Chris Ashcroft attends HMS PENZANCE decommissioning dinner
22 Feb 2024 - I am grateful to MCDOA member Chris Ashcroft for this contribution.
“Hi Rob,
I'm afraid I don't have any pictures but thought it worth reporting that, at the CO's invitation I attended the decommissioning dinner for HMS PENZANCE last Thursday. It was held in Edinburgh at the Royal Scots Club. Many former COs attended along with members of the current Wardroom, senior rates, and partners. I was her first CO and it was nice to see Les Allen in attendance, invited in his capacity as Senior Officer in build, up to the time I was appointed in Command. It was a great evening and we were well hosted by the PENZ team. I had the pleasure of sitting / chatting with fellow MCDOA member Steve Brown (Adm. Pilot, HMNB CLYDE) and PENZ Ops - so lots of catching up, dits, and shaking of heads at the state of the Fleet (or does its size now warrant a demotion to flotilla?!).
Some of the PENZ team (Crew 2) are already moving on, though following the berthing incident in the Gulf a week or so ago, it seems the ship may yet have a reprieve - much depends on the seaworthiness of BANGOR, currently being inspected in dry dock, I believe. Whilst I would obviously not wish to see her unable to continue in service, I wouldn't be sad to see PENZ re-enlisted. I have many happy memories of my time on board from the final stages of build, through sea trials and on to her first operational deployment to the Mediterranean. Simon Henderson had saved the original letter from CinCFleet ordering me to have the ship commissioned and brought into operational service, and very kindly handed it to me as a memento - a lovely gesture, I thought - not least as the letter was dated exactly 25 years to the day before the dinner..
Time flies, things move on, but it's still sad to see these world-beating, cutting edge MCMVs disappear.
I hope all is well with you, and now that we are hooked up on FB, I wait with bated breath for reports of your next veterans lunchtime session! May they continue for years to come.
All the best
Chris”
This photo, courtesy of Simon Wallace, shows himself (far left) with (left to right) MCDOA members Les Allen, Steve Brown and Chris Ashcroft at the dinner. Les was the first person assigned to HMS PENZANCE as Senior Naval Officer in 1998, Steve took over from Simon as the Navigating Officer of HMS INVERNESS and then again as CO of PENZANCE, then Les was Ops Officer of INVERNESS overlapping Simon and Steve. As a further demonstration of the incestuous nature of MCM, see my postscript below.
Postscript: Here’s Chris holding forth back in 1989 when he was my Ops Officer in HMS BERKELEY (later the Greek Navy’s ill-fated HS KALLISTO). Amazingly, the midshipman seated to his right was a 19-year old Les Allen.
The view from the other end of the table reveals MCDOA member Chris Davies (centre) as XO and Yours Truly (left) as CO. We were showing our appreciation to our ever-efficient Steward, Paul Dales.
