NAVY NEWS, JULY 2007 3
Kings, real and imagined
FIRST, the real king.
more accustomed to Brunei’s the exercises briefly to pay her Imdex culminated in a mini ● King Neptune – aka CPO(MEM) Daz Ashton – holds court aboard
Several sailors from the Black
climatic conditions and promptly respects to Falklands dead. Olympiad with football, water Monmouth as she crosses the equator, watched by the (Very) Old
Duke met the Sultan of Brunei or
dispatched the Black Duke team While the remainder of the polo, badminton and tug-of-war Bill and (above) the Black Duke heads east under skies fi lled with
attended a parade in his honour as
6-3. Bersama Shield forces were, among the sports contested. foreboding
their ship paid a high-profile visit
And some sailors were seized perhaps aptly, engrossed in an In keeping with the
Pictures: LA(Phot) Dave Griffiths, FRPU Whale Island
to the former British protectorate
by the spirit of adventure, heading air defence exercise, Monmouth’s fortunes of British sport,
on the latest stage of the frigate’s
off on an enlightening trawl sailors gathered on the flight deck the Black Duke bowed
Far East tour.
through the rainforest where they for a ceremony led by the Rev out of the football cup
HMS Monmouth spent five
experienced Brunei natives living John Vere-Thompson.
after a semi-final
days in the sultanate in sweltering
in traditional longhouses. Just seconds before the four defeat on penalties...
humidity which did not stop the
And now, the imaginary king. veterans of the conflict serving
180-strong crew getting involved
Upon leaving Brunei, in Monmouth cast a wreath into
in a host of events.
Monmouth began the long haul the ocean, two F16 jets roared
Upon arriving in Brunei, the
south for Australia and New overhead.
Black Duke’s Merlin helicopter
Zealand. With Bersama Shield over,
promptly disembarked and parked
In doing so, of course, she Monmouth sailed to Singapore
itself outside the country’s chief
crossed the equator, an occasion for her second visit to the former
conference centre for the Brunei which demanded King Neptune colony on this deployment.
Defence Exhibition... to hold court. There she welcomed First Sea
... while inside the convention There were, amazingly, 120 Lord Admiral Sir Jonathon Band
centre a team from Monmouth equatorial ‘virgins’ aboard the aboard during 11 days alongside
demonstrated some of the wizardry Black Duke (that’s roughly two at Sembawang, accompanied by
they use aboard the ship. thirds of the ship’s company) from HMNZS Te Mana, HMNZS
The Sultan opened the CO Cdr Tim Peacock and some Endeavour and HMAS Adelaide.
exhibition, and made a bee-line of his senior command team, The gathering of Aussies, New
for the Merlin, chatting at length including XO Paul Bristowe and Zealanders and Brits naturally
with its flight. WO Baz Langridge, down to some meant the sporting gauntlet was
The Devonport frigate’s stay of the youngest ABs. thrown down on the football and
in Brunei coincided with the Much of Monmouth’s rugby pitches.
country’s Armed Forces Day, the deployment has been concentrated There was more sport at the
highlight of which is a spectacular in south-east Asia, specifically end of Imdex07, a huge defence
parade in front of the ruler; CO Singapore and the Malay conference and exhibition (the
Cdr Tim Peacock and some of peninsula. largest such exhibition in Asia)
officers were invited to watch Much of the time around hosted by Singapore.
proceedings, which concluded Singapore was devoured by Twenty-two ships from 13
with an air display. Exercise Bersama Shield, regular nations mustered for Imdex as
Watched by rather smaller war games involving British, defence companies from across
crowds was a clash between Malay, Singaporean, Australian the globe tried to sell their wares
the ship’s football team and an and New Zealand naval forces. to delegates from more than 50
ex-pat side; the latter were far Monmouth broke off from nations.
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