Bottom row: T Trewick, J Old, (absent D Kelly). Middle row: 'Chips' Wood, Reg Kennedy, Marsden Hordern, D Davey. Top row: RC Ling, R Hayes, D Partridge, Brewer, J Nelson, J Livingstone, D Ashford, G Constable. For the ratings all activities such as sleeping, eating, relaxing, letter writing, studying, etc, took place in the mess deck. As the complement sometimes varied between 17 and 20, additional crew were faced with either sleeping on deck or adopting what was known as a 'hot bunking' routine in which they took turns sharing a bunk with a shipmate who was on watch. There were no showers and just two small hand pumped toilets. There was a small wardroom which the three Commissioned Officers shared, a cabin for two Petty Officers (normally the Coxswain and Petty Officer motor mechanic) and a small mess deck which accommodated twelve ratings. Living conditions in Fairmiles were spartan. This colour scheme was later determined to be impractical to maintain and in time it reverted to the normal plain grey livery found on most other RAN vessels. Unlike other Fairmiles that were being brought into service, 814 was painted in a distinctive zig-zag disruptive camouflage pattern with hues of white, light blue and green being used to break up her appearance. Kennedy was apparently reminded of the then superstition among sailors that it was considered a bad omen to have females onboard.Īppointed as Kennedy's First Lieutenant was Lieutenant Bernard Page Western (Chips) Wood, RANVR, while Sub Lieutenant Marsden (Tony) Hordern, RANVR, who joined the ship in February 1943 from the minesweeper Abraham Crijnssen, completed the wardroom complement. The launching of 814 at Halvorsen's yard in Sydney is said to have caused Kennedy some disquiet, for he noticed a woman on board his new command as she took to the water. She commissioned on 1 January 1943 under the command of Lieutenant Gilbert R Kennedy, RANVR, a veteran of small ship actions fought against German E boats in the English Channel while serving with the Royal Navy. ML 814 was the second of the Fairmiles to be constructed in Australia.
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