air group) Aircraft: 35 inc. Sea Vixen and Buccaneer Guns: 6 x twin 3 inch / 50
; 6 40 mm AA Radars: 3D Fighter-control -( Type 984, used to control the
Buccaneers;) Height Finding - Type 293Q ; Navigation - Type 974
Refitted
1960. Damaged by fire during 1967 refit when it was decided that she should be
decommissioned early. July 1969, broken up
TIMES
OBITUARIES 19th Sept 2000 - VICE-ADMIRAL SIR PETER COMPSTON 
Vice-Admiral
Sir Peter Compston, KCB, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic, 1968-79, was
born on September 12, 1915. He died on August 20 aged 84
FLYING
more than thirty different types of aircraft in peace and war, Peter Compston
had a varied career in both the RAF and Fleet Air Arm which was crowned by
command of the aircraft carrier Victorious in the Far East and, as a
vice-admiral, by the NATO post of Deputy Supreme Commander Atlantic.
His
early life was difficult, his father having died when he was seven. He ran away
from Epsom College to sign up in The Hampshire Regiment as a private soldier,
but his family disapproved and bought him out. Two subsequent years as an
embryo stockbroker convinced him of the need for something more exciting in
life.
He
was commissioned into the RAF in June 1936, gaining his wings in 1937. He then
went to Iraq as part of the RAF presence there, flying Vickers Valentia biplane
troop carriers which could also be modified for bombing practice. After that he
had a tour based at Boscombe Down in Armstrong Whitworth Whitley bombers before
transferring to the Royal Navy in 1938.
His
first Fleet Air Arm posting was to Gibraltar, where he flew Swordfish
floatplanes, towing targets and marking gunnery shoots. Shortly after the
outbreak of war he transferred with 810 Squadron to the Ark Royal, flying
anti-submarine patrols and bombing German aircraft on an ice lake in Norway.
His
career was nearly ended by one of the tragic events of the ultimately
disastrous campaign which failed to counter the German invasion of Norway. On
May 15, with three other Fleet Air Arm officers and accompanied by the 1st
Battalion The Irish Guards, he was on his way up the fiords to Bodo in the
11,000-ton Polish motor-ship Chobry to help the RAF in setting up much-needed
airfields ashore, when the ship was sunk by the Luftwaffe with great loss of
life.
Compston
was so impressed with the courage, discipline and steadiness of The Irish
Guards that he wrote to the colonel with a full account of the event; how he
himself was woken by "the most deafening roar I have ever heard or want to
hear". He described how the guardsmen waited patiently to embark in the
lifeboats without the slightest sign of panic, obeying every order calmly given
by their NCOs, and noted their generosity in sharing dry clothing in the bitter
cold. Survivors were rescued by the destroyer Wolverine and the sloop Stork.
Compston
then spent more than a year as a test pilot at the naval air station at
Donibristle in Fifeshire until appointed in April 1942 to the battleship Anson,
Admiral Bruce Fraser's flagship in the Home Fleet. Here he had the vital task
of operating Anson's scouting Walrus amphibian during Allied convoys to Russia.
In
June 1943 he went to HMS Cormorant II, the airfield at Gibraltar which provided
a multitude of services to the fleet, including anti-aircraft gunnery target
towing and logistic and technical support for the growing number of air bases
around the Mediterranean. He joined the newly built light fleet carrier
Vengeance in October 1944, but was sent to another shore appointment at Middle
Wallop before her deployment to the Far East. He saw out the war organising
mobile naval air bases for the Pacific theatre.
In
1945 Compston transferred to a regular naval commission and joined the carrier
Warrior, at that time serving with the Royal Canadian Navy. In 1948 he was
appointed air weapons officer to the carrier Theseus, which from October 1950
served in the Korean War. During operations on the west coast of the Korean
peninsula he was mentioned in dispatches.
He
was next selected as a member of the directing staff of the RN Staff College
and then took part in the ill-starred Suez campaign as naval operations officer
on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, General Sir Charles Keightly.
His
first sea command was the destroyer Orwell and as Captain (D) Plymouth. In 1959
he was a student at the Imperial Defence College, after which he had two years
in Paris as British naval attaché.
HMS Victorious,
His
next tour, in 1962, as captain of the recently modernised large carrier
Victorious, was his professional apogee as an aviator, although his own flying
had ceased after jet aircraft familiarisation courses in 1955. Victorious had a
testing commission: she was the first to operate the heavy Buccaneer strike
aircraft, with very narrow margins for error, and during 1964 she was part of
the large naval commitment to maintaining the security of the newly established
state of Malaysia against the political claims and military incursions of
Indonesia.
After
promotion to Rear-Admiral in 1965, Compston was appointed to Washington as
chief of the British naval staff and subsequently as second-in-command of the
Western Fleet. His talents as a diplomat and strategist, ably supported by his
socially skilful wife Angela, were much in evidence on his final tour as Deputy
Supreme Commander Atlantic, based at Norfolk, Virginia. In this post he
reported to the American Supreme Commander, who also doubled as C-in-C US
Atlantic Fleet; thus much responsibility for the transatlantic cohesion of this
important aspect of the NATO alliance fell to the deputy.
Compston
was appointed CB in 1967 and advanced to KCB in 1970. In retirement he was a
tireless fundraiser for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. 
In the course of my work on this website I have purchased a number of Commissioning books. The following Commissioning Books are for Sale. Purchasers may pay by UK Sterling cheque or PAYPAL. (IF PAYPAL is used I will need to add an additional sum to cover the admin cost they will take from me. Most books will be in reasonable condition bearing in mind their age and the history of their usage, therefore VG means for the age. All will be readable and could of course be scanned. All books are rare and their prices reflect what I have paid. Postage (P&P) - average in UK will be about £4, but I can give you an exact sum at the time.
HMS Victorious 1958 -59 Cover has not taken the ravages of time to well, (Like us) a little torn and faded, BUT contents all there, 1st Commission after the 7 year refit, very rare Cover very light green and will not scan too well, £66 HMS Victorious 1960 -62 Good £56 HMS Victorious 1966 -67 Good £56
