NAVY NEWS, MAY 2008 3
Big fi sh sh
P
ROOF that from the right angle, with the right light and, of
course, the right photographer, anyone, or for that matter
anything, can be made to appear slim and attractive, these
are the surprisingly sleek – and rarely seen – lines of HMS
Ocean.
The 21,000-ton helicopter assault ship is currently ‘docked down’ in her native
Devon, half-way through a major revamp.
Ocean, as these pages have recounted down the years, is not the most
attractive of warships... more utilitarian.
out of
She is, however, the Royal Navy’s biggest vessel, among its most useful,
and certainly among its busiest.
After a decade of near-constant usage, the helicopter carrier needed
a good deal of TLC.
She’s getting it in spades: since October, she has been turned
into a building site as teams from Babcock Marine and the ship’s
company carry out £30m improvements.
On our last visit to Ocean we remarked that her engines
water
particularly were in need of a good service and overhaul.
Done.
‘Hotel services’ – mess decks, heads, showers, cabins,
especially in the areas occupied by the embarked forces rather
than the ship’s company – are all receiving a 21st-Century
makeover too.
And the chefs, sorry logisticians (catering services
(preparation)) should be happy. The old galley is gone and
a new one is taking its place.
Much of the work has been conducted alongside in
Devonport.
But for some of the work to her hull, a spell in dry
dock was inevitable.
So now she sits high and dry, and will do so until
the summer.
“She might look like a building site at present with
scaffolding and pipes and workers crawling all over
her, but soon she’ll be the potent force she was
designed to be – only more so,” said Commanding
Officer Cdr David Salisbury.
“She’ll emerge, phoenix-like from the ashes,
as the most powerful and capable ‘multi tasking’
ship in the Royal Navy.”
Once she emerges from her refit, she’ll
undergo sea trials and Operational Sea
Training, before deploying at the beginning
of 2009.
A more extensive refit is planned in a few
years to extend her life until at least 2022.
Ark Royal is doubling up as a commando
carrier while Ocean receives her makeover,
a role she performed with distinction five
years ago in the Iraq campaign.
Picture: LA(Phot) Bernie Henesy, HMS Ocean
003_NN_May.indd 1 22/4/08 09:54:49
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