HMS Teazer

Ben wearing his HMS Teazer cap. (TV: The War Machines)

HMS Teazer was the Royal Navy vessel to which Ben Jackson was assigned as a radar plot third class.

History

In July 1966, HMS Teazer had recently departed Britain en route to the West Indies, leaving Ben seconded to a shore posting and most disappointed. (TV: The War Machines; PROSE: The Smugglers)

Behind the scenes

• Neither the ship's name nor Ben's rate (speciality) was referred to in dialogue nor in the novelisation of The War Machines. Both were shown on Ben's uniform. The rate badge of a radar plot third class was worn on his right sleeve, and his ship was identified on his cap embroidery. Details as to the class of ship were never made clear.
• The most recent ship to bear the name, HMS Teazer (S23), was a Type 16 anti-submarine frigate, which had been converted from a T-class destroyer (as R23) in 1952. She was decommissioned in September 1961 and scrapped on 7 August 1965, nearly a year before her DWU counterpart set sail for the West Indies without Ben. It cannot be another HMS Teazer to which Ben was assigned, as it is illegal for two ships to have the same name, so it can only be assumed that the decommissioning never took place in the Doctor Who universe.