NAVY NEWS, MAY 2008 5
● See you after the Olympics – the London ones, that is... HMS Echo sails past the Hoe at the
beginning of her marathon deployment
The fi sh is off...
FOURTEEN years to the day after it all The River-class patrol ship earned the Jersey
began, the blue and yellow pennant of fi shery Cup, awarded to Her Majesty’s Ship which has
protection has been taken down from HMS contributed most to fi shery protection in UK
Quorn. waters.
Quorn (pictured below inspecting a Belgian Severn’s boarding party conducted one
trawler) and sister ship HMS Ledbury have left inspection a day during 2007. They found more
behind their other lives in the ‘cod squad’ to than 50 infringements of European fi shing
return to the minehunting fold, while the Navy’s regulations, nine serious enough to warrant the
newest River-class Patrol Vessels take up the trawler being detained.
mantle of guardians of the nation’s fi sheries. All that effort – and it’s representative of the
HMS Quorn has notched up an impressive constant commitment of the fi shery protection
tally during her time within the Fishery squadron – guaranteed the Jersey Cup for
Travellers
Protection squadron – she has: Severn, a trophy she collected fi ttingly in St
Helier, capital of Jersey.
■ covered the entirety of the British Fishery
limits
The island’s governor, Lt Gen Andrew
Ridgeway, handed over the cup to Severn’s
■ completed 1,097 boardings
CO Lt Cdr Graham Lovatt, thanking the offi cer
■ given 19 written and 44 verbal warnings
and his team for their enduring commitment to
■ detained eight foreign fi shing vessels
fi shery protection.
■ encountered the fi shermen of 38 British
and European ports.
“The award of the Jersey Cup is an
achievement that the entire ship’s company
through time
Quorn’s commanding offi cer, Lt Cdr Matt
have worked hard for and are truly proud of,”
Bowden, said: “HMS Quorn’s 14 years ‘on Fish’
said Lt Cdr Lovatt.
has ensured a high degree of expertise for the
The visit to Jersey allowed Severn’s men and
boarding teams and the sea-boat crews who
women to show off their vessel to local school
have worked alongside many fi shing vessels,
children and Sea Cadets, while the sailors were
in varying material states and in weather
invited on tours of the various bunkers and
conditions that are often far from ideal.
underground facilities built by the Nazis during
“Over the period, together with HMS
their fi ve-year occupation of the island.
Chiddingfold, Quorn has held the Soberton
BACK in September 2006, the Space
19 months, her ship’s company have not.
The trophy safely stowed aboard, the
Trophy – awarded to a Hunt-class MCMV for
Portsmouth-based patrol ship departed St
Shuttle Atlantis lifted off for the
At any one time roughly one third of her sailors
excellence in fi shery protection – on more
Helier… and resumed her fi sh duties.
international space station.
are back in the UK on leave or on courses.
occasions than any other unit.”
Such is the rotation system that only one officer
‘Crocodile hunter’ Steve Irwin shuffled off this
And the famous blue and yellow pennant?
who sailed with the ship in the autumn of 2006
mortal coil after a run-in with a stingray.
Presented by the ship’s company to the CO to
was still on board (although not continuously)
Diminuitive Top Gear presenter Richard
mark the end of an era.
when Enterprise returned, Lt Ben Barrett.
Hammond almost joined him after
And talking of fish... The most coveted prize
He was met on the quayside by his wife
crashing a high-speed car.
for sailors who ensure our fi shing stocks are
Anna, whom he married last May.
And Tony Blair (remember him?) was
preserved now sits in the trophy cabinet of HMS
“In all, during this deployment I have
still the UK’s prime minister.
Severn.
been at sea nine months and have seen
All of which made the headlines.
Anna for only three months during our
The departure of HMS Enterprise
short married life,” he said.
barely measured on the Fleet Street
His Commanding Officer, Cdr
Richter scale, if it nudged it at all.
Cameron Robertson, said the ship
But for the past 19 months the
and her crew had shown a “positive,
survey ship has been steadily going
enterprising spirit” and made “a
about her business in one of the
telling contribution to improving the
longest deployments by one of Her
navigational safety of maritime trade,
Majesty’s warships in decades.
all conducted in harsh operational
It’s also been one of the most varied.
environments.
The first chunk of the marathon tour
“Perhaps most significantly, HMS
of duty was devoured by the waters off West
Enterprise helped ensure the safety of waters
Africa.
surrounding Iraqi oil platforms in the Northern
The Devonport-based hydrographic vessel
Arabian Gulf.”
collected oceanographic and meteorological
As one mammoth survey journey ended,
data off Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Ghana,
another epic one began, HMS Echo set off from
Nigeria and Cameroon to help update mariners’
Devonport on a five-year (yes, you read correctly)
charts.
odyssey away from British waters.
Many of the charts of these waters had
She is heading out to the Far East
not been updated since the mid-19th
initially, calling at Algiers and Malta
Century, with huge areas of charts blank
before passing through Suez and arriving
or at best based on out-of-date and
at Bangladesh, where as guests of the
inadequate information.
Bangladeshi Navy she will conduct a
Also inadequate, perhaps
survey of the port of Chittagong.
surprisingly given the traffic in these
During her deployment – the
waters, are existing charts of the tip
longest of any RN ship in recent
of the Arabian Gulf.
history – she will gather valuable
Enterprise’s sister Echo began the
information on the oceans of the
task of updating the maps of the area
world, which will be relayed back to
off Iraq, particularly around the two oil
the UK Hydrographic Office to improve
platforms,
sea and shoreline charts.
Enterprise picked up where she left off,
Upon arrival in the Far East, she will take
spending six months steaming up and down
up station in the South China Sea, supporting
the northern Gulf and approaches to the Shatt
the Five Powers Defence Agreement and using
al Arab and Khawr Abd Allah, Iraq’s principal
Singpore as her base for maintenance.
waterways.
Although the ship will spend five years away
Not all the survey work has been conducted at
from home, like Enterprise no such burden is
sea. The expert hydrographers hopped ashore in
expected of her sailors – she operates a three-
The Gambia to help locals with a coastal survey
watch rotation system with only 48 of her 72
project.
personnel on board at sea.
The ship also surveyed the approaches to
Sierra Leone, conducted harbour surveys in ● N-n-n-nineteen... The sky and sea are tinted
Cameroon, and deep water studies around the gold as HMS Enterprise returns to Devonport on
Seychelles. a fi ne April morning after 19 months away
Although Enterprise herself has been away for Pictures: LA(Phot) Steve Johncock, FRPU West
NEW 005_NN_May.indd 1 22/4/08 09:56:17
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