2 NAVY NEWS, AUGUST 2007
Ballistic missile
submarine
HMS Dasher
847 NAS
HMS Pursuer
Orion task force
HMS Illustrious
HMS Manchester
HMS Sabre/Scimitar
HMS Trenchant
845 and 846 NAS, 539ASRM
NaTT
RFA Wave Knight
HMS Portland
HMS Ocean
HMS Richmond
HMS Cornwall
HMS Blyth
HMS Ramsey
HMS Penzance
RFA Sir Bedivere
HMS Monmouth
RFA Bayleaf
814 NAS
HMS Edinburgh
857 NAS
FASLANE
HMS Somerset
HMS Lancaster
ROSYTH
HMS Daring
HMS Albion
HMS Dumbarton Castle
PORTSMOUTH
HMS Southampton
702 NAS
HMS Cattistock
DEVONPORT
Satellite imagery courtesy of NASA
FFleet Focusleet Focus
CURRENT operations by the men and women of the Senior
Service fall into two distinct ‘theatres’: the Americas and
the Gulf.
We’ll begin with the former. HMS Illustrious and her
escort HMS Manchester are patrolling the Eastern
Seaboard of the USA for exercises with the US Navy/
Marine Corps – exercises which have meant the arrival of
some strange birds aboard the carrier (see page 7). More (precise) bangs for your buck
Also off the USA is frigate HMS Portland, meeting
French, American and Russian warships for war games
THE fi rst of the Navy’s next-
American military since the late 1970s and fi ring at the end of trials for her weaponry
(turn to page 10) before heading to the Caribbean.
generation cruise missiles
with the Silent Service for the past decade. and sonar at the AUTEC range in the
There she took over from helicopter assault ship HMS
Ocean, whose patrol paid off with another drugs bust (see
successfully smashed into a test
Previous Tomahawks have been fi red Bahamas.
by S and T boats against enemy targets in The Tongue of the Ocean, a deep tongue-
pages 4 and 24-27).
target during trials. Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. shaped oceanic trench off Andros Island, is
Newly-commissioned patrol ship HMS Clyde (see page
From the tubes of hunter-killer submarine The Mark IV has a longer range than its littered with sensors which pick up reams
HMS Trenchant, (above) the new ‘smart’ predecessors (in excess of 1,000 miles), of data from submarines, torpedoes, sonar
6) is about to depart for the Falklands, somewhere
version of Tomahawk hurtled over the Gulf can be directed to a fresh target in mid- buoys, ships and anything else moving
destroyer HMS Edinburgh has now left behind. She’s of Mexico at heights up to 10,000ft and fl ight, and can also beam back images of through the water.
most recently been in Rio as she makes her way home at speeds of up to 500mph for 60 minutes the battlefi eld to its mother submarine. Trenchant’s time at AUTEC allowed
the end of a nine-month deployment (see page 6).
before crashing down on its objective The RN ordered 64 of the improved software experts to test the latest
Edinburgh’s shoes in the South Atlantic have been ably
hundreds of miles away at Eglin Air Force missiles from the US Government four programmes which drive the boat’s potent
filled by her sister HMS Southampton, which sailed down
Base in Florida with pinpoint accuracy years ago in a £70m deal (each Tomahawk sonar suite.
the Pacific coast of South America before negotiating the
(below). missile itself costs roughly £650,000). And as it’s in the Bahamas, AUTEC does
Tomahawk IV is the latest variant of Tomahawk IV will be used by Trafalgar- offer some excellent downtime – for some
Patagonian Canals (see page 5).
the missile which class and new Astute-class submarines of Trenchant’s crew the fi rst R&R since the
Half-way around the world in the Arabian Gulf, HMS has been
and will become operational in May next Devonport boat sailed for Operational Sea
Cornwall has just handed over duties to HMS Richmond in service year. Training in February – with its groves and
(see opposite), while the work of the RN-led Naval
with the Trenchant conducted the test deep water diving and swimming holes.
Transition Team (NaTT) has ensured Iraqi Navy warships
are now patrolling their waters (see page 10).
And we should not overlook the continuing contribution
made by the RN and RM to operations in Afghanistan
(see pages 14-15).
HMS Monmouth’s Far East deployment has turned
into a world tour; most recently she could be found in the
northern Australian city of Darwin (see page 14).
In the skies, the Lynx of 702 NAS made a brief detour
to Dartmoor to hone fliers’ skills on operating over land
(see page 13), while fellow Lynx men of 847 NAS headed
to southern France for altitude/mountain warfare training
(see page 22).
Both mini-deployments were conducted largely away
from the public gaze. Not so Yeovilton Air Day which
championed the best of naval aviation (and foreign
aviators/RAF) in front of 30,000 people (see page 16).
HMS Cattistock has concluded her 25th birthday
celebrations (see page 4), while sister ship HMS Ledbury
was granted the freedom of her namesake market town
(see page 21).
In home waters, HMS Daring has finally put to sea to
begin trials (see opposite) while off Scotland’s east coast,
HMS Somerset has also been conducting trials, tracking
aircraft in the form of the RAF’s Typhoon (see page 6).
And talking of cutting-edge technology, the next-
generation cruise missile, Tomahawk Block IV, has been
successfully fired from HMS Trenchant at a target on a
range in Florida (see right).
We can now shout about what HMS Lancaster has
been up to after she was silently looking for a submarine
(see page 4).
And talking of silence... a thank-you to the unflinching
men of the Silent Service whose duty upholding Britain’s
ultimate deterrent has reached a milestone (see opposite).
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