Warship (1973 TV series)

Hero is under battle conditions, after a hostile force has invaded northern Norway. On board is a squad of Royal Marine Commandos led by Lieutenant Palfrey, whose father was a highly decorated WWII general. Deployed from Hero to blow up an enemy radar station ashore, the squad is captured and Palfrey taken for questioning. He explodes when compared unfavourably to his famous father, breaks his interrogator's neck, and escapes into the countryside. The final minutes of the episode reveal that the entire scenario was a NATO training exercise, and Palfrey has killed a Norwegian Army officer - and now the Army, the police, and Commander Nialls have to find him.

Lieutenant Palfrey escapes his pursuers and returns to Hero where he speaks with Nialls. Nialls persuades the Norwegians to allow him to be court-martialled in England. He pleads not guilty but is convicted of manslaughter, but after Nialls speaks as a character witness he is sentenced to only 18 months imprisonment and discharge from the service, but giving the Admiralty Board the option to remit the discharge and suspend the imprisonment.

An Arab guerrilla unit hijacks a British fleet auxiliary armament stores ship in the North Atlantic, which is carrying Polaris nuclear warheads. Hero as the closest warship is sent to intervene. The hijackers refuse to stop the ship, threatening to kill the crew. When they refuse to negotiate, and even refuse orders from their own political leaders to surrender, Nialls is ordered to sink the ship. However, he first fires a few mortar bombs near the bow, and the hijackers finally agree to surrender.

Hero takes on a new deputy weapons and electrical officer, Sub Lieutenant Penn, who has recently graduated with a Navy-sponsored university science degree and has a five year work obligation. However, he has decided while at university as an anti-authoritarian that the military is obsolete and he wants to be a modern leader in business. He comes into conflict with Beaumont, who is a strong believer in all naval traditions. Nialls wants to make an effort to keep Penn in the service, since he represents a new generation of graduates with badly-needed modern skills such as electronics. However, the dispute between Penn and Beaumont is brought to a head at a commemoration of the Battle of Trafalgar, held at sea at the place of battle. Nialls and Beaumont argue, and Nialls reluctantly grants Penn's desire to be recommended for release from service.

After 3 weeks in port and with a restless crew, Hero is delayed from departure for several hours, leading to events that would otherwise have been avoided. Leading regulator Fuller plays a cat-and-mouse game with Constable Munk, husband of the woman with whom he spent the night. A party of Sea Cadets runs wild on the ship. The head of the frigate squadron, Captain Calder (F), visits for lunch, along with the daughter of a stripper from a nightclub. Preventing unwanted encounters between the guests taxes Last and Beaumont.

Hero picks up survivors from a crashed Boeing 707 near St Kilda, Scotland. A doctor is landed on the ship and operates on one of the survivors, who must be taken to Stornoway as quickly as possible. However, another survivor is Lander alias Maritain, a Venezuelan revolutionary who suspects that the plane was bombed by the CIA. Two officials from the FCO are landed on the ship, but one turns out to be American. Nialls initially refuses an order from the MOD to stop the ship and allow Lander to be secretly removed, using the excuse that the patient must be dispatched to hospital. However, when the patient dies, he tests Lander and finds him unworthy of further protection.

When Beaumont is bringing Hero into Portsmouth, Nialls takes control at a critical moment, which for Beaumont continues a pattern where he isn't trusted by Nialls. He seriously considers taking a job he is offered to run a yacht chartering company, also in the hope that it would improve his chances with an ex-girlfriend. Meanwhile, Nialls visits his own girlfriend in Exeter, but she is unhappy with the part-time relationship. Back on the ship, Hero must complete a challenging replenishment at sea maneuver. Nialls, although suffering from gastric flu insists on doing it himself, but makes a mess of it and reluctantly hands control to Beaumont. Completing the operation perfectly, his confidence is restored and he tells Nialls that he will refuse the job offer. The two men hope for the best with their respective relationships.

The crew of a British trawler, fed up with their skipper's erratic performance, confine him to his cabin and take over the boat. A loyal crew member sends a distress signal, and Hero on fishery protection duty investigates. The crew claim that they confined him for his own protection after he become drunk and violent. The skipper initially refuses to leave his cabin to meet a boarding party, using a handgun as a deterrent, but is eventually taken to Hero. A doctor diagnoses carcinoma of the stomach, giving him no more than three months to live, but he was already aware of the disease and was hoping to die at sea. After Nialls convinces him not to press charges for mutiny, he resumes command of the trawler.

Hero takes on two new sailors at Plymouth, O.S. Jones and L.S. Steele, and departs for an exercise in the Arctic. Steele quickly comes into conflict with AB Radcliffe, who had been a Petty Officer above Steele on a previous ship but has since been demoted. When Steele presses charges against Radcliff for refusing an order, Radcliffe threatens Steele. At night, Steele is alone writing a letter and goes on deck to fix a noisy tarp on a boat, but falls overboard. Nobody notices that he is missing until the next day, when Hero reverses course to search. Radcliff is under suspicion, although he notices the loose tarp and points it out to Nialls. After a day and night searching, with little hope that Steele would still be alive in the cold water, he is nevertheless rescued.

Hero is instructed to pick up a German government minister, Lescher, who wishes to observe an exercise involving Hero and a German submarine. Nialls is mystified by the request, but when he discovers that Lescher is ex-navy, unwell, suffering nightmares and possibly suicidal, he requests Lescher's military service records from the MOD. These reveal that Lescher was a top U-boat captain, the sole survivor of his submarine when it was fired on by a British ship when trying to surrender. When the exercise takes place, Hero detects the submarine and fires mortars, and the submarine surfaces, during which time Lescher has become more and more panicked. He is taken to a cabin, and reveals to Nialls that the exercise was a close reenactment of his final submarine battle, and he was hoping it would help with his nightmares and flashbacks.

Hero receives a new commander Alan Glenn, a Phantom pilot, upsetting Beaumont who once again thinks that his navy career has stalled. They are called to an emergency: a Russian submarine is immobilized near Jan Mayen, an island in the Arctic Ocean, and Captain Herrick joins the ship. An expert on submarines, he is keen to obverve the Russian vessel, but he also has a history with Glenn, who he blames for the death of his brother in a Phantom accident. Herrick pushes Glenn to take Hero through a dangerous moving ice field to try reach the sub before a pair of Russian destroyers. Beaumont points out to Glenn that Herrick is also suffering as a relative underperformer in an illustrious naval family, with his brother the Second Sea Lord, and is looking for a chance for promotion. However, Hero must retreat in the face of terrible sea conditions, barely escaping the ice with only minor damage.

Hero boards and searches the Appleton Lady, a boat suspected of drug smuggling, but nothing suspicious is found. However, Glenn observed them dumping items overboard and asks to speak to the captain, who is an old friend named Kenyon. Kenyon gives his word that they were not smuggling drugs, but only items such at watches. Glenn says he owes him a favour, and allows him to leave without reporting the dumped items. Some time later, Hero is asked again to find the boat, after it was seen picking up drugs near Scheveningen. Hero finds it once again, and this time uses the Wasp to net a discarded item before it sinks. Glenn again interviews Kenyon, and shows him the recovered heroin. Kenyon claims he needed the money for treatment for his sick child, but Glenn in disbelief has him detained. In court, Kenyon pleads guilty and doesn't mention the child, but Glenn visits Kenyon's wife and finds that the story was true and the child is dead, and that he hadn't mentioned it in court to keep the information from the child. Later, Glenn reveals to a friend that Kenyon had saved his navy career, by taking the blame for a prank gone wrong which both had organized.

Guest cast: Matthew Long as David Kenyon, Marian Diamond as Sue Herrick, Claire Nielson as Valerie Kenyon, Roy Boyd as Joe Murphy, John Barcroft

Hero finds a stationary yacht, the Knight Errant, west of the Azores. The lone yachtsman is acting erratically, using a chart from 1938 and having smashed his radio with an axe, and he refuses to give his name or accept any offer of assistance. Glenn is uncertain whether to intervene, and dislikes lone yachtsmen in general, but they are defended by Beaumont who is planning a solo voyage of his own. Glenn insists on the yachtsman joining him on Hero for lunch, and is informed by the MOD that he is a renowned sailor and former British Vice Admiral whose wife recently died. The yachtsman returns to his boat, but after some research, Glenn concludes that he is planning to kill himself at a location from his voyage of 1938, which he had described in a book. Glenn talks with the yachtsman on his boat, who reveals that he considers his whole life to be a fraud, and now that his wife is gone he is planning to disappear quietly without damaging the legend that had inspired so many. Glenn allows him to sail off.

Hero is undergoing maintenance, with Peek temporarily replacing Beaumont as second in command, and Glenn staying at the home of the port admiral Brinton. Peek's disdainful attitude towards dockworkers causes the foreman to warn him that there has been simmering industrial trouble and he should take care. Meanwhile, Glenn spends time with Brinton's wife Julia, with whom he had an affair ten years ago while Brinton was away. Julia is bored and interested in restarting the affair, which Glenn declines. Peek infuriates the dockworkers when he orders a crew member to do a minor job, and Hero is put on a blacklist preventing further work. Glenn is called back, but not before Brinton notices his intimacy with Julia, who admits to the previous affair. Glenn, back on the ship and ultimately responsible, needs Brinton's help to resolve the dispute, but is anxious that Brinton will instead destroy his career, while Peek is also expecting the worst. Ultimately, Brinton helps by sending Hero on a bogus urgent sailing to "save lives", allowing the dockworkers to resume work without losing face. Glenn tells Brinton that he won't take action against Peek, since promising careers should not be destroyed just because of one youthful mistake.

Hero performs poorly in exercises with the submarine HMS Ovid. Beaumont blames Glenn, saying that the team always performed well under Nialls. Glenn invites the commander of Ovid to his cabin, who turns out to be a friend named Tremayne. They reminisce over naval school days, and Glenn is reminded that he gave "Porky" Beaumont his nickname, as a pun on "bore". Meanwhile, the rest of the officers hold a meeting to plan the next day's activities, leaving Peek annoyed with Beaumont for keeping him back from his latest girlfriend. Tremayne advises Glenn that Beaumont is right, and Glenn is a terrible anti-submarine captain, and he needs to learn to listen to his crew, particularly Beaumont who is an expert. Tremayne agrees to hold an extra day of exercises with Hero to help Glenn figure it out, although this annoys Beaumont and Peek whose planning for the next day was now discarded. During the exercise, Glenn has some success, with Tremayne giving him an easy start, and then invites Beaumont to show what he can do. Ovid tries to escape but makes a navigation error and heads for a dangerous bank. Beaumont realises what has happened and manages to prevent an accident. Tremayne is grateful, and Glenn gives the credit to Beaumont and Peek.

Hero loses a popular crew member to acute peritonitis before he can be brought to shore, with the wasp pilot Roy Tagg declining fly in weather conditions outside the operating envelope. Many of the crew and officers think he should have risked it. Meanwhile, the brother-in-law of the dead man, Graham Firth, is working at the Admiralty Experiment Works on stabilization of Leander-class frigates, and has a maverick theory of using the rudders to do the job of the stabilizers. He believes that this could have prevented his brother's death, by providing a stable platform for wasp operations. After unauthorized tests on a model in a wave tank are successful, he convinces the head of research to perform a sea trial, and takes a team on board Hero. There is concern that the rudders weren't designed for stabilization and could be damaged. It is revealed that in a previous posting Tagg had been court-martialled for an accident when the wasp was used outside its operating envelope. Firth asks for filming of the trials from the wasp, but during the first run, Tagg reports strange vibrations and makes an emergency landing. The maintenance crew can't find any fault, putting Tagg under further pressure. After tension between Firth and Tagg, Tagg invites Firth to be the cameraman for the next run. The problem with the wasp reoccurs, and this time causes restriction on cyclic control movement. He makes a difficult emergency landing, with Hero operating on rudder stabilization, giving vindication to both Tagg and Firth.

Hero receives a young new sailor Dorrity, who is assigned to a mess deck with the unruly Grogan, along with L/Reg Fuller who is supposed to keep things under control. Taking part in a tedious ten day patrol in the Atlantic, Glenn encourages the organization of sports and games to keep up morale. Fuller teaches Dorrity the game of Uckers, but Dorrity is pranked into thinking that he needs special permission to smoke a pipe and makes an unnecessary application to Heron. In another prank, a call is made in the daily orders for a volunteer to be the splash target coxswain, this being a raft towed behind the ship for aircraft to bomb. To the amazement of all, Dorrity applies for the job, and is given lessons in the mess on riding the device. Dorrity briefly steers the ship, which is so unsteady that Glenn sends a reprimand. An event is held in the mess to present to Dorrity a cake with a figurine of a splash target rider, but Dorrity is nowhere to be found. The ship is searched, and the wasp scrambled, but ultimately Glenn spots him up the mast. He tells Dorrity that he needs to return to the mess deck, which he reluctantly does, where he is invited by Grogan to take his place in a game of Uckers.

When a crew member named Brewer is found dead on the minesweeper HMS Ferrington, a board of inquiry is held on Hero. Meanwhile, a detective is making enquiries about a missing teenage girl, Rita Kersey, who was friendly with Brewer. At the inquiry hearing, it appears that the death was a simple accident, where Brewer had been unsteady, perhaps drunk, and had fallen down a ladderwell, as witnessed by crew members Ellis and Lusher. Brewer had been out drinking in Folkestone with a friend Scobie. However, the next day, Kersey's body washes up on the beach, apparently murdered by suffocation, and her shoes are found on the Ferrington. Scobie eventually admits that Brewer had met her in Folkestone and offered her a trip home, hiding her on board, but had accidentally killed her while trying to keep her quiet. He asked Scobie to help throw the body overboard, but Scobie backed out, and after a struggle Brewer fell down the ladderwell. Ellis and Lusher had disposed of Kersey's body to avoid any trouble for the ship and its captain. The crew members are taken by the civil authorities, and Glenn informs the commander of Ferrington that he has been relieved of command, pointing out that he was responsible for everything that happened on the ship.

Hero is preparing for an inspection, to be conducted by Admiral Staunton and staff officer operations Mark Nialls. Glenn and Nialls became enemies years ago when Glenn dissuaded a woman from marrying Nialls, and Glenn is expecting a difficult "evolutions", where the crew is tested with unconventional problems. While Hero's officers are trying to obtain information, Nialls drops false hints; that the Admiral drinks only "planters rocket", which he discovered in Bermuda; and that he desperately wants the autograph of Lily Bevis, an aging actress. MAA Harry Burnett, who has replaced Heron, is dispatched with Fuller to obtain the autograph. Meanwhile, Peek and Kiley attempt in vain to find the recipe for planters rocket. Attending a naval reception, Peek obtains a glass of the drink from the barman, who refuses to divulge the recipe. Kiley subsequently gives it to the captain of HMS Zephyr to keep him away from Diana, a girl Glenn is interested in: the captain collapses after drinking it. Glenn is misinformed about Diana by Nialls, and offers her dinner and drives her home, which turns out to be at Northwood, 80 miles away. After suffering mishaps he doesn't return to Hero for several hours, by which time Peek is unconscious after trying to recreate planters rocket. Burnett and Fuller also arrive back late, after Burnett has spent many hours playing games such as Battleships and Snakes and Ladders with Bevis, but having obtained the autograph. However, the next day, a ship is needed to respond to an emergency, and since Zephyr is out of action due to the incapacity of her captain, Hero is sent, cancelling the inspection.

Glenn's brother Edward (Eddy), a Buccaneer pilot in the Fleet Air Arm is facing a court-martial after he apparently ignored a direct order and made a low pass over a ship, narrowly avoiding a collision. He asks Glenn to represent him, but refuses to explain why he did it. In court, he pleads not guilty to the charges of dangerous flying and disobeying an order, but his case goes badly after his observer Frank Caban takes the stand and says that the order had been received clearly. During a recess, Glenn asks Eddy about a young woman who was observing in court, and he says it is Anneke, Frank's new wife, but he becomes agitated and seems to be in physical pain. Glenn talks with a doctor who says that it could have been caused by emotional stress from the court, but he wouldn't have suffered stress during routine flying. However, Glenn concludes correctly that Eddy was in love with Anneke, and that the emotional stress of flying with Frank caused him to faint during the flight. He admits to this in court, and is subsequently acquitted but directed to the medical board to resolve the stress issues.

The Royal Navy is searching for millionaire Andrew Denecot's yacht, which was last seen leaving Gibraltar with Denecot and his family. A possible sighting is reported by an RAF Nimrod near the Canary Islands, and Hero is sent to investigate. Beaumont remembers its captain, Tony Loader, as a "colourful character". On the yacht, Loader has hijacked the yacht with a crew of criminals and a young woman. Hero sails close to the yacht, confirming its identify, although it has a false name and flag, and is ordered to board it. However, Loader tells Glenn to withdraw, or the Denecot family will be killed. Glenn asks for proof that they are still alive, and is permitted to visit the yacht using the Wasp, and confirms that the woman is Denecot's daughter. Glenn returns to Hero and agrees to withdraw to 20 miles distance. Loader plans to abandon the yacht using small boats to reach the African coast. However, Hero is ordered to board it by force. Glenn deploys two Geminis, commanded by Beaumont and Peek, which drop a rope in front of the yacht to foul its screws, forcing it to stop. They then board it, capturing the crew without casualties. The full story is then revealed: the Denecots were in financial trouble, and intended fake their deaths in a yacht sinking, while absconding with a box of cash. However, Loader decided to take the cash for himself, and the daughter, in love with Loader, had joined the plan, not realising that her parents would be killed.