Of all the exotic locations Robert (Bob) Turnbull visited while in the navy, sailing through the Mediterranean Sea might have been the most memorable — or at least humorous — of his career.
There were a couple of times when he and the ship on which he served stopped in Naples, Italy, which allowed the crew to go ashore and shop. Several of Turnbull’s crewmates came back and warned everyone to watch out for gangs of pick-pocketing children who were intent on stealing their money and IDs.
However, it wasn’t just the sneaky kids for whom the sailors had to watch out.
“… All along the boardwalk going up into the centre of the city from the dockyard there was shops and you could buy stuff,” recalled Turnbull, 74. “This (crewman who returned had) bought a really nice radio and the (merchant) went in the back to wrap it up for him.
“When he came back (to the ship) and he opened it up, there was the box, but it had a rock in it,” laughed Turnbull. “He got on the loud speaker and announced all this information and said, ‘You be careful when you go ashore.’ That was a funny one.”
The Moose Javian’s other memory of sailing through the Mediterranean Sea was when his ship sailed through the Strait of Gibraltar and stopped to refuel. He pointed out the monkeys in Gibraltar were a hazard since they came close to the crewman and attempted to pick their pockets. Luckily, no one ever had any of their possessions stolen by the simians.
Turnbull joined the navy as a cook in 1963 when he was 18 years old. He was interested in enlisting since he was a Prairie boy and the recruiters who came to his school caught his attention. With a laugh, he joked that he also joined since he would be given room and board and be paid to see the world.
Turnbull retired from the military in 1996 after 33 years; the last three years of his career was spent at 15 Wing airbase as the chief cook.
During his three decades in the navy, Turnbull served on the East and West coasts, while he travelled overseas regularly, including to England (three times), the Mediterranean Sea, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Tunisia, the Caribbean, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, the Panama Canal, Seattle, San Diego and Hawaii.
During one exercise off the coast of Boston, Mass., Turnbull’s ship picked up a new sonar contact: the distinctive ping of a Russian submarine. The sub was headed back to Russia from a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Turnbull’s ship followed the sub from the East Coast of the United States all the way into the English Channel about 150 kilometres from Great Britain. The officers realized they had acquired all the information about the sub they needed and decided to turn around.
“That was a good (chase),” Turnbull said. “It was always (zig-zagging) because they could tell we were following ’em. They could hear our pings. We went exactly like they did.
“Being a cook in the galley, they didn’t announce sharp turns or anything, so you’d be standing there with a big (pot) of soup or something and you had to catch your balance,” laughed Turnbull. “That was an experience.”
Usually when a ship was on manoeuvres, it would be announced that it was going to make a turn to starboard or port, which allowed Turnbull to be ready, he continued. However, there were no such announcements when following enemy ships.
Serving in the military gave Turnbull a basic start on how to behave and how to respect others, he said. It also helped him create and surpass his goals, while he developed a solid work ethic. He was able to take those experiences and pass them along to his subordinates, an outcome that he thought was a great thing to see.
This story is one of many featured in our Remembrance Day supplement. You can read the issue online or pick up a copy at our office (32 Manitoba St. West).
