2 NAVY NEWS, NOVEMBER 2007
HMS Middleton
Ballistic missile
HMS Lancaster
HMS Dasher
submarine
HMS Pursuer
846 NAS
HMS Northumberland
Naval Strike Wing/40 Cdo/
HMS Sabre/Scimitar Vikings/FSMASU
HMS Campbeltown
845 NAS, 539 ASRM
HMS Monmouth
HMS Nottingham
HMS Illustrious
HMS Chatham
RFA Wave Knight HMS York
HMS Portland RFA Fort George
HMS Richmond
HMS Enterprise
HMS Ramsey
HMS Blyth
RFA Bayleaf
RFA Sir Bedivere
814 NAS
857 NAS
HMS Chiddingfold
ROSYTH
FASLANE
HMS Dumbarton Castle
HMS Southampton
HMS Clyde
PORTSMOUTH
HMS Ledbury
Grey Heron
DEVONPORT
HMS Sutherland
FFleet Focusleet Focus
SStimulation and simulationtimulation and simulation
LET us begin our round-up this month not with the great
and mighty, the massed phalanxes, but with a sterling
servant who has plied her trade honourably for 25 years.
It’s only fair that after a quarter of a century on-and-off
safeguarding the Falkland Islands, we trumpet HMS Dumbarton
Castle’s deeds as she left the South Atlantic for good (see the
centre pages).
She handed over duties in the South Atlantic to new patrol ship
HMS Clyde... which bumped into HMS Southampton on the way
south (see page 4).
Not yet southward bound – but almost – is Antarctic patrol
and survey ship HMS Endurance. She sails imminently on an
18-month deployment to the Southern Hemisphere – and needed
a thorough inspection before she left (see page 9).
Away from cold horizons, the crucible of effort continues to
be east of Suez.
Patrols in the northern Gulf have been out of the spotlight in
the wake of the Cornwall affair, but HMS Richmond has been re-
focusing efforts around Iraq’s oil platforms (see page 15).
The Naval Strike Wing and 40 Commando are settling down
to operations in Afghanistan (see page 5); they will soon be joined
by the Sea Kings of 846 NAS which have conducted high-altitude
training in Cyprus to prepare them for the dusty, mountainous
terrain around Helmand and Kandahar (see page 6).
● The panoply of Allied mine-hunting forces dispose of a wartime mine off Lithuania (Middleton can be seen in the foreground on the left
Talking of things in the air, there’s a new airborne warrior
gathering steam) Picture: Lt Rob Corcoran, HMS Middleton
aboard HMS Chatham... Mighty Mouse. The ship has adopted an
8in (plastic) caped rodent as her mascot (see page 18).
Chatham has been in the Adriatic accompanying HMS
THE legacy of past wars has dominated recent bier kellers” according to the ship’s company) Allied soldiers with no known grave.
Illustrious, HMS York and RFA Fort George on NATO duties
activities by HMS Middleton. and the Kiel Canal, then hugged the coast Next up for the sailors was a visit to the
during Exercise Noble Midas, for which Lusty’s punch came
The Portsmouth-based minehunter as far as Zeebrugge, where two weeks of Belgian Navy’s hi-tech mine warfare simulators
courtesy of Spanish and Italian jump jets (see page 7).
is attached to a NATO squadron scouring maintenance were planned for Middleton. in Eguermin, Ostend, which, er, simulate mine
Just as Johnny Foreigner Harriers can operate from British
northern European waters for discarded While the ship was being worked on, the warfare hunting techniques.
flat-tops, so British jump jets can fly from Johnny Foreigner
ordnance from the bloody 20th Century. sailors made the relatively short trip to the Several nations sat behind the computerised
carriers. RN fliers have been testing a specially-modified Harrier
The latest series of hunts took the ship to the battlefields of Ypres. consoles for an exercise intended to hone the
aboard the Charles de Gaulle in the Mediterranean with an eye
coast off Klaipeda in Lithuania; as the German The pilgrimage reached its climax at the skills of NATO mine forces as a group.
to the future Joint Strike Fighter (see page 13).
fortress of Memel in 1944-45 it was the scene St Julien Dressing Station Cemetery – the From simulated mines, Middleton returned
Across the Apennines, HMS Northumberland could be found
of ferocious fighting. final resting place of men of the Royal Naval to the real thing as she re-joined the Standing
in La Spezia, while her Merlin aviatiors swapped experiences
The Baltic off Memel was heavily mined and Division and Royal Marine Light Infantry – NATO Mine Counter-measures Group 1, this
with their Italian counterparts in their home at Luni air base (see
Middleton joined 21 ships from 11 nations for where 2nd Mine Counter-measures Squadron time focusing its efforts in the Channel, again
page 4).
Exercise Open Spirit, a concerted month-long chaplain Rev David Roissetter led a short looking for wartime ordnance.
In chillier European waters, minehunter HMS Middleton has
search for those decaying explosives. service of remembrance. The commemorations The group will disperse next month when
been disposing of the detritus of two world wars in the Baltic off
From the Baltic, the Hunt-class ship made continued in Ypres itself with a pause for Middleton will sail back to Portsmouth for a
Lithuania (see right), while at the other end of the sea frigate HMS
for the North Sea via Rostock (home to “lively reflection at the Menin Gate, which honours Christmas break.
Lancaster has been conducting a lightning deployment, spurred
on by her very own pint (see page 6).
Across the Atlantic in the Caribbean, tanker RFA Wave Ruler
and 815 NAS bagged their fourth combined drug bust in 18
To the Gulf – again
months. It will be their last; Ruler has returned home, but her
sister Wave Knight has sailed to the region to support frigate
AFTER a lightning visit to the Middle East at the
HMS Portland (see page 5).
beginning of 2007, HMS Campbeltown ends the
Survey ship HMS Scott has completed a year-long deployment
year back in the Gulf, this time on a 7½-month
charting the sea bed and is about to depart once more any day...
deployment.
on a year-long deployment charting the sea bed (see page 6 and
The Devonport-based Type 22 frigate left home
also our Ship of the Month on page 14).
under leaden skies, bound initially for Gibraltar. She
Despite sizeable commitments to NATO and in the Gulf, the
will clock up some 12,000 miles before she returns
RN, RM and RFA managed to muster a substantial force in home
home next May.
waters for Grey Heron, an exercise designed to test the art of
There will be a sizeable British presence in
supporting an invading army once it has been ferried ashore
the Gulf region over the winter; although HMS
(see pages 16 and 17). Running hand-in-hand with Grey Heron
Richmond is on the verge of returning home, HMS
was a test for the RN’s medical community, Medical Endeavour,
Argyll takes over from her imminently.
revolving around casualty treatment/aviation training ship RFA
Minehunters Blyth and Ramsey, survey ship
Argus in the Solent (see page 4).
HMS Enterprise, Iraqi Navy training ship RFA Sir
The Royal Marines are enjoying some very welcome high-
Bedivere and tanker RFA Bayleaf are already on
profile coverage courtesy of the TV series Commando. We have
patrol in theatre.
a curtain-raiser to our own series of articles on the Commando
Training Centre at Lympstone on page 11.
● A sailor keeps a sharp lookout as HMS
Other commandos have been looking for coverage, preferably
Campbeltown leaves Devonport
green and mucky. Join the Fleet Protection Group on sniper
Picture: LA(Phot) Pete Smith, FRPU Drake
training on page 12.
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