HMS Odyssey.

HMS ODYSSEY                   15-Feb-1944     to     30-Jun-1944

Dad’s next posting was to another shore establishment, but this one was a little different. HMS Odyssey was in actual fact the Collingwood Hotel in Ilfracombe! The hotel was taken over by the Royal Navy in 1943 and handed back to civilian life in 1946. It was another accounting base, and we can be sure that Dad wasn’t working in the actual hotel as in his records it again says ‘additional’ meaning it was just an accounting base for his records. This base was a little different as it was specifically for naval parties and other small units. A Navy Party (NP) was a group of officers and men that were formed for a specific task. When I was on the Lycaon during the Falklands conflict the forces personnel were NP 1900 and on the Salvageman NP1760. This was on the address for your mail.

As of June 2011 the fate of the Collingwood Hotel was undecided as it was now owned by Weatherspoons the pub chain. As it was in such poor condition and required a lot of work and expense to convert it they were trying to convince the local council to let them knock it down and rebuild a similar building on the site. There was some opposition as it was a local land mark for the town. (Update it was demolished 23^rd January 2012).

The Collingwood Hotel Ilfracombe in about the 1950’s ( HMS Odyssey 1943-46)

Dad’s work for the next few months was given in his record as special service for cipher duties on staff of Naval Force Commander Force S.

I have found a letter sent to Dad with the orders to proceed on this posting. It seems that he was to report to the Cameron Barracks in Inverness as he was appointed to HMS Odyssey for cipher duties on the staff of the Naval Force Commander Force S. I suspect that from Cameron Barracks Dad was sent to other training places in Scotland as there were plenty of Combined Operations Training Establishments not far from Inverness for the familiarisation with landing craft operations and the like.

Cameron Barracks, Inverness in 1970’s