A SCANDINAVIAN VISIT [Main Title]

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  • Title: A SCANDINAVIAN VISIT [Main Title]
  • Film Number: ADM 2102
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: Units of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet visit Norway and Sweden in June 1955.
  • Description: START 10:00:00 Scenes on board the new 22,000-ton aircraft carrier HMS Bulwark as it steams towards Norway; a former Sea Lord, Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Cunningham (1885-1962), on board with the ship's commander, Captain (later Vice Admiral Sir John) Villiers, and two Fleet Air Arm (FAA) Lieutenant-Commanders on the flight deck. A Hawker Sea Hawk FGA6 jet attack aircraft (serial number WV852) is towed along the flight deck with folded wings past other Sea Hawks. A Sea Hawk is guided towards the steam catapult on the forward section of the flight deck and takes off. 10:00:52 An aerial view of Frogner Park in Oslo - "attractive from the air and equally attractive from the ground", the commentary informs the viewer. The camera follows three young sailors from HMS Bulwark, Leading Engineering Mechanic Freeman, Naval Airman Clark and Leading Seaman Banner, as they stroll through the Vigeland Sculpture Park within Frogner Park and take a look at Gustav Vigeland's 'Monolith' column representing the circle of life. They are joined by three young Norwegian women; "All the nice girls like a sailor and it seems the girls in Oslo are no exception... The sailors couldn't speak Norwegian and the girls couldn't speak English but it didn't seem to matter. It never does!" 10:02:08 A view from the starboard quarter of HMS Bulwark, dressed overall with flags and with the ship's crew lining the edge of the flight deck. Norwegian children visiting the aircraft carrier with their parents are ruffled by the backwash from the rotor blades of a Westland-Sikorsky Dragonfly helicopter hovering over the flight deck; one little girl steps back in alarm. Children play on a slide set up by the crew of the destroyer depot ship HMS Tyne in the break between the aft superstructure and the ship's bridge and do painting at a fairground-type stall manned by a sailor dressed as a pirate. More fun is had riding in a mock-up aircraft suspended on a wire between the aft superstructure and the bridge. In the hangar deck on HMS Bulwark, there is a children's tea party. Close-ups of children's faces including two girls who, being identical twins, wear identical dresses and bows in their blonde hair. A young boy, held by his mother, has smeared his face with chocolate that she tries to wipe clean. 10:02:23 The same starboard quarter view of HMS Bulwark. Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Cunningham steps ashore from a naval launch onto the steps in front of Oslo's City Hall and is greeted by a senior Royal Norwegian Navy officer. Views of the murals by Norwegian artist Alf Rolfsen inside the the City Hall (only completed in 1950). Cunningham unveils a large plaque with the battle honours of HMS Devonshire, the heavy cruiser which rescued King Haakon VII of Norway from the invading Germans in June 1940 and brought him back to his homeland exactly five years later. 10:04:20 A Type 15 Royal Navy anti-submarine frigate (HMS Urania ?) heading towards Stockholm through Lake Malaren. Swedish soldiers or sailors on parade and ordinary spectators are seen lining the shore as HMS Bulwark approaches Stockholm. Crowds lining the heights on Södermalm overlooking a bay known as Riddarfjärden - "The Swedish capital is often described as the city on the water". Views of the old buildings including the Riddarhuset (House of Nobles) lining the water front on Gamla Stan (the Old Island), the oldest part of the city. The commentary incorrectly identifies the Riddarhuset as the Royal Palace. Four Royal Navy sailors walk across the the busy Traneborg Bridge linking Kungsholmen and Bromma - "the Royal Navy certainly saw Scandinavia at its summertime best!" Views of a tourist sightseeing launch heading past Kungsholmen, the af Chapman, a square rigged steel-hulled sailing ship once used by the Royal Swedish Navy as a training ship but since 1949 a youth hostel moored alonside Skeppsholmen, Stockholm Town Hall with its tall bell tower and a busy street in the centre of the city - "It's always fun exploring foreign cities... The Navy offers more opportunities than most careers to those who want to see the world". 10:06:21 The massed bands of the Royal Marines and the Highland Light Infantry march into Stockholm's Olympiastadion, where the 1912 Olympic Games were held, followed by a football match between the Royal Navy and an un-named local side - "It doesn't matter who won. It was all good fun and appreciated by everyone". 10:07:16 A view across the Riddarfjärden from HMS Bulwark to HMS Apollo, an Abdiel Class minelayer now in service as a minesweeper support ship, moored alongside HMS Tyne below the heights of Södermalm. King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden (1882-1973), wearing the uniform of a Royal Navy Admiral of the Fleet, inspects a Royal Marines Guard of Honour on HMS Bulwark and is then driven around the carrier's flight deck with Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Cunningham in a short wheel-base Land Rover past rows of Royal Navy personnel from the various units of the Home Fleet visiting Stockholm. Close-up shots of Royal Navy ratings from an un-named submarine, the anti-submarine frigate HMS Urania and from HMS Tyne. A 3-pounder saluting gun mounted high on HMS Bulwark's superstructure fires a gun salute in honour of the Swedish monarch as he leaves in his Royal Barge and heads past the Royal Navy warships whose crews are seen lining the decks in his honour - "A fitting climax to the visit by a sovereign who has close links with the Royal Navy". Floodlit views of HMS Bulwark at night - "And now as we approach HMS Bulwark on the starboard side, it's time to end our Scandinavian journey", closing with a shot of a Battle Class destroyer illuminated by floodlights. END 10:09:08
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: ADM 2102
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1946-1975
  • Production Date: 1955-06
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Admiralty (Production sponsor)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords: Fleet Air Arm post-1945 (theme) Naval Aviation (theme) Royal Navy 1945-2000 (theme)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English Title language: English Subtitle language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 918 ft; Running time: 9 mins 48 secs
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    ADM 2102

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