My first ship was the Cassandra, and my first run-ashore abroad was in Gib. Just about every 'CA' was in harbour and the town was absolutely packed. This was 1964 and the name of the bar was the 'Trocadero'. It was somewhere up the Main Street and on a corner as it had two entrances. The doors and window shutters were all in "Brunswick Green", probably the deck paint that was side-lined from one of the ship's 'painters'. Anyway I digress. The bar had many long tables and near the bar itself was a small stage where these Flamenco dancers were strutting their stuff. I was detailed off to stand on the door to keep watch for the naval patrol. I didn't argue.
Next thing I knew there was an almighty punch-up with chairs and tables flying around. Within a minute or so the 'meat wagon' is hurtling down the Main Street and I'm shouting "naval patrol"! Inside the bar was utter carnage. I legged it. Don't remember anything else about it, which probably meant that I wasn't caught. Apparently this used to happen quite a lot, especially during the fifties and early sixties in the Trocadero, the ships companies knocking seven bells of crap out of each other. Very strange. The Cassandra then went on her merry way exercising around the Med and based mainly in Malta. Six months later the Canteen Damager (Maltese) and myself (aged seventeen and a half) were quickly drafted off within just a few hours to the Troubridge. The Cassandra got an immediate signal to sail out to the FES for the Borneo Confrontation and as I was under-age the 'powers that be' decided to give me a swift 'pier-head jump'.
From then on I never came across ships companies fighting each other. Just as well <g>