Introduction
During 1954 HMS Warrior undertook a tour of the Far East. My dad was a stoker/mechanic on the commission, and many of the photos come from his collection. In March 2024, Taff Webb sent me scans of the photos his father took. His father, Rowland Victor Webb, was also a stoker/mechanic on the commission. It's interesting to think that the two men might well have known each other.
The photos are, as far as I can tell, in the order that HMS Warrior visited them. Some of the cities are not mentioned in the list of places that the ship went to and these I presume are places that dad visited whilst on leave.
The Commission
HMS Warrior's cruise from Plymouth to Suez, 1954
HMS Warrior's cruise from Suez to Hong Kong, 1954
During the tour, HMS Warrior was called on to rescue refugees from Vietnam. 1954 began with new communist offensives menacing South Vietnam, central and northern Laos, and the northeast of Cambodia. On May 8, 1954, the French base at Dien Bien Phu suffered a major defeat after a heavy artillery attack. The French forces in North Vietnam evacuated to below the 16th parallel.
During Operation Passage to Freedom, around 800,000 people moved south with the help of mostly American and French ships. HMS Warrior was the UK's contribution to the effort. On September 4, 1954, HMS Warrior transported 1,455 people from Haiphong in the north Vietnam to Saigon in the south. There are other figures of the number of refugees helped. The figure of 3,188 is taken from one of HMS Warrior's 'seatime' postcards. The Presidential Citation given to the crew of HMS Warrior gives the figure as 3,221.
HMS Warrior's cruise in the Far East and the Vietnam evacuation,1954
The text in the image above reads:
Viet Nam Evacuation
Between the 5th and 13th of Sept.
a total of 3,188 refugees were
taken in two journeys, south from
Haiphong to St. Jaques.
Depart Hong Kong - 12 June
Kobe - 15-16 June
Kure - 16-19 June
Sasebo - 20-21 June
Inchon - 29 June - 2 July
Kure - 4-12 July
Kure - 24-28 July
Kure - 6-8 August
Kure-Singapore - 9-16 August
Singapore - 16-31 August
Haiphong evacuation - 31 August - 15 September
Singapore - 15-23 September
Singapore-Hong Kong - 23-28 September
Hong Kong - 28 September - 7 October
Sail for Singapore - 7 October
All three photographs of the maps were very kindly supplied by Taff Webb.
The Places & Photos
