Stan still ship-shape as he hits his century

THEY don’t make ‘em like Stan Phinn any more.

Born in 1917, he’s just celebrated his 100th birthday with his family at his side, a card from the Queen and a host of memories that money just can’t buy.

He’s got campaign medals earned the hard way, a mind that’s still alive with stories and recollections and a nice line in dry humour too.

Stan was brought up in Taylor’s Lane off the Perth Road and after leaving Hawkhill School at the age of 14 he went to work at Thomson Shepherd’s jute mill in the very street where he lived.

Like a lot of lads, young Stan was interested in something challenging and fun to do after work, so in 1935 he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves — and with Europe sliding towards war, he wasn’t going to be held in “reserve” for long.

“We used to meet at HMS Cressy, which is what the Frigate Unicorn was called at the time,” Stan recalled.

“We were mobilised just before the war and I was on the cruiser HMS Despatch, just three days out from Gibraltar, when war was declared.”

As a leading torpedo operator, Stan was drafted to the light cruiser HMS Belfast — still moored in the Thames to this day as a museum ship — where he served for most of the war.

“She was a happy enough ship,” he said. “The navy was always what you made it — if you kept to the routines and did your job you’d get on fine.”

Belfast had a busy war, and no time was more challenging than December 1943 when the Germans launched “Operation Ostfront” — an attempt by their sleek and deadly battleship Scharnhorst to slip out into the Atlantic and sink as many merchant ships as possible.

Stan and the crew of Belfast had helped escort an Arctic convoy to Murmansk when news broke that the Scharnhorst was on the prowl.

Along with other warships, Belfast joined the hunt and at around 9.20am on Boxing Day 1943, they got her in range and opened fire.

“I was down below in my action station in the switchboard,” said Stan.

“That’s one of the things you never forget about the navy — the ‘action station’ alarms going off and everyone rushing to where they had to be, closing hatches on the way.

“They called it the Battle of the North Cape and when we heard that Scharnhorst was on fire, I went up to the main deck to have a look.”

The Scharhorst had been outmanoeuvred and outgunned by the Royal Navy and Stan is one of the few still alive who saw her end.

“It was dark and the sleet was flying and I saw a blaze off in the distance,” he said, “then someone said ‘that’s it, she’s gone’.

“We picked up about 30 survivors but the importance of it all didn’t register at the time.”

Of Scharnhorst’s crew of 1,968 officers and enlisted men, only 36 survived.

On a happier note, 1943 was also the year that Stan got married to Jean, who was a pal of the girl who lived next door to him. They were married in Dundee Registry Office and the reception was tea at her folks’ house.

Stan earned the 39/45 Star, Atlantic Star and War Medal during the Second World War, was awarded the rather belated Arctic Star in 2012 and was also twice decorated by the Russians.

He left the navy in 1946, signing-off at Scapa Flow, and the following year the family moved into a prefab opposite the crematorium before getting a new home in St Mary’s.

Stan was a British Telecom fitter for 42 years. He and Jean had sons Bruce – also a BT worker – and Ian who had his own printing business.

Stan lost Jean in 1982 but the family prospered and grew.

Bruce and his wife Kate live in Tayport and have a daughter, Louise, while Ian and his wife Irene live in St Helen’s near Manchester and have two daughters, Jennifer and Alison.

Stan was a keen bowler and has been living happily in St Columba’s Care Home in Logie Street for a year now. “They’re great folk,” he said.

He has frequent days out with Bruce and plays a full part in the outings and activities at St Columba’s.

Home manager Claire Garven said: “He’s quiet and unassuming and a perfect gentleman.”

Stan said that living to 100 was “just luck”. “You don’t see it sneaking up on you,” he added.