Many photographs have been taken over the years. You can view some by clicking on the camera below.
Our founder and web site manager Chas Cooke has now published his book, Why Should Britain Tremble - A Submariner’s Tale, on Kindle. It is available by clicking on the image below. The book, written in 2002 and published approximately 6 years ago in 2006, is a humorous and often bawdy look at life in the submarine service. It is available in paperback on Amazon but the download for Kindle edition, due to lower publishing and delivery costs, is less than half the price of the paperback book.
The book has many reviews by previous readers to give you an idea of what you are in for and there are sample chapters available to read on the Amazon Kindle web site. If you do decide to buy the book, which is priced at under £5-00, please enjoy it and feel free to leave your review on the Amazon web site.
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If you don’t have a Kindle don’t worry, you can still read it on your PC by taking advantage of the free download of Kindle for PC. Click on the Kindle image above or, if you have an i Phone or Smart phone just scan the QR Code above..
Welcome to the web site of the HMS Courageous Association. Originally known as The HMS Courageous Society, the name having been changed by a members vote at the 2010 reunion in Plymouth, The Association has now been in existence for 11 years
Founded in 2000 by Chas Cooke, in a moment of madness and a desire to try and have the leaving do he was denied due to a pierhead jump in 1978, a search for old crew members willing to meet in a pub and have a beer rather got out of hand. Rather than the 5 or 6 mates that he had intended to seek out who would be willing to have a good evening session in a bar somewhere, it soon became apparent that there were so many more men who wanted to meet old friends and crew mates and, at the inaugural reunion at the Britannia Hotel, New Street in Birmingham, 146 men shared a weekend of memories while doing their best, and but for about half a barrel, succeeding in drinking the hotel dry.
So The Association began and, despite economic downturns, the scattering of ex crew members around the globe and other more pressing commitments, the reunions go on, now every other year, and our members, accompanied in many cases by their wives and partners, continue to enjoy meeting each other at our weekend long get togethers. The last, in Barrow in Furness in 2012, attracted over 120 people. At our 2010 reunion in Plymouth we were joined by Mr John Cannon, his wife Edith and their family. John was a 16 year old boy sailor on HMS Courageous in 1939 when it was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic south west of Ireland and was blown over the side but survived, unlike so many of his crew mates. It was our honour and privilege to welcome John and his family to the reunion as our guest.
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For those of you who served in Courageous or have an affiliation with her please have a look at the membership and reunion pages as they will be of special interest to you.
The 2014 reunion in Glasgow is already in the planning stages and we look forward to meeting again.
The famous artist Edgar Hodges, famed for illustrating the Thomas the Tank Engine series of books, has produced an original oil painting of HMS Courageous. The original painting has just been completed and has been delivered to The Association (16th August 2012). We have arranged for the image to be professionally scanned over the next two weeks . From the scan, high quality prints of the painting will be produced and will be available to purchase in the Association online shop at a price yet to be determined. The original painting will then be passed to The Submariners Association who will auction it to raise funds for submarine or service charities.
Edgar offered to do this unprompted in support of his continuing fundraising efforts to benefit service veterans throughout the UK. The Association are extremely grateful to Edgar for his offer.
MORE INFORMATION WILL BE POSTED AS SOON IT BECOMES AVAILABLE
THE COURAGEOUS BOOK IS STILL FOR SALE IN THE ONLINE SHOP. NOT ONLY IS THE BOOK A GOOD READ IT IS WELL ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS AND IS CREATED IN AN EASY TO FOLLOW TIMELINE FORMAT GIVING THE FULL STORY OF HM SUBMARINE COURAGEOUS, FROM BUILD TO DECOMMISSIONING.
JUST CLICK ON THE BOOK HERE TO GO TO THE ONLINE SHOP.
H.M.S. Courageous was in active service for 21 years and was a cold war warrior. She served in the South Atlantic during the Falklands Campaign as well as carrying out a large number of classified patrols around the world. Much of the work she did is still classed as too sensitive to release into the public domain so there appear to be gaps in her history. We are now trying hard to fill those gaps but, in the meantime, we hope that what you do find on the web site will be interesting and entertaining.
If anyone has photographs which could be used on the web site please e-mail them to me at
Chas Cooke (Website Manager)
HMS Courageous 1975-1978
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The content of this web site is the intellectual property © of The HMS Courageous Association (The Association). The pictures contained within the site may be copied for personal use only. Commercial use of the photographs, pictures, images or content of this web site may only take place with the written permission of The Association. Permission for commercial use or reproduction other than for personal use should be sought by contacting The Association using the details supplied in the Contact page of this web site.