As you can see, the Argus is not exactly a war ship. She is a bloody big ship, I was still finding my way around a year later. About the same weight as the Ark Royal, the Argus was mainly used for helicopter training, but in times of trouble she became invaluable.
Two man cabins with ensuite shower and toilet, what a luxury after living in messdecks full of 40 matelots for most of my Naval career, this was fantastic. Another plus was we didn't have to do any seamanship, that was all done by the RFA crew. My job was purely radar and that was only when we were at flying station.
There was only 6 radar ratings onboard, one chief, one PO, two leading seamen and two able seamen. The watch I was in were "Red Dwarf" mad so it was always a brilliant laugh. Of course when we were off watch the only place to go (apart from bed) was the duty free bar, which seemed to be permenently open, which was also brilliant. So all in all it was a very good ship.
My last ship in the Royal Navy just happened to be a Royal fleet auxilary ship the Argus, which in a previous life was a roll on roll off ferry. The navy aquired her and turned her into a helicopter training
ship/Hospital ship/just about anything ship.
A good ship, but spent far too much time at sea doing helicopter trials
.
It was getting close to me leaving the Navy,
so after a very good year on the Argus I requested to be drafted ashore to be able to do my resettlement courses. My request was duly granted, and I recieved a draft to HMS Nelson for the last year in my Naval career.