I was fortunate enough to have been in three navies, without leaving one for another.
The Navy I joined – and for which I have the greatest attachment – was the Royal Ceylon Navy (RCyN – 1950-1972) and the Navy I retired from was the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN -1972 onwards). But I had the great good fortune to study and write the history of our very first Navy, The Volunteer Naval Force (VNF)/Ceylon Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (CRNVR 1937-1950)). A privilege, indeed. Three navies that are, really, one and the same.
I was an Instructor Officer. That means I was a "barracks stanchion'. However I did to sea. Once - to far-away Madras!
I was the Navy’s odd job man. One job was writing the History of the CRNVR. And so this is where I begin. “Fair weather and foul” is the first of a group of stories about that “History”. Then there are some of the other memorable tasks and things I feel I did right, such as: “Badges, Ranks and Uniforms” is of how the late Adm. Asoka de Silva re-designed all those things – with me as his “gofer’ – when the Navy ceased to be Royal. “An Advancement Roster” tells of how I brought some order into chaos.
Then there “A Return to the Navy” – 12 years after retirement – which relates how I had to update the Sri Lanka Navy Orders after the Navy had ballooned with the war, leaving the centre weakened. I returned, yet again, in an operational role and that had become a story, “In the Forests, in the Night”. “Naval Activity in historical times” and “Cannon in the Dockyard” are about another side of me: a curious and discovery-oriented one. The Navy is a treasure-trove for such ‘curiosities’ and curious people like us!
There’s more in each of these Pandora’s boxes. May be, some day . I’ll add to them…