Happy centenary birthday Jim Blackburn

Former Chief Petty Officer Jim Blackburn BEM Ld’H (Legion of Honour) was honoured at the Devonport Naval Base last week. His first port of call was to visit HMNZS Otago, a ship’s name long associated with Mr Blackburn. He was enormously pleased to see the message ‘JIM BLACKBURN 100’ spelt out in signal flags on the ship.

This was followed by a function at the Senior Rates Mess with a fleet acknowledgement,  gifts, a congratulatory letter from the Chief of Navy, and a very special birthday cake.

In the letter, Chief of Navy, Rear Admiral Garin Golding, commended Jim on attaining a remarkable milestone and referenced his Royal Navy service in the Second World War and subsequent service with the RNZN. He made particular mention of the valuable and long-standing connection Jim has maintained with the RNZN since retiring.

As a long-standing president and now patron of the HMNZS Otago Association, Mr Blackburn has been a regular guest at Navy graduations and even had the pleasure of seeing a great-grandson graduate and serve at sea.

He has no time for critical comparisons between his Navy career and modern Navy standards. In a 2019 interview with the Navy’s service magazine, he maintained that today’s sailors were “just as good as we were. Just because we lived like pigs, doesn’t mean they should”.

He remarked on that again during his celebrations, saying today’s sailors were probably better psychologically prepared.

“I was thrown into a war when I was 15 and they haven’t been, so they’re lucky.”

Mr Blackburn joined the Royal Navy in 1943 as a telegraphist, serving in HMS Duchess of Fife, a converted minesweeper, in the days leading up to the D-Day invasion.

After the war he came to New Zealand. Times were hard in England and Commonwealth navies were recruiting.

He served in the RNZN from 1952 to 1969, notably in Dido-class cruiser HMNZS Royalist and Rothesay-class frigate HMNZS Otago, a transition he described as going to a “five-star hotel” owing to the conditions in Royalist.

“It does my heart good,” he says, referring to the regeneration of Offshore Patrol Vessel HMNZS Otago. “It’s a good ship and a great asset for the Navy.”

Mr Blackburn’s celebrations at the Senior Rates Mess paid homage to his role in creating the mess – an unhappy amalgamation of the Petty Officers and Chief Petty Officers messes – and being its first president. He has spent many Fridays helping cook lunches there, and today holds firm on how important a ship’s mess is to a sailor.

The HMNZS Otago Association is also a considerable legacy for him.

Mr Blackburn attended the inaugural meeting in 1961 and served continuously as President from 1992 before stepping down at last year’s annual general meeting. He was elected as the Association’s Patron.

He says in the 1960s the association “ran across the bows” of Commodore Auckland and the Navy Office, who thought it was akin to a trade union.

He’s proud of the Association’s longevity, and its advocacy for veteran welfare.

“The association has always been strong, and it’s the only one that’s survived,” he says. “You name it, we’ve had reunions for it, all over the country.”

Bravo Zulu Jim on your 100^th Birthday. We thank you for your continued contribution to our Navy.