4 NAVY NEWS, APRIL 2008
Red Rose on
A wee bit warmer...
Something
Merseybeat
in the Ayr
IF MOHAMMED can’t get to
the mountain, well you know the
DESPITE what Crowded House said, you cannot always take the and you get the idea), but it can offer sparkling blue waters, TWO Scottish ports have been
rest.
weather with you. warmth and consistency. blessed by visits from Her
Frigate HMS Lancaster can’t
And for that, the men of the Northern Diving Group are eternally “Gibraltar offers us fantastic opportunities to conduct training Majesty’s warships.
squeeze down the Lune to get to
grateful. uninterrupted by the weather,” explained Lt Cdr Andrew Ward, CO HMS Shoreham made the
her namesake town.
They left Faslane behind to carry out training missions at depth of the Northern Diving Group. short hop along the Firth of
She can, however, quite easily
– something feasible in Scotland, but the cold and murk of the “With two weeks here, we can take advantage of excellent Clyde from her home in Faslane
navigate the Mersey, where she
lochs cannot compete with the Mediterranean. facilities and achieve a very high level of work-up.” to the seaside town of Ayr for a
was met by various affiliates
The divers borrowed kit from the Gibraltar Clearance Diving LS(D) Gary Shaw put it more simply: “It’s just nice to be actually hospitality visit.
during a stop in Liverpool.
Unit – permanently based at The Rock to provide security in the diving in warmer waters for a wee change. There’s been good The Sandown-class mine
The Type 23 has spent much
harbour and to check visiting warships. camaraderie with the lads and the Gibraltar diving squadron as countermeasures vessel spent a
of 2008 on principal warfare
Ordinarily, NDG is on call to deal with explosive ordnance along well.” week in – and out – of the town
officer training, which meant lots
8,000 miles of coastline north of an imaginary line drawn from conducting exercises, hosting
of air attacks, boarding operations
Liverpool to Hull. ● Gibraltar-based AB(D) Richard Bailey shows the Scottish divers locals and working on Search and
and anti-submarine exercises.
Gibraltar cannot offer quite as much coastline (divide by 1,000 how it’s done Picture: LA(Phot) Pete Smith, FRPU East Rescue and winching serials with
So a visit to the European
a Sea King from HMS Gannet,
Capital of Culture (cough,
based at Prestwick just outside
splutter – Mancunian Assistant
Ayr.
Ed) was a welcome reprieve from
The latter exercises were
war.
witnessed by students from Ayr
The ship’s football sides took
Academy who were hosted for a
on various local teams, and the
day by Shoreham.
frigate herself hosted players from
Others enjoying the mine
Premiership side Everton.
countermeasures vessel’s
Then it was back to war, this
hospitality included the Sea
time more training on passage
Cadets of TS Mountbatten (Ayr),
to the northern Spanish port of
Gannet (Ardrossan), John Paul
Vigo.
Jones (Stewarty) and Argyll
Joining the Red Rose for the
(Irvine).
crossing from Merseyside to
In keeping with the ‘youth’
Spain were fathers and sons of
theme, Shoreham hosted a
various members of the ship’s
careers’ forum for head teachers
company.
and RN recruiters from across
Luckily for them, the Bay of
Ayrshire.
Biscay was in a rather forgiving
On the east coast, frigate HMS
mood.
Monmouth was doing very much
the same during a four-day spell
Liverpool goes
at Ocean Terminal in Leith.
She also hosted a careers’
forum and Sea Cadets – in
to Guernsey
this case TS Lochinvar (South
Queensferry) – as well as
members of the RNA from
AFTER two months being given
Edinburgh and West Lothian.
a thorough test, you would have
Also walking up the brow were
thought HMS Liverpool was sick
new recruits from Edinburgh’s
of the sight of naval trainers.
RNR unit HMS Scotia and
And probably they were. But it
several hundred tourists (not
didn’t stop a team from the Flag
at the same time, admittedly)
Offi cer Sea Training joining the
who took advantage of an open
destroyer yet again.
afternoon.
Liverpool has already passed
From Leith, Monmouth
through Operational Sea Training
headed to Cardiff so her ship’s
– the ‘MOT’ from the Admiralty
company could call in on their
which permits a ship to head off
affiliated town and exercise their
on a front-line deployment.
freedom of it for the first time.
But the FOST team wanted
The Black Duke has enjoyed
to scrutinise the Portsmouth
the freedom of Monmouth for
warship’s sea safety training
the past six years, but this was the
before Liverpool heads to the
first time her ship’s company had
South Atlantic to replace her
exercised that right.
sister Nottingham.
Seventy-five of them paraded
They did so not in FOST’s
through the county town during
traditional playground off
the five-day visit to Wales – a visit
Plymouth but in and around
which found the country, and its
Guernsey, where Liverpool spent
capital especially, in festive mood
three days conducting exercises,
as it coincided with the rugby
hosting local dignitaries, and also
union team’s triumph in the Six
explaining to Channel Island
Nations.
emergency planners what the
RN could offer in the event of a
disaster striking the area. Modern life
Piratical move
is rubbish
by Edinburgh
HELICOPTER carrier HMS
Ocean is paving the way for the
fl at-tops of the future thanks to
HMS Edinburgh broke off from
a revolutionary waste disposal
the rest of the Orion 08 task force
system.
(see page 10) to put the boot into
Ocean is in the latter stages of
pirates in the Indian Ocean.
a year-long overhaul by Babcock
The destroyer joined
Marine in Devonport.
Combined Task Force 150, a
Much of that revamp focuses
group of Allied warships which
on making the assault ship leaner
sweeps the waters from the
and meaner.
Arabian Sea to the Horn of Africa
But some of the work involves
and beyond for illegal activities.
making Ocean kinder to the
That mission (nor the heat)
environment.
did not stop the ship’s company
One such piece of kit (it’s
running around the upper deck in
aid of Sport Relief.
not big, but it is clever) is the
Sailors opted to run one, three
pyrolysis waste disposal system
or seven miles for the charity
– it basically turns gash into ash
– which meant, in turn, seven,
Rich pickings for Chid
which saves space on the ship
21 or 49 circuits of the Type 42’s
and is in line with the MOD’s
main deck. Each runner paid £5
modern waste management
for the ‘privilege’ of taking part
thinking.
with more than £100 raised for
Ocean is the first RN vessel to
the good cause.
receive this bit of waste wizardry;
DON’T worry, they got it in the end. It’s just that a defl ated red
the same technology will be used
Knight out
blob fl oating in the Gulf of Aden makes a less interesting picture
in the next-generation carriers in
than a giant infl atable red blob fl oating in the Gulf of Aden.
a decade’s time.
This is a ‘killer tomato’, a target dropped by minehunter HMS
Other improvements to the
in Fowey
Chiddingfold, being straddled by rounds from the warship’s
21,000-ton vessel – Britain’s
30mm main gun. largest warship – include
The tomato was ‘rolled out’ to test her gunners’ prowess as the overhauling her machinery and
THE last of the ‘Knights of the warship entered waters where attacks by pirates and terrorists
engines, giving the living spaces
Round Table’, RFA Sir Bedivere, on shipping can take place.
a makeover, better comms
paid her fi nal visit to Fowey The gunnery team, directed by Lt Jon Campbell, blasted away
kit, better aviation facilities
before bowing out of service. at the tomato which was eventually recovered in a rather sorry to support Apache attack
The landing support ship state. helicopters, more space to house
has enjoyed a short but sweet Chiddingfold is sailing in company with her sister Atherstone the Royal Marines’ equipment,
affiliation with the people of the and ‘mother ship’ RFA Diligence, which carries stores and sup- more room for food storage and
Cornish port, with whom she has plies for the much smaller Hunts. a re-built galley (which entailed,
been bound since 2005. The trio form the minehunting element of the much larger Orion inter alia, replacing 25,000
Sir Bedivere arrived off the 08 deployment which is dispersed across the Mediterranean and ceramic tiles).
town after a year-long stint in the Indian Ocean. The work is due to be
Gulf training Iraqi sailors and ■ Honouring Ginger’s last wish, page 23 completed in August when Ocean
marines. returns to sea to conduct trials.
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