Hello David,
I have sent an e-mail to GPM re AJAX and I will let you know the reply.
I am ex R.N., but never saw a shot fired in anger at sea, unless you count being on the receiving end of thrown fish and throwing potatoes back during the 'Cod War'!!
With regard to the men I served with, most officers in those days seemed to have their eyes only fixed on the promotion ladder and the majority of senior rates seemed to have forgotten their humble beginnings!!
Maybe it was me that was out of step, but the ships that I wanted to be drafted to were being taken out of commission and scrapped. If she did not have scuttles, she was not a proper ship!! (My grandfather used to say the same about coal-burning ships. To quote : "It was dirty hard work bunkering, but the whole crew used to muck in and it helped to build up cameraderie"
It cannot be contested that the seamen that fought in WW1 and WW2 greatly expanded the traditions of the RN (and the M.N.) and the glory.
I have never forgotten the expression from an earlier era: 'If blood be the price of Admiralty, by God, we have paid in full'.
I think by taking an interest in their ships and building models of them and remembering their deeds, their memory will always be kept alive.
I hope that this does not sound too gung-ho.
Very best regards
beejay