NAVY NEWS, MARCH 2008 5
There shall
be wings...
and cranes
Big bad Wolf
THE aircraft which will be the
BURSTING out of its silo, a Seawolf missile leaves the
punch of carrier aviation into
sanctuary of HMS Somerset and races towards its
the middle of this century fi nally target low over the silver-blue Mediterranean.
takes to the skies this spring. This is the moment of its silo, shattering the thin
The Fleet Air Arm variant of that the Devonport-based glass covering each launch
the Joint Strike Fighter, successor frigate earned her spurs, the tube, then barrel rolled and
to the Harrier, is earmarked for very last ‘tick in the box’ flew horizontally towards
its maiden flight on May 8. after months of trials their victims... and bang
Conventional versions of the following an extensive went the drones.
JSF – officially the F35 Lightning refit. A salvo dispatched one
II – have been flying for several With Seawolf drone; two more targets
years. successfully fired, were brought down by
Britain wants a short take-off, the Type 23 warship individual Seawolfs.
vertical landing (STOVL) version could be declared fully “This was a
of the jet to operate from its operational. champagne moment for
future carriers Queen Elizabeth So the morning of Saturday a team which has worked
and Prince of Wales next decade. February 2 was somewhat tense as diligently for months to prepare
The very first of those STOVL final preparations were made. a very sophisticated system,” said
jets rolled off the production Seawolf is the principal line of Somerset’s Commanding Officer
line at Lockheed Martin’s Fort defence for Britain’s frigate fleet, Cdr Rob Wilson.
Worth plant in Texas just before battle-proven in the Falklands and “Seawolf has passed this test
Christmas. updated and improved since. with flying colours and Somerset’s
It is currently going through After refit initially, Somerset’s operational survivability has been
trials and tests ahead of that Seawolf computer systems really demonstrated to all of us.”
maiden flight with veteran didn’t want to play ball. Seawolf maintainer LWEA
Harrier test pilot Graham By the time the ship went ‘Toddy’ Todd added: “There was
Tomlinson at the controls. through Operational Sea Training, quite a lot of pressure, but it was
He will fly conventional take the glitches had been ironed out. a great feeling to see the missiles
offs and landings at first before But it was going to take taking out the targets
progressing to the Lightning II’s a live firing to convince all – a real weight off our
specialist methods of departure 180-plus souls aboard minds.”
and arrival. that the missile was on Seawolf was not the only
In addition to progress on the the top of its game. weapon system tested by Somerset
aircraft front, £28m of contracts Falcon jets from the Fleet upon leaving Devonport.
have been placed for the future Support and Air Tasking On the way down to Gib she
carriers. Organisation, operating from carried out trials on her new Sonar
The MOD has ordered four RAF Gibraltar, towed small drone 2087 off the coast of Portugal.
diesel engines and electricity targets (pictured inset) on a leash Since leaving The Rock,
generators – two for each ship about three miles long over the Somerset has joined NATO’s
– at a cost of £18.5m. Med. Standing Naval Maritime Group 2
A further £7.5m is being It fell to Somerset to track the on Operation Active Endeavour.
pumped into visual landing aids targets and blast them out of the The force prowls the Med
to guide helicopters and jets in sky – missing the Falcon in the keeping tabs on movements at
safely. process, of course. sea by monitoring shipping and
And £2m will be swallowed Six, five, four, three, two, one. conducting boarding operations.
up by detailed designs for the Command approved. ■ You can follow Somerset on
ship’s bridge/navigation room and Missile directors CPO ‘Chuck’ her Mediterranean adventure
Flyco, which directs flights on Norris and PO Jamie Cockfield via her captain’s blog at
and off the flight deck. flicked the firing switches. hms-somerset-co.blogspot.com
Ashore, Babcock has placed Four times a missile roared out Picture: CPO(ET(ME)) Bob Hunt
a £35m contract to revamp
the dockyard at Rosyth so the
carriers can be assembled there.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince
of Wales will be built in sections
at yards around Britain and
ferried to the Forth to be pieced
together.
Given the size of the carriers
(circa 65,000 tons apiece), the
dry docks and infrastructure need
improving.
Included in the investment
in the yard will be the largest
‘Goliath’ crane installed in the
UK; it will be capable of lifting
the huge ship modules.
Return of the
big gun?
AN EXTRA inch and a half could
make all the difference.
Yep, gunnery experts are
looking at replacing the Fleet’s
standard weapon of choice
with a more potent and more
accurate gun.
The 4.5in gun has been the
mainstay of the destroyer and
frigate fleet for three decades.
But despite modifications –
the latest variant of the gun, the
‘Kryten’, sits inside an angular
housing on some destroyers
6Y^Q^SYQ\IUQb" '" (
and frigates – warfare officers
believe the 4.5in lacks the
Numbers helped and charitable spend to date 6778 and £2,156,858
range and accuracy demanded
by modern naval gunfire
support.
The guns of the fleet
have been called upon in
the Falklands in 1982 and,
more recently, during the
bombardment of the Al Faw
peninsula in Iraq five years ago.
The AS90 155mm howitzer
is a proven weapon with the
Army, delivering shells on to a
target up to 25 miles away.
Fintastic voyage
Naval and land warfare
experts are working with BAE
THE huge fi n of HMS Ambush – the second of Britain’s next-
Systems to try to adapt the
generation submarines – has been carefully lowered on to the
155 so it and its mounting and
boat’s ever-growing hull.
Men and women in the Royal Marines and Royal Navy serve their country,
ammunition-handling system
Cranes at BAE Systems’ Barrow yard inched the 78-tonne
can be fitted within the confines
often at times of danger: the RNBT serves them and their families, at times
structure into place, watched by the men who built it and
of the existing 4.5in mountings
Ambush’s weapon engineer/senior naval officer Lt Cdr Bruce
of need, throughout their lives. Your donations help us to help them.
and compartments.
Russell.
The result could mean the
“You can really see how she’s coming together and taking on
return of the 6in (or, more
The Royal Naval Benevolent Trust
the familiar submarine shape,” Lt Cdr Russell said.
accurately, the 6.1in) gun for
That distinctive outline should become increasingly Castaway House, 311 Twyford Avenue, Portsmouth PO2 8RN
the first time since the guns
recognisable by the month; the Astute-class submarine is
of cruiser HMS Blake barked
t 023 9269 0112 f 023 9266 0852 e rnbt@rnbt.org.uk w www.rnbt.org.uk
earmarked for launch in June 2009 and enter service in 2010.
nearly three decades ago.
0005_NN_Mar.indd 105_NN_Mar.indd 1 118/2/08 10:15:098/2/08 10:15:09
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