My dad ran field gun for the navy in the 70''s. It takes a massive toll on the men who run it but they couldn't be prouder to take part. They should definitely bring this back.
The perfect description of a field gunner. "Speed of a race horse, strength of a cart horse and brains of a rocking horse .! They are all crazy but absolutely magnificent. It makes me very proud to be British.
I am ex British army and it's a joy to watch such unbiased opinions on British military. Your a top bloke and look forward to watching the rest of your channel. So many videos of American and British bitching about one another. Both countries have fought side by side for over 100 years. We are brothers in arms and like brothers we squabble and fight and argue with one another but like brothers you pick a fight with one we bond together and bring the pain.
Combat Arms Channel so you are aware we still do this just not at the royal tournament, it’s now spread to all services, two years ago my employer sponsored an event which was the first event that allowed non military to partake they spent two weeks training for it, 1 teams from the army(combat engineers) an RAF team and two from the navy. Embarrassingly the RAF won. mobile.twitter.com/strideforth/status/1039028615046946816
Combat Arms Channel yup, the comment you replied to is honestly felt between the US & UK. I hope you guys feel the same, in an ex Para, I think u have already done P company but that is only one part of a gruelling many months of training. Ending with jump school at RAF Brize Norton. I deployed to Iraq , Bosnia, Afghanistan, NI & did more than 2 tours of each. As we are smaller our turnaround to go back on tours is more intense. We have always fought above our weight n I very much enjoyed the times when I was a JTAC bringing in air n artillery for the US detachment I was with in Afghan. We always get on great together n I really do appreciate you’re unbiased reporting. Thx brother.
I am a former Devonport Field Gunner... 'First Wheels' ie, first pieces of gun to cross the chasm and the last wheels to come back. They weighed in at 120 pounds each and combined with your body weight you have around 300 pounds (136kg) loaded on your arms which comes a bit of a shock the first time you swing on that traveler. We had 08:00 to 09:00 in the gym every morning with 100's of grid sprints and calisthenics. Then it was tea with cheese and biscuits before changing into track gear and then it was normal to do 8 full runs before closing at around 16:00. There is an A crew and a B crew and we would face-off for all of the days runs. We would complete at least 40 runs a week and we trained for 3 months so you can work out for yourself how many times we threw those guns over the walls. There were plenty of injuries as everything is either wood or metal, its heavy and is moving fast. The battleships HMS Terrible and HMS Powerful sent their 12 pounder field guns ashore to help break the siege at Ladysmith. It is said that an army general told the Navy that he didn't have any horses to spare for pulling the guns, to which an Admiral replied, "We don't need horses... we have sailors!" You cannot imagine how proud we field gunners are to have taken part in that history.
This was such an important event to The Royal Navy, that within seconds of the race finishing, a signal was sent around the world to every ship and shore station with the result and the times.
Knowing this today adds even more nostalgia to this event, know this was sent in real time across the globe the result on who won this. I'm sooo lucky to have been here 3 times to see this for my own eyes and more importantly smell this event :)
My husband was a Portsmouth Field gunner in the late 60's. He ran 4 times, he was 1st swing. I loved going to the royal tournament. Sue Godsell wife of Brian.
Hi Sue, he was Brum Godsell if i remember? sadly passed away a couple of years ago. he was the one who did the 1st swing by swinging right down, then copied by everyone. Nice bloke
@@Lionboy2930 I tried to join the the RN but my eyesight let down so I went into the family watch & clock business, my grandfather come from Coventry BTW, cheers from a scouse Godsell.
These guys are taken from the Royal Navy ships and Bases from around the World . Many Sailors volunteer for this but only the fittest and strongest are selected . I have seen these Gun Runs at various Royal Military Tattoos in London and I can tell you how truly amazing it is to see in real life . There are a lot of injuries, broken bones , stitches and even fingers sheared off when 900 lb of Gun Barrel drops onto the carriage . At one Tattoo a sailor got hit in the head by the block over the chasm Splitting his head open he still got to the end of the first run and during the few seconds respite a medic came on with a paper stapler and stapled his head to stop the bleeding . He still continued for the return run without flinching. This is a real mans game my friends
Alright mate ... my Great Grandfather was a Rifleman ( 3rd Bde ) in the King's Royal Rifle Corps and escorted the Naval Guns during the Siege of Ladysmith!
@@thevelointhevale1132 I learned to shoot as a 14 year old, became a marksman in Ladysmith Barracks at Ashton Under Lyne.... (Nr Manchester) Now a housing estate...but the original entrance to the barracks have been preserved....last time I looked. Opposite was a pub called "The Heroes of Waterloo" (ABBA never never showed....)(For those interested: Mossley Road, Ashton U Lyne ......)
i dont think health and safety would allow it, i dont think you could get insurance to cover 36 chaps doing this, pluss taking men from different ships would now be impossible, for instance i was a sonar operater on a submarine till i finished my service i would not be allowed to leave because of my job.
I was a soldier at the royal tournament in 88, during a practice a contractor dropped a bucket from the rafters , it landed on one of the gun team below he suffered a broken arm , rumours were going around it hit his head and his head broke his arm
The Royal Tournament was an outstanding annual event that showcased the British Armed Services like no other recruiting “organ” that was available then and still is now. The ABSOLUTELY worst decision made was to cancel this opportunity to show the World what outstandingly professional, young men and women we have in our Armed Services and this is an event that regardless of cost MUST be brought back.
@@martinlewis1015 discipline, teamwork, esprit de corps. It matters not if it is 12 pounders, 88 mm mortars, anti tank guns, it is the team doing the impossible reguardless.
Some of it was I imagine that you can’t have a event where a woman could never compete the lightest object was the wheels at a mere 120 pounds and they were carrying two
Your a good egg fella. It's so nice to see a brother from across the pond with a genuine respect for his brothers on this side of the pond. All the very best and keep the channel flowing. Blessings from the Welsh.😎👍
My dad was Portsmouth crew captain in in 1999. There were so many injuries involved in this my pop alone lost the top of his finger and on another occasion was clinically dead for a few seconds following an accident. The pride associated with this tradition was incredible
Yeah he was alright after recovery thank you, they were mental blokes, you should see them now all in their 50’s and 60’s still built like tanks, my dad isn’t with us anymore but he was immensely proud of this aspect of the RN
My Dad also ran, but a few years before. He's still around, but paying the price as he's had various surgeries for joint issues caused by the impact. Was your dad the guy that went over the wall but landed with his head bent under his body?
The absolute bonkers pinnacle of the British armed forces training. Our country might only be small, but we pack a heavyweight punch, and it's guys like this that are behind it. Respect.
As a young boy In the 1980’s I was lucky enough to go to the royal tournament and was in absolute awe of the field gun teams and other fantastic displays on that day. It made me join the army and had a fantastic 22 year career. It’s such a shame that the Royal Tournament is not on any more as it was such a great atmosphere to be in. To all those still serving thanks for your service, professionalism and dedication. Stay safe🙏😎
@@cm-pr2ys They started by moving it out of Earls Court in London and into smaller Exhibition shows around the country to make it more accessible to many (even though, geographically we're a small country its still a bit of a trip for some to get to London)...and it kind of faded after that. Health and Safety may have played a part as well ….lol
The whole gun run is to represent the relief of Ladysmith during the Boer War, Ladysmith was besieged and surrounded by the boars and the only artillery they had at hand were on Royal Navy ships at Harbour, so the Royal Navy took the guns off their ships and manhandled them over rough terrain onto high ground in order to give artillery support to the besieged Infantry at Ladysmith. Then the Royal tournament began Which was basically a tournament to celebrate the armed forces with various different demonstrations from each of the services and the Royal Navy had two. One was the gun run and the other one was a demonstration of climbing the masts on the Old sailing ships. I can remember watching one in the 1980s where one of the Crew had his head split open by one of the wheels of the cannon and he simply stapled it together.proper hard bastards
My grandfather 1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment was in Ladysmith at the time of the Relief of Ladysmith. So, I’m guessing he witness the relief given by the guns of the Royal Navy at that time. I have also visited Ladysmith to see for myself.
@@CombatArmsChannel The real shame is that all of this History and tradition is slowly disappearing. The British armed forces are so small now that all of the regiments and the units within the navy and the Air Force have all been amalgamated or disbanded completely.. And it really shouldn't be that way the United Kingdom's population is almost 70 million, And yet our regular army sits at just 90,000.
Me too, my stepdad was ex fleet air arm so I used to shout for the Navy! He used to say you could always spot a field gunner by the missing fingers and head scars!!
This was required viewing back in the day, I love the commentator Barry Davies he's an absolute legend. That line at the end of the first run, recalling the events that inspired this tradition "the men came from HMS powerful & Terrrible, and who's feeling what now" lol
We still do it now - one of our artillery units carried a field gun up the side of a hill in Afghan at the dead of night - they had to contend with IEDs and the chance of being attacked. By morning, they had the gun on a hill in a very commanding position and judging by the chatter by the Taliban on their radio net, they weren’t happy. They called it the dragon I think.
Interesting that our American friends should pick on this RN tradition. I ran it in 1976 for the FAA . One years hard training went into the competition. This was one sport I was proud to take part in....
@Redi Payp, I'm ex RAF and spent 2 weeks at the RT in 98, would have loved to have tried this. Made some friends with the Devonport Crew and the bar became our go to place for our weeks there.
Ironic as the man relied on the military so much , I didn't realise it had stopped as I remember going as a kid. Bring it back as we might not have so many snowflakes
Naval gunner ordering beers... “Four beers please 🤘🏻” Ex-Royal Navy myself, had a go at this during officer training. Ridiculously hard work, dangerous, tough, exciting and with lots of naval pride and unit pride too. Main teams represented their home port (Devonport, Portsmouth) or Fleet Air Arm (naval aviation). The Royal Canadian Navy also did field gun crew races. I watched their annual one on a TV in the Canadian Forces Station in Bermuda over beers with them once. It’s a real feather in your cap to be a field gunner. Competition is fierce.
Seaplane Dreams we did it in the RAN as well though not exactly same as this. I raced against the apprentice school HMAS NARIMBA during Navy week back in 91. Would love to have gone to UK and raced the Real Navy. Hats off to you mate
The music is called "Hearts of Oak", a traditional Royal Navy song. "Come, cheer up, my lads, 'tis to glory we steer, To add something more to this wonderful year; To honour we call you, as freemen not slaves, For who are so free as the sons of the waves? Heart of Oak are our ships, Jolly Tars are our men, We always are ready: Steady, boys, Steady! We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again. We ne'er see our foes but we wish them to stay, They never see us but they wish us away; If they run, why we follow, and run them ashore, For if they won't fight us, what can we do more? Heart of Oak are our ships, Jolly Tars are our men, We always are ready: Steady, boys, Steady! We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again. They say they'll invade us these terrible foe, They frighten our women, our children, our beaus, But if should their flat-bottoms, in darkness set oar, Still Britons they'll find to receive them on shore. Heart of Oak are our ships, Jolly Tars are our men, We always are ready: Steady, boys, Steady! We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again. We still make them feel and we still make them flee, And drub them ashore as we drub them at sea, Then cheer up me lads with one heart let us sing, Our soldiers and sailors, our statesmen and king. Heart of Oak are our ships, Jolly Tars are our men, We always are ready: Steady, boys, Steady! We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again."
My dad used to take me every year, was a fabulous exciting time, remember cheering for the team that was on the side of the stadium you were on, I can honestly say now at 53 I’d love to see it all again, the pride it brought was amazing
My Grandad was a trainer for this, I think in Portsmouth. Sadly he died when I was quite young so I never got to hear that many stories but I believe it was very hardcore, either my Dad or Grandad told me once that if someone lost a finger they would just carry on, not even stop to pick it up! It was an amazing tradition to commemorate an event that the Royal Navy is rightly very proud of.
Me too. When he was describing it, I didn't cotton on, but when the video started, it all came back. I'd forgotten all about this. It was always exciting to watch.
@@Gambit771 that's right Gambit it's not strange the British probably did it first. They did most things first. I am a Canadian of British descent. What other countries do is strange not
The Earls Court event came to an end because the increasingly stretched armed services have found it ever more difficult to provide personnel. Sad that the youth of today don't appreciate history and what it took to achieve the things they did back in the day. I'm a South African living in the UK and I can attest that a similar event was run in South Africa relating to the same event/siege of Ladysmith between the British and the Boers. The British didn't have field artillery so they had to strip their ships of the only available artillery and hump it across the African savanna in record time to drive the Boers out. The British suffered 175 killed and 249 wounded. 52 dead Boers were left in the British positions. On Christmas Day 1899, the Boers fired into Ladysmith a carrier shell without a fuse, which contained a Christmas pudding, two Union flags and the message, "compliments of the season". The shell is still kept in the museum at Ladysmith.
The results where flashed around the Army too! I followed the Field Gun competition throughout my Army career and had the utmost respect for these naval warriors.
When I was 9 years old [I am now a sprightly 70] my dad, who was a Chief Petty Officer in the Royal Navy and based at Devonport Naval base, Plymouth [my home town] took me on to the base to watch the Devonport field gun team practising for the Royal Tournament at Earls Court, London. The matelots on the team seemed like huge, powerful hulks to me. When I went to watch them at the Royal Tournament when I had grown up, they STILL looked like huge, powerful hulks! On Friday 29th July 1999, I took my young nephew to see the Royal Tournament, on the evening when the team from Devonport broke the 15 year-old course record previously held by Portsmouth. Devonport did it in 2 minutes 40.43 seconds., a record which will never now be broken. The competition is in three parts: the Run Out, the Run Back, and the Run Home. The heart of the run, apart from carrying the huge weights involved, disassembling and reassembling the gun, carriage, wheels and limber, is the 28 foot chasm, into which no man or piece of equipment must fall. The A and B teams from Portsmouth, Devonport and Fleet Air Arm [there used to be four teams] consist of 18 men each. The B teams, although they also run against each other, are really a box of human spares for the A team. It took them 5 months to get track fit before they start practising the run. When the final selection was made for the two teams, those not making the A team be disconsolate. Those making neither team would be practically suicidal. By the time they got to Earls Court Arena, the teams would have made 600 practice runs. Injuries in training were frequent and were sometimes serious, especially when catching fingers in the gun breach, but were brushed off by the men. A programme made in 1978 by Ian Wooldridge [sadly since passed away] follows the 1978 Portsmouth field gun team training. The programme was titled "To The Limit and Beyond", the motto of the field gunners. If you can find a copy of the programme anywhere, it is an impressive to watch and shows the esprit and dedication of the field gunners. During the course of the Royal Tournament the teams made 16 competition runs. After each run the results and times would be signalled around the fleet. Some field gun races do now take place, but they do not have the chasm, which made the field gun competition so unique. It has been described over the years as the "toughest team sport in the world.
I was 5/6 years old when I went to my first royal tournament way back in 1983 & i was extremely lucky to went with my school class in 1984, 1985, & 1986. I'll never forget watching this for the rest of my days as it was always the highlight of the event for me, i can still remember the noise, smell & the insane loud cheering for both teams when they did this. A big hats off to any of the lads on here who actually did this.
@@CombatArmsChannel I went every year from 1984-1986, it was a such a sight and because it was a school trip it was even better. Honestly if i could bottle up a memory, i'd truly bottle this one up for sure.
@@MBurfield I had many a good visit there, on one occasion my primary school was selected to go with The Chelsea Pensioners and i was selected as a representative. I remember a mock WW2 Gurkha assault taking place, which climaxed with a dummy Japanese sentry being decapitated by a Kukri Knife... the politically correct brigade would be in uproar these days.
I went a couple of times with my dad in the '90s, watching the Gun Run was the highlight for me. As you said the sound was deafening but the atmosphere was electric
Definitely one of the best channels to watch, unbiased and a definite military person, who doesn't bitch about who's best, just enjoys achievement and friendship 👍
I was just reading about the Rhine crossings in WWII, and in this operation the Gordon Highlanders were accompanied by the 454th Mountain Battery of the Royal Artillery. They used old 3.7 inch howitzers that could be manhandled and broken down in just the same way as the guns in this competition. They could move their guns by hand through the rubble of the town of Rees, to support the infantry in clearing the town of Germans. At one point they took a gun apart to mount it in the upstairs room of a house. Seeing this competition again reminded me of the history that I just read.
Enjoying your channel, my great grandfather fought in the battle of Ladysmith he was colour Sargent major for the The Royal Leicestershire regiment (UK), his brother died there. Nice to look back and give gratitude to all you guys that have given service to your countries.🇬🇧🇺🇸
I watched lots of your videos . As ex British Military ( Army ) , I am always impressed by your knowledge and unbiased comments . You are a credit to your Corps
My parents used to take me to the Royal Tournament back in the 70's. The Field Gun Race was always the highpoint of the evening. My Grandfather had been regular Navy before and during the war, and Portsmouth was his home port, so we always supported them. The rivalry between Devonport, Portsmouth and Fleet Air Arm was extremely fierce, and those guys put their all into the competition. I suspect it was the pinnacle of their naval careers, to represent their port in the gun race. It was tremendously exciting, and I wish they'd bring it back, but with the Health and Safety Laws these days, I don't suppose they can. There were always stories of people breaking arms and losing fingers but carrying on, and I can quite believe the adrenalin would carry them through. Respect to the guys who competed in this. You were amazing.
Firstly, thank you for your service, secondly, respect for taking the time to watch. I saw this many many times when I was young as my dad who served in the Royal Green Jackets took me to the royal tournament every year without fail. I met these guys every year and was just in awe at the sheer size of them. All of them. The hardest bunch of men you'll ever see, bloodied, pieces of finger missing. Unreal. The race itself is amazing. And as you found out just too much to focus on. With the 2 sides of the audience cheering and kids screaming for their favourite station. Such a shame they stopped the tournament, would have loved to take my son one day. You should watch a few more vids like that, if you're into bands there's a tattoo filmed at the old Wembley stadium in the early 80's. I think the largest military band ever assembled, and I was there. All now history and no money to make it happen again.
A guy i used to play Rugby with, Tony Bloor took part in the Field Gun Crew in the late 70s and 80s used to entertain us with stories of the injuries that teams used to get during training. Fingers left in the wrong place and flattened etc, Very gory .
@@jameswatsonatheistgamer Do not forget the Scots who have a global reputation for being extremely good soldiers. Nor must you overlook the Scots - Irish, fearsome foes you don't want against you. George Washington himself once said that if he was ever in a life or death battle he would want the Scots - Irish standing with him shoulder to shoulder.
@@RobRoyBoaz well of course the scots got a reputation when you look at history. Remember that the mighty Roman Empire built 2 walls and a ditch to keep them away.
@@hangarrat101 & anthony moore - good call, just watched the video - shame we don't do the Royal Tournament anymore, I watched it most years on TV... it was always feel good TV
This race was at the royal tournament every year, I went twice the atmosphere was electric. The race was also shown on national TV every year and was part of the national psyche. Injuries were all too common.
I'm ex RAF, have seen this live a few times, stuning! Amazing to watch live. Love your attitude, US Army may not have as long a history, but, what a great history it has. Keep up the good work.
I did the "Cadet" version of this, as a kid. Saw a lot of grown men do it. And my uncle was an officer for several teams. The adult version, just watching them train, was awe inspiring. But, [junior] Deadalus Field Gun Crew rules, and our succes run against everone, for me, is a proud moment of my childhood..
Part of the yearly Royal Tournament which is sadly no more. I trained for this but sadly could not run as a promotion course came up. Many of my friends ran the crew year on year. As you correctly say, It’s historic from old battles where field guns had to be taken over terrain to battle. The training is brutal and the runs are even more brutal. Lads have had carriages run over them, barrels land on them, broken bones and fingers going missing were common. Bodies of most are now wrecked! The rivalry within the Royal Navy was fierce. Ultra fit people with absolute dedication. Disgusting that it was stopped. A smaller competition still goes on within the Navy, now seeing teams from Marines, Army and RAF. Cadets also run teams. All done with much smaller hardware now. After the season is over they all go back to units to carry out their usual professions. So proud!
Royal Tournament was great: what other gems were there: King's Troop of the Royal Horse Artillery barrelling round and not crashing; the strange window-ladder display team; the RAF police dogs, seizing the runaway guy with the padded sleeve; bagpipers playing Highland Laddie; just a joy every year. Favourite birthday outing as a kid. To say nothing of manning the mast at HMS Ganges! Now that was serious stuff.
I was there for the last run , my Grandmother worked at Earl's court so got to go to the tournament every year from 6 months old absolutely loved it and still do and I really do believe that the Royal tournament stopping is part of the reason that the military in the UK is not held in the same esteem as it was when I was growing up , my gran used to say that they would run up and down the stairs with those wheels as part of their warm up and that was about 7 or 8 stories I think, but could be wrong lol it was along time ago, but I do remember the hard working men of those crews it made proud to be British .
@@f3aok they couldn't afford to keep it going the government just saw it as a huge expense I guess they didnt see the any reason to keep it going ,sad that I never got the chance to take my kids to see it as my father did for me , it was nothing short of amazing a wonderful part of my childhood that I'll never forget
Hi mate, Royal Navy Vet here - ran Field Gun twice in the cut down version post-1999. Had a couple of mates who volunteered for Field Gun prior to 99. It was a gucci-billet (RN slang - cool job). Generally you were assigned to training for the comp for 2 years as a full time job. You can probably see from the video that it takes that kind of dedication not to die... Having said that, you mentioned injuries. There were a lot of those, even on the cut down version. Was just expected that someone or maybe more than one would lose a finger at some point. The main idea was two-fold. First was to show what extreme dedication and discipline can achieve as an example to the rest of the fleet to get their sh*t in one sock. Second was to send a message to the rest of the world to not mess with the RN or our allies. If you can train people to throw hardware around like that, better beleive we're on top of our day job ;-) After 1999 the cut-down version was put in place, which is similar - same rig mostly, but without the zip line/walls. What was lost in difficulty was made up for in that it was no longer your main job, which meant more could participate. When I ran it was against 7 other teams. I was back-of-box (the heavy lifter - not very fast), while i was an instructor at the Basic Training School at HMS RALEIGH, and Instructor at the Engineering School at HMS SULTAN. All done out of hours after usual duties squared away. Never been so fit! But it was a real shame when the full-fat version was discontinued. Guess they needed everyone to have all their fingers. KR Lt M S Maxwell, RN (rtd)
Great to see that this still raises interesting conversations and memories. Combat Arms, I love that you found this of interest and assessed it for your followers. I had the (dubious)pleasure and privilege of running for Devonport Field Gun Crew 4 times 3 in the arena at Earls court. And the honour of selecting and training the Devonport crews in 1987 and 1993.
My father was a chief in the navy, and I loved watching this... like so many things in the UK, traditions are being lost... we used to have Navy Days (open day to visit naval ships etc) and Family Days( officers had families on their assigned ships out to sea and kids firing guns - great fun). Up until about the mid eighties sailers were still entitled to their Grog ration (Rum) and old naval ships have a keg in the mess for this purpose - this goes back huge amount of years... when the British fought the Spanish on the Old sail naval ships (ship of the line such as HMS victory) gunners were able to reload and fire guns double the rate of the french/Spanish which had a huge affect on any given battle .... so tradition of being well trained gunners was normal in the old ship of the line days
The unmistakeable voice of Barry Davis doing the commentary. He was one of the best football commentators when I was growing up in England. I think he passed away some time ago but I could be wrong.
A good friend of mine was from the Fleet Air Arm. He was in the team, in the seventies. He still has today a Wheel pin, marked P for Portsmouth that was left on the square. A true Gentleman and nice guy. Luv ya Jim mate.
What you are seeing is from what was a annual tv show called “The Royal Tournament”. Whilst the show continues, it is no longer televised. The field gun competition has not actually stoped, it continues to this day and as far as I know all 3 branches of the armed forces now do this. Originally when it was purely a naval event it would be contested by numerous branches of the navy. In this case it’s the Fleet Air Arm v Devon. You would traditionally see others like Portsmouth also taking part. It’s really about bragging rights. A lot of Royal Navy ships also have their own teams. This event has not stopped at all. The last one I saw on tv was when the team from HMS Queen Elizabeth won it, just a few years back. What you see them doing is from the Siege of Elizabeth during the Boer War, they mules/ horses was not able to tale the guns from the ship to the firing positions due to the terrain. So what they did was just use brute force to carry them there instead, the obstacles they encounter in the race are representing actual methods they had to use to get them there. Hope that helps.
I have watched a few of your videos. You do yourself total credit in your commentary, and I really like the way you are open to reviewing new things. Keep it up👍
When was this event cancelled? I went to my big brothers Field Gun run event about 2 years ago at HMS Sultan or do you mean that they've toned down the event because it was basically this without all the extra obstacles
@@unothevibes1348 Hi mate. What you saw was the 'Brickwoods' Field Gun Competition (at least it used to be called that when I was in the HMS Mercury crew of '83) It was like a sort of junior competition to the real thing.
I went to Gibraltar , and visited high up near the top of The Rock . The Great Siege Tunnels (UA-cam). Some of those cannons, must be 8 tons, took over 200 men to pull them up to the top , where Welsh miners were employed to make a fortification only the Romans & British could have thought of . .
As ex-RN I almost signed up for this a few times. the real motivator was, for the everyday unfit matelot (not me!) to get 2 or 3 months of extreme physical exercise, completely excused duties and special food every mealtime (steak and so on) and come out mega fit and built like a brick sh**house, no mater what you were like before starting. I can't believe the airy fairies won the last one though, didn't know that.
I obviously haven`t had the time or the will, to read the other 2,149 comments, so somebody may have already recommended a video called `The Last Gun Race` about the practice sessions for this race. It shows the gritty reality of these men and their astonishing physical strength and dedication. I used to watch these guys in 1976 at HMS Daedalus, practicing and witnessed many injuries. I recommend that you watch that video to get a real sense of the Field Gun Competition.
I saw a documentary about the training involved for this competition . It's insane. Many many injuries. One guy at the end of one run, looked at his hand and realised he had a finger missing. They looked around for quite a while before his mate revealed that he'd found it a while ago but hidden it in his pocket for a joke. Another guy, during the actual competition in front of the huge crowd got his skull split open during the first run. He didn't drop out. During the brief respite just before the run back, they staple gunned his skull back together without any anaesthetic. These guys are dedicated and they are very hard.
I was part of the Devonport crew in 1998 though didn't quite make the running crew Training took about 4 months all the crews were volunteers. Each person was put into a position which had a number I trained as Devonport No 6 which was on the gun trail though I could also do no 5 which was a similar position but on the other side. It took about a week on the track just to learn the first bit, the run out. If you want to see some of the injuries just look up the 1998 field gun interviews. Just to confirm I still have all my fingers!
Have spent two years at Earls Court for the Royal Tournament I can tell you that the Royal Navy field gun competition was fanatical.bigger than football within the navy and thousands of people would support one of the three teams. I was Portsmouth all the way, my pal bill parry ran in 1990’s. As a contender you could only run the gun three times in your career, the level of training and dedication from the teams was awe inspiring. If you’ve been given the chance to compete with the RN then good luck pal! You’ll all need it. I served but never ran the field gun. People did loose fingers etc, it was part of the course. Huge tradition as you rightly said dating from the boar war, it represents what the Royal Navy did to get guns and ammunition to the war effort. Through the hole in the wall and over the chasm. 👍🏻
My friends dad used to run the bar at HMS Daedalus and there was apparently a jar of pickled fingers that had been cut off during training. The gun run is brutal and the guys are ridiculously fit.
I remember watching this as a child. We would cheer on our chosen side, we're a military family serving in all the branches of the military with mum in the Wrens and dad in the Royal Marines. We would really look forward to this. Going once to the Royal Tournament was the icing on the cake. Then one year my son worked there all through the tournament, he loved it. This and the Royal Tattoo would make us swell with pride. Such a shame the bean counters decided to do away with it. Thanks for showing and commenting on this.
I was at the 98 Royal Tournament pulling the inter services Tug Of War finals. Pulling for the Army. These guys did heats in the morning. When the last guy comes across and pulls the shear legs down. It hit one fella right on the top of the head and knocked him Sparko. He was back on in the evening with a bandage round his noggin. They are hard fellas. If the wheel men drop the wheel pin. It tradition for him to stick his Index finger in the axle to do the runny bits. Hard men.
I went to the Royal Tournament with my school, c. 1980, and the Field Gun race was the high spot. It used to be on TV every year as well. He mentions the coordination and teamwork a lot, which, of course is the heart of it. But what he didn’t mention so much was the sheer strength of those guys. The shoulders on them!
My father-in-law was a member of the Fleet Air Arm team back in the 60s. He was a wheelman, carrying a 60 pound wheel over the wall and zip line. He lost two fingers in training (caught in the axle) and was allowed 2 days off training to recover. Since competition for a place in the team was so high, plus the fact that it was such an honour to represent the FAA in the competition, he was back at training after only one day off. The training is intense, and very closely choreographed to cut tenths of seconds off the previous team's time.
The British have limited gear so the quality of their soldiering is off the charts. Even their basic infantry can run huge distances with heavy bergens. Their ability to move heavy equipment, on foot, over the battlefield is amazing.
@@ChrisLewis-yx8kw When Gulf 2 blew up the papers were full of stories about soldiers asking their mum to buy them gear and post it to them. No one had the right boots
@@DrJReefer True, i remember reading a book about an SAS raid in Iraq, and the soldiers either didn't have NVGs', or the ones they had weren't up to the job at hand, so they had to borrow them from their American counterparts. They got nicknamed "the borrowers" (after a famous British TV show).
I went to the Royal Tournament many times as a kid and saw this, every time was brilliant, always cheered for Portsmouth if they were running, or Fleet Air Arm. As a Sea Cadet I stayed in Portsmouth yard and watched them training for this, many busted knuckles and more than few broken fingers. It is something else to see live, shame it's not run anymore. As you said this is based on an event from the Boer War where Guns were removed from a ship and transported over land and back.
Military personnel give up months of their own time for nothing more than camaraderie and an almighty challenge: racing a Victorian cannon against the clock to win the coveted ‘Brickwoods Trophy’ and have the bragging rights of being the fastest crew in the military.
I used to do this in a lighter format, in the RN cadets. I ran in the HMS Dolphin Field gun team and the year we won at Earls Court. The navy rewarded 5 of us to travel for 4 days in the sub-HMS Otus. Good days and happy memories.
@davidfeatch1436 I was in the band, drum, and bugler. Played Earls Court. Some names for you, Ken, Roy Izzard, Tim, Kirsty Williams, Pendlebury family....
We used to do the gun run in the Canadian Navy as well into the 2000's with the East coast and West coast teams competing against each other. They would tour across the country over the summer months and it was a great way to connect with folks inland that we have a navy. It was finally stopped because of several factors, it cost a great deal of money, took sailors away from the fleet for about half the year and seriously injured a number of guys over the years. I sailed with a number of friends who were team members and they loved every minute of it. The Military Tattoo just doesn't seem the same without it.
In the late 70s and early 80s I used to attend the Royal tournament with cub scouts. Loved it. The highlight as a 7 or 8 year old was always this. The energy and excitement of the few minutes was amazing. Well done to all those that took part.
Privileged to have seen this event live on a number of occasions. Sitting in the front row we were showered with the soil from the arena floor thrown up as the gun carriages were pulled at full speed past us which only added to the excitement
Props to anyone who has even attempted this! Doing more research and hearing from y'all, this sounds like a very admirable tradition indeed!
I did junior leaders field gun last summer (The course is different). It's was hard but has nothing on this.
My dad ran field gun for the navy in the 70''s. It takes a massive toll on the men who run it but they couldn't be prouder to take part. They should definitely bring this back.
@@theoneknownasgm Bring back the Royal Tournament!!!!!
@@KentPaddler Bring back the armed forces first !!
I remember seeing a documentary on this as a kid. I think they train for a year: ua-cam.com/video/eyBhR4WMiBU/v-deo.html
The perfect description of a field gunner. "Speed of a race horse, strength of a cart horse and brains of a rocking horse .! They are all crazy but absolutely magnificent. It makes me very proud to be British.
I am ex British army and it's a joy to watch such unbiased opinions on British military. Your a top bloke and look forward to watching the rest of your channel. So many videos of American and British bitching about one another. Both countries have fought side by side for over 100 years. We are brothers in arms and like brothers we squabble and fight and argue with one another but like brothers you pick a fight with one we bond together and bring the pain.
Haha well said brother 💪🇺🇲🇬🇧
Combat Arms Channel so you are aware we still do this just not at the royal tournament, it’s now spread to all services, two years ago my employer sponsored an event which was the first event that allowed non military to partake they spent two weeks training for it, 1 teams from the army(combat engineers) an RAF team and two from the navy. Embarrassingly the RAF won.
mobile.twitter.com/strideforth/status/1039028615046946816
mweston25 they were clearly better rested from their 5 star hotels 😂😂
@@ForBritannia LOL, retired RAF.
Combat Arms Channel yup, the comment you replied to is honestly felt between the US & UK. I hope you guys feel the same, in an ex Para, I think u have already done P company but that is only one part of a gruelling many months of training. Ending with jump school at RAF Brize Norton. I deployed to Iraq , Bosnia, Afghanistan, NI & did more than 2 tours of each. As we are smaller our turnaround to go back on tours is more intense. We have always fought above our weight n I very much enjoyed the times when I was a JTAC bringing in air n artillery for the US detachment I was with in Afghan. We always get on great together n I really do appreciate you’re unbiased reporting. Thx brother.
I am a former Devonport Field Gunner... 'First Wheels' ie, first pieces of gun to cross the chasm and the last wheels to come back. They weighed in at 120 pounds each and combined with your body weight you have around 300 pounds (136kg) loaded on your arms which comes a bit of a shock the first time you swing on that traveler.
We had 08:00 to 09:00 in the gym every morning with 100's of grid sprints and calisthenics. Then it was tea with cheese and biscuits before changing into track gear and then it was normal to do 8 full runs before closing at around 16:00. There is an A crew and a B crew and we would face-off for all of the days runs.
We would complete at least 40 runs a week and we trained for 3 months so you can work out for yourself how many times we threw those guns over the walls. There were plenty of injuries as everything is either wood or metal, its heavy and is moving fast.
The battleships HMS Terrible and HMS Powerful sent their 12 pounder field guns ashore to help break the siege at Ladysmith. It is said that an army general told the Navy that he didn't have any horses to spare for pulling the guns, to which an Admiral replied, "We don't need horses... we have sailors!"
You cannot imagine how proud we field gunners are to have taken part in that history.
I use to watch you guys every year at Navy Day in Plymouth. This was always my highlight of the day.
My Dad was ex navy (he forgave me for joining g the RAF! 😉)
We used to watch this every year on the TV.
So sad they scrapped it!
Respect. Ex-RN 70's
@@lauriestlyon8773 they scrapped the telly? Well, you should have moved to another hotel then, crabby!
@@TheRealist2022 😂😂😂😂😆
This was such an important event to The Royal Navy, that within seconds of the race finishing, a signal was sent around the world to every ship and shore station with the result and the times.
And many a matelot won or lost a bet on it :D
@@BigMrFirebird and a good many Booties to!!
@@BigMrFirebird I bet. Typical Britsh forces. We'd bet on anything.
Knowing this today adds even more nostalgia to this event, know this was sent in real time across the globe the result on who won this. I'm sooo lucky to have been here 3 times to see this for my own eyes and more importantly smell this event :)
Just fantastic. One the greatest things I've ever seen. They must bring this tradition back.
My husband was a Portsmouth Field gunner in the late 60's. He ran 4 times, he was 1st swing. I loved going to the royal tournament. Sue Godsell wife of Brian.
Sue Godsell do you know Pat who did the pasties?.
Hi Sue, he was Brum Godsell if i remember? sadly passed away a couple of years ago. he was the one who did the 1st swing by swinging right down, then copied by everyone. Nice bloke
@@Lionboy2930 I tried to join the the RN but my eyesight let down so I went into the family watch & clock business, my grandfather come from Coventry BTW, cheers from a scouse Godsell.
@@jongodsell88 Thanks for letting me know Jon, your nan Sue will have many good memories.
These guys are taken from the Royal Navy ships and Bases from around the World . Many Sailors volunteer for this but only the fittest and strongest are selected .
I have seen these Gun Runs at various Royal Military Tattoos in London and I can tell you how truly amazing it is to see in real life .
There are a lot of injuries, broken bones , stitches and even fingers sheared off when 900 lb of Gun Barrel drops onto the carriage .
At one Tattoo a sailor got hit in the head by the block over the chasm
Splitting his head open he still got to the end of the first run and during the few seconds respite a medic came on with a paper stapler and stapled his head to stop the bleeding . He still continued for the return run without flinching. This is a real mans game my friends
They've not stopped it. It's performed every year!
My great grandfather was part of the artillery force at the relief of Ladysmith, where this tradition originates from.
Alright mate ... my Great Grandfather was a Rifleman ( 3rd Bde ) in the King's Royal Rifle Corps and escorted the Naval Guns during the Siege of Ladysmith!
@@thevelointhevale1132 I learned to shoot as a 14 year old, became a marksman in Ladysmith Barracks at Ashton Under Lyne.... (Nr Manchester)
Now a housing estate...but the original entrance to the barracks have been preserved....last time I looked.
Opposite was a pub called "The Heroes of Waterloo" (ABBA never never showed....)(For those interested: Mossley Road, Ashton U Lyne ......)
Ah, the brits.. You have to love them. :D Cheers and all the best to you! ~a humble Kraut
I like Germany. Germany nearly beat the whole of Europe at war.
We love you!!
@@user-zy9yg2eu5t As Basil Fawlty said “don’t talk about the war!”
@@mr.dalerobinson But I think I got away with it.
British History & Tradition. Humbling.
Bring the Royal Tournament back !!!
Please........... bring it back!!!!!!!!!!!!
i dont think health and safety would allow it, i dont think you could get insurance to cover 36 chaps doing this, pluss taking men from different ships would now be impossible, for instance i was a sonar operater on a submarine till i finished my service i would not be allowed to leave because of my job.
Not PC enough mate! i.e. the all male teams and it celebrates strength and power... So it's too toxic for today's generation.
I was a soldier at the royal tournament in 88, during a practice a contractor dropped a bucket from the rafters , it landed on one of the gun team below he suffered a broken arm , rumours were going around it hit his head and his head broke his arm
@Rory 543 lol. sad but it's true. Not enough empowered women with orange hair and nose rings.
The Royal Tournament was an outstanding annual event that showcased the British Armed Services like no other recruiting “organ” that was available then and still is now. The ABSOLUTELY worst decision made was to cancel this opportunity to show the World what outstandingly professional, young men and women we have in our Armed Services and this is an event that regardless of cost MUST be brought back.
....sadly not enough sailors and secondly I'd never put a woman through that.
@@martinlewis1015 discipline, teamwork, esprit de corps. It matters not if it is 12 pounders, 88 mm mortars, anti tank guns, it is the team doing the impossible reguardless.
@@martinlewis1015 ...you completely and utterly missed the point.
Some of it was I imagine that you can’t have a event where a woman could never compete the lightest object was the wheels at a mere 120 pounds and they were carrying two
@@JAmediaUK For Pete's sake read the history, and the teamwork is split second precision.
Your a good egg fella. It's so nice to see a brother from across the pond with a genuine respect for his brothers on this side of the pond.
All the very best and keep the channel flowing.
Blessings from the Welsh.😎👍
My dad was Portsmouth crew captain in in 1999. There were so many injuries involved in this my pop alone lost the top of his finger and on another occasion was clinically dead for a few seconds following an accident. The pride associated with this tradition was incredible
Wow!!
Me dad told me about this because he was a sailor and he wasn't wrong when he said it was mint. Also Is your dad alright? Fcuking heck!
Pompey… 👍👍👍👍👍👍
Yeah he was alright after recovery thank you, they were mental blokes, you should see them now all in their 50’s and 60’s still built like tanks, my dad isn’t with us anymore but he was immensely proud of this aspect of the RN
My Dad also ran, but a few years before. He's still around, but paying the price as he's had various surgeries for joint issues caused by the impact. Was your dad the guy that went over the wall but landed with his head bent under his body?
The absolute bonkers pinnacle of the British armed forces training. Our country might only be small, but we pack a heavyweight punch, and it's guys like this that are behind it. Respect.
Absolutely, blackpoolrock101. No doubt about it. There's only one Royal Navy.
@@RobRoyBoaz And has been for around 400 years.......
As a young boy In the 1980’s I was lucky enough to go to the royal tournament and was in absolute awe of the field gun teams and other fantastic displays on that day. It made me join the army and had a fantastic 22 year career. It’s such a shame that the Royal Tournament is not on any more as it was such a great atmosphere to be in.
To all those still serving thanks for your service, professionalism and dedication. Stay safe🙏😎
Blame the bean counters for that. They knew the price of everything and the value of nothing. There are some things beyond price.
Why did they take it away?
@@cm-pr2ys They started by moving it out of Earls Court in London and into smaller Exhibition shows around the country to make it more accessible to many (even though, geographically we're a small country its still a bit of a trip for some to get to London)...and it kind of faded after that.
Health and Safety may have played a part as well ….lol
Thanx 4 ur service
I saw it twice too, as a young lad. The first time we were on the top tier of Earls Court's seating which, at that age seemed a mile up!
The whole gun run is to represent the relief of Ladysmith during the Boer War, Ladysmith was besieged and surrounded by the boars and the only artillery they had at hand were on Royal Navy ships at Harbour, so the Royal Navy took the guns off their ships and manhandled them over rough terrain onto high ground in order to give artillery support to the besieged Infantry at Ladysmith. Then the Royal tournament began Which was basically a tournament to celebrate the armed forces with various different demonstrations from each of the services and the Royal Navy had two. One was the gun run and the other one was a demonstration of climbing the masts on the Old sailing ships. I can remember watching one in the 1980s where one of the Crew had his head split open by one of the wheels of the cannon and he simply stapled it together.proper hard bastards
Guy Willoughby Bloody hell...the good old days right.😂👍🏼
My grandfather 1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment was in Ladysmith at the time of the Relief of Ladysmith. So, I’m guessing he witness the relief given by the guns of the Royal Navy at that time. I have also visited Ladysmith to see for myself.
Very cool history. Makes it easy to see why people take it so seriously
@@CombatArmsChannel The real shame is that all of this History and tradition is slowly disappearing. The British armed forces are so small now that all of the regiments and the units within the navy and the Air Force have all been amalgamated or disbanded completely.. And it really shouldn't be that way the United Kingdom's population is almost 70 million, And yet our regular army sits at just 90,000.
@@CombatArmsChannel check out the Royal Marines attempting to break the world speed March record, it's on UA-cam on the forces TV channel.
I used to watch this every year without fail. It was great.
Steve Gray Are used to love watching it it’s a shame they stopped it
Me too, my stepdad was ex fleet air arm so I used to shout for the Navy! He used to say you could always spot a field gunner by the missing fingers and head scars!!
I was lucky enough to see the race live at Earls Court back in the 80s
I went to watch this every year, made us proud - BRING IT BACK
This was required viewing back in the day, I love the commentator Barry Davies he's an absolute legend. That line at the end of the first run, recalling the events that inspired this tradition "the men came from HMS powerful & Terrrible, and who's feeling what now" lol
We still do it now - one of our artillery units carried a field gun up the side of a hill in Afghan at the dead of night - they had to contend with IEDs and the chance of being attacked. By morning, they had the gun on a hill in a very commanding position and judging by the chatter by the Taliban on their radio net, they weren’t happy. They called it the dragon I think.
Interesting that our American friends should pick on this RN tradition. I ran it in 1976 for the FAA . One years hard training went into the competition. This was one sport I was proud to take part in....
Grats to you
Mini Lou shippers
@Redi Payp, I'm ex RAF and spent 2 weeks at the RT in 98, would have loved to have tried this. Made some friends with the Devonport Crew and the bar became our go to place for our weeks there.
FAA = Fleet Air Arm (that's Naval Aviation to everyone else).
The Royal Tournament was abolished by Tony Bliar(mis-spelling intended).
I always thought it was spelled Tony *Fucking* Bliar!
@@j.4354 - he always was shit. oh, sorry, misread your comment [not]
Ironic as the man relied on the military so much , I didn't realise it had stopped as I remember going as a kid. Bring it back as we might not have so many snowflakes
You forgot to add (the traitor) bliar
@@philsosshep4834 I could see Boris bringing it back with a little petition 😂
I used to go to tournaments every year. Fantastic.
superb demonstration of team work. Training !! Training !! Training!!! wish we did stuff like this in the US Army.
The REAL winners are the team with most fingers left. 🤣
🤘
Naval gunner ordering beers... “Four beers please 🤘🏻”
Ex-Royal Navy myself, had a go at this during officer training. Ridiculously hard work, dangerous, tough, exciting and with lots of naval pride and unit pride too. Main teams represented their home port (Devonport, Portsmouth) or Fleet Air Arm (naval aviation).
The Royal Canadian Navy also did field gun crew races. I watched their annual one on a TV in the Canadian Forces Station in Bermuda over beers with them once.
It’s a real feather in your cap to be a field gunner. Competition is fierce.
Seaplane Dreams we did it in the RAN as well though not exactly same as this. I raced against the apprentice school HMAS NARIMBA during Navy week back in 91. Would love to have gone to UK and raced the Real Navy. Hats off to you mate
Wasn't it notorious for taking fingers? I'm sure I heard something that every year during training somebody would end up losing a finger.
I remember a guy losing a finger when I was taken to the royal tournament by my dad in the early 90s.
Lost my dear father in law 2 years ago aged 88. He was a proud fleet air arm field gunner. Still tough in his final years.
The music is called "Hearts of Oak", a traditional Royal Navy song.
"Come, cheer up, my lads, 'tis to glory we steer,
To add something more to this wonderful year;
To honour we call you, as freemen not slaves,
For who are so free as the sons of the waves?
Heart of Oak are our ships,
Jolly Tars are our men,
We always are ready: Steady, boys, Steady!
We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again.
We ne'er see our foes but we wish them to stay,
They never see us but they wish us away;
If they run, why we follow, and run them ashore,
For if they won't fight us, what can we do more?
Heart of Oak are our ships,
Jolly Tars are our men,
We always are ready: Steady, boys, Steady!
We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again.
They say they'll invade us these terrible foe,
They frighten our women, our children, our beaus,
But if should their flat-bottoms, in darkness set oar,
Still Britons they'll find to receive them on shore.
Heart of Oak are our ships,
Jolly Tars are our men,
We always are ready: Steady, boys, Steady!
We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again.
We still make them feel and we still make them flee,
And drub them ashore as we drub them at sea,
Then cheer up me lads with one heart let us sing,
Our soldiers and sailors, our statesmen and king.
Heart of Oak are our ships,
Jolly Tars are our men,
We always are ready: Steady, boys, Steady!
We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again."
Alastair Archibald well done you can use google 👍🏻
Should be the national anthem
As I'm reading those words I can hear the music in my head 👌
Marched to this many a time. As for the words just about every Matelot would hum Steady boys Steady in their heads. It's hard not to March to.
brings a lump to my throat everytime i hear this being played by the booties!
My dad used to take me every year, was a fabulous exciting time, remember cheering for the team that was on the side of the stadium you were on, I can honestly say now at 53 I’d love to see it all again, the pride it brought was amazing
My Grandad was a trainer for this, I think in Portsmouth. Sadly he died when I was quite young so I never got to hear that many stories but I believe it was very hardcore, either my Dad or Grandad told me once that if someone lost a finger they would just carry on, not even stop to pick it up! It was an amazing tradition to commemorate an event that the Royal Navy is rightly very proud of.
That takes me back, I used to love this on TV every year when I was a kid. Thank you.
Me too. When he was describing it, I didn't cotton on, but when the video started, it all came back. I'd forgotten all about this. It was always exciting to watch.
Strange? We’re British mate, that’s what we do....
Wrong, what we do is normal what the rest of the world does is strange.
@@littleworkshopofhorrors2395 Exactly.
Chances are we did it first so not strange at all.
Eccentric, not strange.
@@Gambit771 that's right Gambit it's not strange the British probably did it first. They did most things first. I am a Canadian of British descent. What other countries do is strange not
Maybe if you learned a little bit of history, you’ll know what this was about.
Cup of tea old boy.
Absolutely loved this, watching every year, such a shame it stopped
The Earls Court event came to an end because the increasingly stretched armed services have found it ever more difficult to provide personnel. Sad that the youth of today don't appreciate history and what it took to achieve the things they did back in the day. I'm a South African living in the UK and I can attest that a similar event was run in South Africa relating to the same event/siege of Ladysmith between the British and the Boers. The British didn't have field artillery so they had to strip their ships of the only available artillery and hump it across the African savanna in record time to drive the Boers out. The British suffered 175 killed and 249 wounded. 52 dead Boers were left in the British positions. On Christmas Day 1899, the Boers fired into Ladysmith a carrier shell without a fuse, which contained a Christmas pudding, two Union flags and the message, "compliments of the season". The shell is still kept in the museum at Ladysmith.
It's incredible what our forefathers achieved. They were men then!
It came to an end because Tony Bliar hated his country and anything that made its people proud.
Don't forget his crimes.
It came to an end because of T.B LIAR.
The Labour Government cancelled it because Tony Blair is an ARSE
A sad day when those in charge decided to stop it. stirred my heart to see these teams doing this. Absolutely fabulous.
Any idea why?
The results used to be flashed around the fleet...it was a very big deal.
lots of cans from the Naffy changed hands on those night/ days
@@garethdavis1403 Lots of money changed hands as well.
The results where flashed around the Army too! I followed the Field Gun competition throughout my Army career and had the utmost respect for these naval warriors.
When I was 9 years old [I am now a sprightly 70] my dad, who was a Chief Petty Officer in the Royal Navy and based at Devonport Naval base, Plymouth [my home town] took me on to the base to watch the Devonport field gun team practising for the Royal Tournament at Earls Court, London. The matelots on the team seemed like huge, powerful hulks to me. When I went to watch them at the Royal Tournament when I had grown up, they STILL looked like huge, powerful hulks! On Friday 29th July 1999, I took my young nephew to see the Royal Tournament, on the evening when the team from Devonport broke the 15 year-old course record previously held by Portsmouth. Devonport did it in 2 minutes 40.43 seconds., a record which will never now be broken. The competition is in three parts: the Run Out, the Run Back, and the Run Home. The heart of the run, apart from carrying the huge weights involved, disassembling and reassembling the gun, carriage, wheels and limber, is the 28 foot chasm, into which no man or piece of equipment must fall. The A and B teams from Portsmouth, Devonport and Fleet Air Arm [there used to be four teams] consist of 18 men each. The B teams, although they also run against each other, are really a box of human spares for the A team. It took them 5 months to get track fit before they start practising the run. When the final selection was made for the two teams, those not making the A team be disconsolate. Those making neither team would be practically suicidal. By the time they got to Earls Court Arena, the teams would have made 600 practice runs. Injuries in training were frequent and were sometimes serious, especially when catching fingers in the gun breach, but were brushed off by the men. A programme made in 1978 by Ian Wooldridge [sadly since passed away] follows the 1978 Portsmouth field gun team training. The programme was titled "To The Limit and Beyond", the motto of the field gunners. If you can find a copy of the programme anywhere, it is an impressive to watch and shows the esprit and dedication of the field gunners. During the course of the Royal Tournament the teams made 16 competition runs. After each run the results and times would be signalled around the fleet. Some field gun races do now take place, but they do not have the chasm, which made the field gun competition so unique. It has been described over the years as the "toughest team sport in the world.
I loved that, thank you
Ah yes thanks for that. It brings back great memories of when I myself used to......erm.......watch it on the telly!
ua-cam.com/video/Z1LTMAXn2yw/v-deo.html
Outstanding brief Mr Fraser and very much appreciated.
I was 5/6 years old when I went to my first royal tournament way back in 1983 & i was extremely lucky to went with my school class in 1984, 1985, & 1986. I'll never forget watching this for the rest of my days as it was always the highlight of the event for me, i can still remember the noise, smell & the insane loud cheering for both teams when they did this. A big hats off to any of the lads on here who actually did this.
I bet it's even more impressive to see in real life!
@@CombatArmsChannel I went every year from 1984-1986, it was a such a sight and because it was a school trip it was even better. Honestly if i could bottle up a memory, i'd truly bottle this one up for sure.
I went to the Royal Tournament with the Boy Scouts back in the mid sixties, it was awesome and this competition was the highlight of the visit for me.
PS if you haven't already done so,take a look at the RAF Colour Squadron doing their drill.
Used to watch this as a kid in the 1970's when Dad took me to the Royal Tournament in London, The Sound is deafening
Gavin Burree we may well have been at Earl’s Court at the same time then. Good times!
@@MBurfield I had many a good visit there, on one occasion my primary school was selected to go with The Chelsea Pensioners and i was selected as a representative. I remember a mock WW2 Gurkha assault taking place, which climaxed with a dummy Japanese sentry being decapitated by a Kukri Knife... the politically correct brigade would be in uproar these days.
I went a couple of times with my dad in the '90s, watching the Gun Run was the highlight for me. As you said the sound was deafening but the atmosphere was electric
Me too but mid or late 1960s.
Definitely one of the best channels to watch, unbiased and a definite military person, who doesn't bitch about who's best, just enjoys achievement and friendship 👍
Cheers brother
I was just reading about the Rhine crossings in WWII, and in this operation the Gordon Highlanders were accompanied by the 454th Mountain Battery of the Royal Artillery. They used old 3.7 inch howitzers that could be manhandled and broken down in just the same way as the guns in this competition. They could move their guns by hand through the rubble of the town of Rees, to support the infantry in clearing the town of Germans. At one point they took a gun apart to mount it in the upstairs room of a house.
Seeing this competition again reminded me of the history that I just read.
Not confined to the RA. Russians and germans did it in city fighting in Russia.
Enjoying your channel, my great grandfather fought in the battle of Ladysmith he was colour Sargent major for the The Royal Leicestershire regiment (UK), his brother died there. Nice to look back and give gratitude to all you guys that have given service to your countries.🇬🇧🇺🇸
I watched lots of your videos . As ex British Military ( Army ) , I am always impressed by your knowledge and unbiased comments . You are a credit to your Corps
My dad did this back in the 80’s.Got badly injured during training and ended up losing 3 fingers.He never regretted a minute of it,hard as nails👊🏼
My parents used to take me to the Royal Tournament back in the 70's. The Field Gun Race was always the highpoint of the evening. My Grandfather had been regular Navy before and during the war, and Portsmouth was his home port, so we always supported them. The rivalry between Devonport, Portsmouth and Fleet Air Arm was extremely fierce, and those guys put their all into the competition. I suspect it was the pinnacle of their naval careers, to represent their port in the gun race. It was tremendously exciting, and I wish they'd bring it back, but with the Health and Safety Laws these days, I don't suppose they can. There were always stories of people breaking arms and losing fingers but carrying on, and I can quite believe the adrenalin would carry them through. Respect to the guys who competed in this. You were amazing.
Firstly, thank you for your service, secondly, respect for taking the time to watch.
I saw this many many times when I was young as my dad who served in the Royal Green Jackets took me to the royal tournament every year without fail. I met these guys every year and was just in awe at the sheer size of them. All of them. The hardest bunch of men you'll ever see, bloodied, pieces of finger missing. Unreal.
The race itself is amazing. And as you found out just too much to focus on. With the 2 sides of the audience cheering and kids screaming for their favourite station. Such a shame they stopped the tournament, would have loved to take my son one day.
You should watch a few more vids like that, if you're into bands there's a tattoo filmed at the old Wembley stadium in the early 80's. I think the largest military band ever assembled, and I was there. All now history and no money to make it happen again.
ua-cam.com/video/HueIrIUm3_Y/v-deo.html
A guy i used to play Rugby with, Tony Bloor took part in the Field Gun Crew in the late 70s and 80s used to entertain us with stories of the injuries that teams used to get during training. Fingers left in the wrong place and flattened etc, Very gory .
Our deep and rich history fills me with pride.
And we DO like a fight every now and then.Island race you see,we cant help it.
Nothing like a good war to unleash the English/British lion.
Cockney Red, that's the reason the U.S. doesn't like going to war without the Brits at their side. A number of U.S. Army generals have said as much.
@George Job Hence the word Brirish. Blood brothers for all eternity
@@jameswatsonatheistgamer Do not forget the Scots who have a global reputation for being extremely good soldiers. Nor must you overlook the Scots - Irish, fearsome foes you don't want against you. George Washington himself once said that if he was ever in a life or death battle he would want the Scots - Irish standing with him shoulder to shoulder.
@@RobRoyBoaz well of course the scots got a reputation when you look at history. Remember that the mighty Roman Empire built 2 walls and a ditch to keep them away.
hey mate, there was a bbc programme years ago about the training these blokes went through to take part in this, pretty brutal stuff,
ua-cam.com/video/kD4AFgxS9v8/v-deo.html
anthony moore yeah I remember that steak and eggs for brekkie👍👍
@@hangarrat101 & anthony moore - good call, just watched the video - shame we don't do the Royal Tournament anymore, I watched it most years on TV... it was always feel good TV
What you public see is just a small snippet
Field gun competition ua-cam.com/video/s8OKSphIzjY/v-deo.html
This race was at the royal tournament every year, I went twice the atmosphere was electric. The race was also shown on national TV every year and was part of the national psyche. Injuries were all too common.
Very cool. Though I can definitely see there being a lot of injuries from that. Badass
This was shown every year on TVNZ, always watched it. Pity I'll never get to see it in person. Absolutely incredible.
I'm ex RAF, have seen this live a few times, stuning! Amazing to watch live. Love your attitude, US Army may not have as long a history, but, what a great history it has. Keep up the good work.
I did the "Cadet" version of this, as a kid. Saw a lot of grown men do it. And my uncle was an officer for several teams. The adult version, just watching them train, was awe inspiring. But, [junior] Deadalus Field Gun Crew rules, and our succes run against everone, for me, is a proud moment of my childhood..
Mate, I was on the gun display for TS Orion in Nottingham. It was one of the funniest and most chaotic things I've ever done. Good memories.
Part of the yearly Royal Tournament which is sadly no more. I trained for this but sadly could not run as a promotion course came up. Many of my friends ran the crew year on year. As you correctly say, It’s historic from old battles where field guns had to be taken over terrain to battle. The training is brutal and the runs are even more brutal. Lads have had carriages run over them, barrels land on them, broken bones and fingers going missing were common. Bodies of most are now wrecked! The rivalry within the Royal Navy was fierce. Ultra fit people with absolute dedication. Disgusting that it was stopped. A smaller competition still goes on within the Navy, now seeing teams from Marines, Army and RAF. Cadets also run teams. All done with much smaller hardware now. After the season is over they all go back to units to carry out their usual professions.
So proud!
Royal Tournament was great: what other gems were there: King's Troop of the Royal Horse Artillery barrelling round and not crashing; the strange window-ladder display team; the RAF police dogs, seizing the runaway guy with the padded sleeve; bagpipers playing Highland Laddie; just a joy every year. Favourite birthday outing as a kid.
To say nothing of manning the mast at HMS Ganges! Now that was serious stuff.
I was there for the last run , my Grandmother worked at Earl's court so got to go to the tournament every year from 6 months old absolutely loved it and still do and I really do believe that the Royal tournament stopping is part of the reason that the military in the UK is not held in the same esteem as it was when I was growing up , my gran used to say that they would run up and down the stairs with those wheels as part of their warm up and that was about 7 or 8 stories I think, but could be wrong lol it was along time ago, but I do remember the hard working men of those crews it made proud to be British .
Grew up watching this. Anyone know why it was stopped. Health and safety?😱
@@f3aok they couldn't afford to keep it going the government just saw it as a huge expense I guess they didnt see the any reason to keep it going ,sad that I never got the chance to take my kids to see it as my father did for me , it was nothing short of amazing a wonderful part of my childhood that I'll never forget
@@raggednail79 👍
Hi mate, Royal Navy Vet here - ran Field Gun twice in the cut down version post-1999.
Had a couple of mates who volunteered for Field Gun prior to 99. It was a gucci-billet (RN slang - cool job). Generally you were assigned to training for the comp for 2 years as a full time job. You can probably see from the video that it takes that kind of dedication not to die...
Having said that, you mentioned injuries. There were a lot of those, even on the cut down version. Was just expected that someone or maybe more than one would lose a finger at some point.
The main idea was two-fold. First was to show what extreme dedication and discipline can achieve as an example to the rest of the fleet to get their sh*t in one sock. Second was to send a message to the rest of the world to not mess with the RN or our allies. If you can train people to throw hardware around like that, better beleive we're on top of our day job ;-)
After 1999 the cut-down version was put in place, which is similar - same rig mostly, but without the zip line/walls. What was lost in difficulty was made up for in that it was no longer your main job, which meant more could participate. When I ran it was against 7 other teams. I was back-of-box (the heavy lifter - not very fast), while i was an instructor at the Basic Training School at HMS RALEIGH, and Instructor at the Engineering School at HMS SULTAN. All done out of hours after usual duties squared away.
Never been so fit!
But it was a real shame when the full-fat version was discontinued. Guess they needed everyone to have all their fingers.
KR
Lt M S Maxwell, RN (rtd)
I ran for Portsmouth Command, in 1966. We train for six months prior to the Royal Tournament.
Great to see that this still raises interesting conversations and memories. Combat Arms, I love that you found this of interest and assessed it for your followers. I had the (dubious)pleasure and privilege of running for Devonport Field Gun Crew 4 times 3 in the arena at Earls court. And the honour of selecting and training the Devonport crews in 1987 and 1993.
this channel has the best audience. all i see is lovely and encouraging comments
My father was a chief in the navy, and I loved watching this... like so many things in the UK, traditions are being lost... we used to have Navy Days (open day to visit naval ships etc) and Family Days( officers had families on their assigned ships out to sea and kids firing guns - great fun). Up until about the mid eighties sailers were still entitled to their Grog ration (Rum) and old naval ships have a keg in the mess for this purpose - this goes back huge amount of years... when the British fought the Spanish on the Old sail naval ships (ship of the line such as HMS victory) gunners were able to reload and fire guns double the rate of the french/Spanish which had a huge affect on any given battle .... so tradition of being well trained gunners was normal in the old ship of the line days
The unmistakeable voice of Barry Davis doing the commentary. He was one of the best football commentators when I was growing up in England. I think he passed away some time ago but I could be wrong.
yup the voice of sport loved him
A good friend of mine was from the Fleet Air Arm. He was in the team, in the seventies. He still has today a Wheel pin, marked P for Portsmouth that was left on the square. A true Gentleman and nice guy. Luv ya Jim mate.
What you are seeing is from what was a annual tv show called “The Royal Tournament”. Whilst the show continues, it is no longer televised. The field gun competition has not actually stoped, it continues to this day and as far as I know all 3 branches of the armed forces now do this. Originally when it was purely a naval event it would be contested by numerous branches of the navy. In this case it’s the Fleet Air Arm v Devon. You would traditionally see others like Portsmouth also taking part. It’s really about bragging rights. A lot of Royal Navy ships also have their own teams. This event has not stopped at all. The last one I saw on tv was when the team from HMS Queen Elizabeth won it, just a few years back. What you see them doing is from the Siege of Elizabeth during the Boer War, they mules/ horses was not able to tale the guns from the ship to the firing positions due to the terrain. So what they did was just use brute force to carry them there instead, the obstacles they encounter in the race are representing actual methods they had to use to get them there. Hope that helps.
That's a very cool tradition. Sucks the mules couldn't cut it though haha
I have watched a few of your videos. You do yourself total credit in your commentary, and I really like the way you are open to reviewing new things.
Keep it up👍
When I'm Prime Minister this is the first thing I'll be bringing back. The Tot as well. Oh and baccie rations.
Got my vote mate
Got my vote
When was this event cancelled? I went to my big brothers Field Gun run event about 2 years ago at HMS Sultan
or do you mean that they've toned down the event because it was basically this without all the extra obstacles
@@unothevibes1348
Hi mate. What you saw was the 'Brickwoods' Field Gun Competition (at least it used to be called that when I was in the HMS Mercury crew of '83) It was like a sort of junior competition to the real thing.
@@edwardmclaughlin7935 oh word okay cheers for answering my question
British soldiers carried a artillery gun up a mountain in the dark by hand in Afghanistan so the Taliban didnt see it arrive at the fob at the top.
Bet that spoiled Terrys breakfast
So trained by the field gun crew, right! ;)
All legends lads respect ✌
the vietnamese did it with 105's at dien bien phu in 1954 and wiped out the french foreign legion.
I went to Gibraltar , and visited high up near the top of The Rock . The Great Siege Tunnels (UA-cam). Some of those cannons, must be 8 tons, took over 200 men to pull them up to the top , where Welsh miners were employed to make a fortification only the Romans & British could have thought of . .
As ex-RN I almost signed up for this a few times. the real motivator was, for the everyday unfit matelot (not me!) to get 2 or 3 months of extreme physical exercise, completely excused duties and special food every mealtime (steak and so on) and come out mega fit and built like a brick sh**house, no mater what you were like before starting. I can't believe the airy fairies won the last one though, didn't know that.
The Last Run but not the Competition. This was won overall by Devonport who also beat the World Record and now hold it for ever.
I obviously haven`t had the time or the will, to read the other 2,149 comments, so somebody may have already recommended a video called `The Last Gun Race` about the practice sessions for this race. It shows the gritty reality of these men and their astonishing physical strength and dedication. I used to watch these guys in 1976 at HMS Daedalus, practicing and witnessed many injuries. I recommend that you watch that video to get a real sense of the Field Gun Competition.
I saw a documentary about the training involved for this competition . It's insane. Many many injuries. One guy at the end of one run, looked at his hand and realised he had a finger missing.
They looked around for quite a while before his mate revealed that he'd found it a while ago but hidden it in his pocket for a joke.
Another guy, during the actual competition in front of the huge crowd got his skull split open during the first run. He didn't drop out. During the brief respite just before the run back, they staple gunned his skull back together without any anaesthetic.
These guys are dedicated and they are very hard.
I was part of the Devonport crew in 1998 though didn't quite make the running crew Training took about 4 months all the crews were volunteers. Each person was put into a position which had a number I trained as Devonport No 6 which was on the gun trail though I could also do no 5 which was a similar position but on the other side. It took about a week on the track just to learn the first bit, the run out. If you want to see some of the injuries just look up the 1998 field gun interviews. Just to confirm I still have all my fingers!
Charlie B Bravo Zulu, Shippers!
@David Rawson they are not marines, they are sailors
@David Rawson Marines aren't that tough, they never fielded a team
I sailed with an ex-matelot that had done this in the 80s and set a record with Portsmouth, absolutely phenomenal, what a top bloke he was
Barry Davies. Legend. Best known for his international staring competition commentary.
I have seen lots of your vids now mate and have a lot of respect for you. Thank you for your honesty and respect.
Thanks for your video. This brings back lots of memories of watching this with my family every year.
Have spent two years at Earls Court for the Royal Tournament I can tell you that the Royal Navy field gun competition was fanatical.bigger than football within the navy and thousands of people would support one of the three teams. I was Portsmouth all the way, my pal bill parry ran in 1990’s. As a contender you could only run the gun three times in your career, the level of training and dedication from the teams was awe inspiring. If you’ve been given the chance to compete with the RN then good luck pal! You’ll all need it. I served but never ran the field gun. People did loose fingers etc, it was part of the course. Huge tradition as you rightly said dating from the boar war, it represents what the Royal Navy did to get guns and ammunition to the war effort. Through the hole in the wall and over the chasm. 👍🏻
My friends dad used to run the bar at HMS Daedalus and there was apparently a jar of pickled fingers that had been cut off during training. The gun run is brutal and the guys are ridiculously fit.
I remember watching this as a child. We would cheer on our chosen side, we're a military family serving in all the branches of the military with mum in the Wrens and dad in the Royal Marines. We would really look forward to this. Going once to the Royal Tournament was the icing on the cake. Then one year my son worked there all through the tournament, he loved it. This and the Royal Tattoo would make us swell with pride. Such a shame the bean counters decided to do away with it. Thanks for showing and commenting on this.
Awesome video with pure strength and stamina but most importantly history. Thank you for sharing.
I was at the 98 Royal Tournament pulling the inter services Tug Of War finals. Pulling for the Army. These guys did heats in the morning. When the last guy comes across and pulls the shear legs down. It hit one fella right on the top of the head and knocked him Sparko. He was back on in the evening with a bandage round his noggin. They are hard fellas. If the wheel men drop the wheel pin. It tradition for him to stick his Index finger in the axle to do the runny bits. Hard men.
When I was in the reserve fleet at Whale Island I used to watch the Portsmouth Field guns crew training on the mudflats. Tough lads.
I’ve never seen this event before, makes my British heart swell with pride. Wow just incredible.
I went to the Royal Tournament with my school, c. 1980, and the Field Gun race was the high spot. It used to be on TV every year as well. He mentions the coordination and teamwork a lot, which, of course is the heart of it. But what he didn’t mention so much was the sheer strength of those guys. The shoulders on them!
HMS Collingwood open day is providing various attractions including this.
Grew up watching this with family connections to portsmouth have immense pride in all of the uk armed forces watching this brought back great memories
My father-in-law was a member of the Fleet Air Arm team back in the 60s. He was a wheelman, carrying a 60 pound wheel over the wall and zip line. He lost two fingers in training (caught in the axle) and was allowed 2 days off training to recover. Since competition for a place in the team was so high, plus the fact that it was such an honour to represent the FAA in the competition, he was back at training after only one day off. The training is intense, and very closely choreographed to cut tenths of seconds off the previous team's time.
The British have limited gear so the quality of their soldiering is off the charts. Even their basic infantry can run huge distances with heavy bergens. Their ability to move heavy equipment, on foot, over the battlefield is amazing.
TheHypernaught best trained worst equipped military in world, thats the British forces lot.
@@ChrisLewis-yx8kw When Gulf 2 blew up the papers were full of stories about soldiers asking their mum to buy them gear and post it to them.
No one had the right boots
@@DrJReefer True, i remember reading a book about an SAS raid in Iraq, and the soldiers either didn't have NVGs', or the ones they had weren't up to the job at hand, so they had to borrow them from their American counterparts. They got nicknamed "the borrowers" (after a famous British TV show).
@Dr J Reefer wasn’t much better in the first Gulf war, I had winter weight gear for Saudi Arabia! Hot doesn’t cover it.
@@ChrisLewis-yx8kw Jaysus.
I went to the Royal Tournament many times as a kid and saw this, every time was brilliant, always cheered for Portsmouth if they were running, or Fleet Air Arm. As a Sea Cadet I stayed in Portsmouth yard and watched them training for this, many busted knuckles and more than few broken fingers. It is something else to see live, shame it's not run anymore. As you said this is based on an event from the Boer War where Guns were removed from a ship and transported over land and back.
Me too, saw it live many times as a kid. Then I got a Lambretta . . .
@@jonniebyford didn't get in The Navy due to acute chronic Asthma, so got into Scoots !
I waz in the nautical cadet force on iow
Military personnel give up months of their own time for nothing more than camaraderie and an almighty challenge: racing a Victorian cannon against the clock to win the coveted ‘Brickwoods Trophy’ and have the bragging rights of being the fastest crew in the military.
My late dad took me to see this at one time it was incredible, thank you so much for showing as it brought back happy memories .
I used to do this in a lighter format, in the RN cadets. I ran in the HMS Dolphin Field gun team and the year we won at Earls Court. The navy rewarded 5 of us to travel for 4 days in the sub-HMS Otus. Good days and happy memories.
I did it at Collingwood cadets in the 70s mate great fun. Us kids were doing what the brickwoids competion is now way back!
What year at Dolphin cadets? I was there in early 80's.
@@Pompeytown I believe it was in 81. My position was on one of the Barrel wheels.
@davidfeatch1436 I was in the band, drum, and bugler. Played Earls Court. Some names for you, Ken, Roy Izzard, Tim, Kirsty Williams, Pendlebury family....
We used to do the gun run in the Canadian Navy as well into the 2000's with the East coast and West coast teams competing against each other. They would tour across the country over the summer months and it was a great way to connect with folks inland that we have a navy. It was finally stopped because of several factors, it cost a great deal of money, took sailors away from the fleet for about half the year and seriously injured a number of guys over the years. I sailed with a number of friends who were team members and they loved every minute of it. The Military Tattoo just doesn't seem the same without it.
It was always a great show and needs reviving. Respect to all Tars!
I watched this one year, and at the finish, two or three of the guys had blood pouring from wounds. But they kept going and didn't quit.
In the late 70s and early 80s I used to attend the Royal tournament with cub scouts. Loved it. The highlight as a 7 or 8 year old was always this. The energy and excitement of the few minutes was amazing. Well done to all those that took part.
you had to be their to really to appreciate this race properly .highlight of the royal tournament for me "POMPY ALL THE WAY"
I can still remember the sound and the smell, it's was so amazing to watch. It was a shame it ended. Bring back so much memory's
Privileged to have seen this event live on a number of occasions.
Sitting in the front row we were showered with the soil from the arena floor thrown up as the gun carriages were pulled at full speed past us which only added to the excitement
My mum and dad took me to see the Royal Tournament twice when I was a kid. I'm glad I got to see this and I miss it.
Those guys are massive. That is a crazy race. Amazing to watch.
A shipmate of mine was selected to train for this, it scared him to death, so he went for his diver training instead.
Hope he didn't die on a mud run 🥴
@@ancienttractorbuoy i remember them.
Start the day with a few high jumps.
Then a mud run
Then diver training.