MTB 71’s first appearance at the new Coastal Forces Museum belied her graceful, planing Thornycroft lines. For a reason no-one could quite work out, she was painted an unbecoming sludge green. Roughly equivalent to the ghastly solecism perpetrated in an episode of the otherwise excellent ‘Foyle’s War’ – where a World War II naval officer appeared in full uniform WITH A MOUSTACHE!! You could hear the growling from Devonport to Rosyth at that moment. Anyway, contractors were sought to put this right – who, after presumably the usual tooth-sucking “Got a lot on at the moment, guv” stuff, offered an eye-wateringly high quote. Forget it! But yet again, the excellent and admirable HMS ‘Medusa’ team, led by Alan Watson, stepped forward and did the lot in a couple of days (picture.) Proving that the can-do RN spirit is alive, well and kicking.
PAINT JOB
17 June 2022
Share this
About Rob
Rob is a TV producer, reporter and camera operator with 30 years of experience at the BBC, Channel 4 and ITN, in news, factual and documentary production. He is a four-time award winner, whose awards include a coveted Royal Television Society award for his work on Channel 4 News. His association with the Maritime Foundation goes back to 1995 when he won the first Desmond Wettern Maritime Media Award for a series of reports that led to a major documentary on the loss of the bulk carrier Derbyshire.