20 NAVY NEWS, APRIL 2008
Celebrities hang out
with the Navy
THE ROYAL Navy has been a bit of a media star in recent
weeks. Ant and Dec paid a surprise visit to HMS Collingwood
and children’s TV presenter Andy Akinwolere tried his hand
on the sinking ship simulator at HMS Raleigh.
Andy Akinwolere, from the in practice for the Ant vs Dec
BBC’s Blue Peter, had the daunting challenge, in which they compete
task of facing the Royal Navy’s against each other in teams in
multi-million pound simulator. the latest series of ITV’s Saturday
Andy joined recruits at HMS Night Takeaway.
Raleigh for routine training on the They spent time in HMS
simulator, known as Havoc. The Collingwood undergoing obstacle
training is part of the recruits’ course training prior to tackling
nine-week initial training course the real thing live on their show on
that helps prepare them for how the Saturday.
to deal with floods and damage to The celebrities – including
the ship’s hull. Bonnie Langford, Debbie McGee,
During the training the Melinda Messenger – tackled
simulator rocks from side to side crossing over murky waters,
and fills with water. climbing over a vertical wall,
Before he stepped into the crawling through a dark tunnel
simulator Andy confessed to a fear and scrambling under and above
of water, but the Navy won him a huge net.
over: “I get really nervous when Lt Steve Kelly, PTRO and
I’m out of my depth. But I ended organiser of the challenge said,
up having an exhilarating day. “The whole experience was quite
“I learnt the importance of surreal.
teamwork, and my team was “When the celebrities arrived
exceptional,” he said. at Collingwood on Tuesday, it was
During the tough onslaught difficult to know how they would
within Havoc, the trainees must react to the challenge and the
● Rear Admiral Tony Johnstone-Burt receives his Junglie L-plates
from 848 NAS instructor Capt Dave West RM Picture: PO Sue Emery
work together to stem the flow of physical aspects involved.
water through the breaches in the “Fortunately we had great
Veteran cab
hull using wooden wedges and weather, which helped, and to their
hammers. credit the teams cracked on and
They then have to shore up got stuck in, whether they were
the bulkheads with timber to re- on the assault course or handling
establish the watertight integrity training on the field guns.
drivers
of the ship. “Everyone seemed to enjoy
CPO David Battersby, Havoc themselves and we gained an
Senior Instructor, said: “The insight into what we were up
trainees and staff really enjoyed against.”
ALTHOUGH a pilot by trade, time with the Sea King experts at
having Andy with us for the day; Saturday was a long day for
Rear Admiral Tony Johnstone-Burt 848 Naval Air Squadron – one of
he did remarkably well in such a everyone as it was spent rehearsing
had to pick up his L-plates when the four Commando Helicopter
short period of time. and making sure ITV were happy
he went for an aviation refresher Force squadrons that will come
“During the exercise the with the camera angles.
● Dec (or is it Ant?) on the obstacle course at HMS Collingwood with
package at RNAS Yeovilton.
under his control in the joint
simulator fills with around 70 All their hard work paid off in
actress Bonnie Langford Picture: ITV
The admiral, who will soon
force.
tonnes of water and can tilt up to the end as the whole event went
with the Royal Navy when they
be taking charge of the Joint
20 degrees from vertical. Flooding smoothly and to plan.
The live competition in the
The admiral flew the Sea King
Helicopter Command, spent some
on a ship at sea is one of the most Before they had to go out and
studio car park ran perfectly with headed to Austria to join forces
in general handling, and the more
dangerous situations to be in and compete against each other Ant Dec’s team winning the event and with the successful RN and RM
Defence college
specialist Junglie aspects of low-
this training is vital.” and Dec watched clips from their that vital point. Bobsleigh team for a white-knuckle
level tactical navigation, confined
Ant and Dec have also been training along with all the viewers Two weeks later the lads and ride with the winter-sports heroes
in top ten
areas, load-lifting and night vision
hanging out with the Navy of Saturday Night Takeaway. their celebrity teams were back (see page 51).
goggle operations.
WELBECK, the Defence Sixth-
Rear Admiral Johnstone-Burt
form College, achieved a top ten
was heard to remark that it made
No1 in pen
rating from the A-level Perform-
a refreshing change from working
ance System.
in an office.
and clubz
The independent body looked
However one pilot at 848 NAS
at the summer 2007 A-level
needs no refresher course – com- HMS Monmouth’s clubswinger
Family ties
results of students in 975 colleges
manding officer Cdr Terry Tyack LPT ‘Pat’ Patterson has been
and schools nationwide, and the
has notched up the impressive awarded the Tony Thyrwitt-Bet-
defence college came tenth.
total of 4,000 hours of flying. tridge Memorial trophy as the best THE Navy is still a family affair
The college, which aims to edu-
Since joining up in 1984, the PTI across all ranks. with members meeting up around
cate students to become officers
officer has flown a range of air- And Logs Lucy Gilston of the globe.
in the Armed Services or civil
craft types, including five different HMS Ocean – a Writer in old Brothers AB(Sea) Lee and
service, is the only college in the operational helicopters. speak – won the Writer of the Year
ET(ME) Steven Gilboy met
country where mathematics and Upon landing after his 4,000th award 2006-07 for the best overall
while their ships (respectively
physics are compulsory, and has hour in the air the traditional cel- performance at Raleigh.
Westminster and Edinburgh) were
only been at its new, purpose- ebration took place – a bottle of Logistician (Personnel (Admin))
preparing for their transits south
build site in Leicestershire for champagne and a ‘cooling-down’ of the Year doesn’t have quite the
through the Suez Canal.
two years. from the squadron. same ring, does it? – Ed
The brothers from St Athan in
south Wales were thrilled to have
the chance to spend some time
together before setting off again
with their deployments.
Lee said: “I knew we were both
going to be deployed on Orion 08,
but I never thought we’d get the
chance to meet up. It was great
showing my little brother around
my new ship.”
Meanwhile CPO Annette
Laurie ended up training her
son, AB Sam Furniss, at HMS
Collingwood.
Annette was at the Fareham
base for a short period, while her
● Steven and Lee Gilboy on HMS Westminster’s forecastle
son Sam underwent operational
training before joining colleagues
in Iraq.
And down in HMS Raleigh in
Cornwall, one trainee sailor had a
surprise guest when he saw a very
familiar face in the crowd.
Trainee AET Glenn Harris told
his twin, Alex, that he would be
unable to make it to his passing
out parade, as he would be on
duty at HMS Sultan in Gosport.
However, unbeknown to Alex,
Glenn had obtained special per-
mission from his instructors to
travel beck to HMS Raleigh to see
his brother complete his training.
Glenn said: “It was fantastic to
come back to Raleigh to surprise
Alex. The look on his face when
he saw me said everything.” ● Glenn and Alex Harris at HMS Raleigh Picture: Dave Sherfield
0020_NN_apr08.indd 120_NN_apr08.indd 1 118/3/08 15:55:468/3/08 15:55:46
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56