Invincible! Pictures which capture the might of the Royal Navy | Nostalgia
The picture I’ve captioned Queen Elizabeth and her navy always brings a lump to my throat.
It was taken in 1953, the year of the coronation, and shows the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh with the officers and ratings of the 6in-gun cruiser HMS Sheffield. The original 'Shiny Sheff'.
The photo came to us from former Petty Officer Douglas Barlow, of Emsworth, who told us the Queen was embarked in SS Gothic, which she joined in the Med, before the royal yacht Britannia was completed.Sheffield was acting as escort and both ships had gone through the Panama canal together and were well into the Pacific when the Queen and Prince Philip were transferred to Sheffield for this photo.Notice the six sailors high on the signal halyard yardarm. They must have been ex-Ganges or St Vincent boys.HMS Sheffield was adopted by the city of Sheffield about 1937/38 and many upper deck fittings were of stainless steel, hence the 'Shiny Sheff' nickname.
A message from the editor, Mark Waldron.
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