"Do you remember that bloody twin 4" gun mounting that worked great manually: "fire one", "fire two", "fire at will" . . . "Which one is Will sir?" and as soon as it was locked on to radar it would fire one salvo ok, however, on the second salvo the barrels would drop to their lowest angle and blow away the guard rail!
We had been in Sydney for the dockies to fix the gun and went out off the heads to test it, firing at a target towed by a tug. "Stand easy" came and I went and opened the canteen which was just aft and one deck down from the gun on the starboard side and we were firing to starboard. I opened the canteen and RO 'Blue' McLaughlin came to the stable door of the canteen and asked for a packet of chewies. As he did so they fired the gun (second salvo on radar) which blew away the guardrail and the top of the mushroom vent which was feeding air to, amongst other places, the canteen. The trunking in the canteen expanded and tongues of flame belched out of the air vents with mackas, Persil, toothpaste, cigarettes, etc going everywhere. Bluey disappeared and left me amongst the dust and debris. I got out real quick, locked the canteen and ran up on deck. My veins were full of adrenaline and I needed to check my under clothing. Did they ever fix that bloody gun?

"The first time the 4" gun was fired when I was onboard I was detailed off to be a recorder on the bridge. I had a clipboard and I was to write down all that was said and note the time as well. I thought this was most exciting and there I was at the centre of the operations. Finally we got down to serious business and the gunnery officer (what was his name?) gave the order "fire one". I was half way through writing that down when the gun fired. Well, it ain't like in the movies, fellas, is it!! There was this loud crack like a whip being cracked alongside your ear before a loud bloody bang and your rib cage went in and out with the percussion. I thought I had had an accident . . . I dropped the clipboard and whilst picking it up the gunnery officer gave the order to "fire two". This really got my attention! I must admit, I got used to it and it didn't bother me much after that, however, I was never asked again to record on the bridge.
I think it would have been more helpfull, and certainly have prepared us, to have shown us a film about guns and their firing instead of all the bad diseases we could catch by cohabiting with women. "