NAVY NEWS, MAY 2007 29
A Talisman
for the RN?
THE future of minehunting
could be in the form of a sleek Collingwood’s Kop guns
black robot submarine.
After three years of
development, boffins from BAE
HALF-way up an
Systems unveiled Talisman M (M
for minehunting) which it says is
imposing, boulder-strewn
ready to enter service.
hill steeped in naval
The RN’s mine warfare forces
history, 20 sailors reel in
already use a combination of
the South African heat.
mini-submarines and robot
Having arrived in Ladysmith
devices to deal with underwater
primed for the gruelling Swartkop
explosives.
Challenge, the men from HMS
‘Yellow submarines’ –
Collingwood hauled their field
Remotely Operated Vehicles
gun to the top of the treacherous
– are the mainstay of operations
incline, writes Patrick Mostyn of
by Hunt and Sandown-class
Portsmouth Grammar School.
warships.
The men from the Fareham
More recently, they have
establishment were placed third
been joined by REMUS, a 5ft
out of five teams dragging guns up
torpedo-esque device which can
the hill near Ladysmith as British
be dispatched by a mother ship
sailors had first done more than a
to scan the seabed for mines or
century ago.
other devices.
Ladysmith was besieged by
Whitehall is looking at next-
the Boers for 118 days until
generation robot submarines (or
reinforcements arrived.
Unmanned Underwater Vehicles
Among attempts to break the
to give them their official name)
ring of encirclement, 14 guns were
as potential successors to Hunts
hauled to the top of Swartkop
and Sandowns.
during the Battle of Vaalkraz, a
It wants devices which can
feat which has gone down in RN
find, classify and then destroy
history.
mines at a safe distance from
More than a century on, it is
a parent ship – which does
sport not war which brings sailors ● Caption
not necessarily have to be a
to Ladysmith, dragging those
minehunter.
same guns up that same hill for
BAE says Talisman can work
the present-day challenge.
in water up to about 500ft deep
In repeating the feats of those
and can find, identify and then
sailors in October 1899, the teams
destroy mines using Archerfish
of 20 had to haul a 1,250 kg gun
– a sort of intelligent torpedo.
up a 120-metre course on a 1:1
gradient – 45˚.
Noble spring
Pitted against the team from ● Cry Navy... The strain of hauling a fi eld gun up the 45˚ slope of Wagon Hill shows on the faces of the Collingwood team
Collingwood in the ascent of
Picture: Peter Brown
Wagon Hill were the
for Albion
Royal Highland Fusiliers, Lt Deal congratulated something never to be forgotten,” 3,000 Rand (£200) which was for training for the time trial.
who went on to win, her team: “The guys we he added. presented to the South African The event, to be held in the
the South African Police took over were awesome,
ASSAULT ship HMS Albion
from Ladysmith, the they really rose to the
“The people at home can
Children’s Trust, a charity with shadow of HMS Victory, will be
and the Royal Marines of 40
Natal Carbineers and occasion.
be very proud of the sheer
whom the sailors had worked the biggest event in the run-up
Commando can be found spread
the Natal Field Artillery. “It was seriously hard
guts and spirit shown by
earlier in their visit. to the actual celebrations in June
across the North Sea and Baltic
The involvement of the work, with rocks and
both the British teams as
Celebrations of the Royal Navy and will be open to the public to
this month as Britain leads huge
Fareham team is a first boulders all over it, and
they hauled that gun up the
Field Gun centenary continue on watch.
NATO war games.
for the establishment, at that angle it’s difficult
45-degree, boulder-strewn
May 4 with a junior competition The main commemoration takes
Three exercises – Noble
home of warfare training to walk up and down,
hill in scorching heat.”
between younger members of the place at the Field Gun 100 Day
three Armed Forces, the Prince’s at Collingwood on June 9 when
Mariner, Kindred Sword and
in the Senior Service, let alone run.”
The Collingwood team’s third Trust and Network Rail. more than 20 teams will compete
Noble Award – are intended to
and comes in the year Despite the traditional
place secured prize money of Only one week will be allowed for the Brickwoods Trophy.
raise the combat effectiveness of
of the centenary of the rivalry between the RN
NATO’s Response Force to its
Royal Navy Field Gun. and Army, the challenge
peak.
The first competitive provoked a certain level
Around 80 ships and units
display of the field gun of camaraderie; the
are committed to the triptych
run, which became a mainstay Collingwood team supported the
with British personnel taking
of the Royal Tournament, was Fusiliers in their assault of the
their place in the line alongside
held in 1907 to commemorate the course.
comrades from Denmark,
achievement of 250 sailors from The result was what was
Germany, Sweden, the
HMS Powerful eight years earlier. described by Lt Deal as “a good
Netherlands and Poland among
The Collingwood team was UK effort” from the British forces
others.
headed by Lt Charlie Deal and as a whole.
The war games will take place
geared up for the South African Among those watching the
across a vast area from the North
challenge with intense training challenge was former matelot Peter
Sea and Kattegat to the southern
which included practice runs with Brown, now chairman of Simon
Baltic and shores of Poland, with
a 12-pdr gun at Queen Elizabeth Town’s HMS Ganges Association,
‘fighting’ taking place at sea,
Country Park near Petersfield. who was mightily impressed by
ashore and in the skies.
That training seemed to have the Collingwood team’s spirit.
Commander-in-Chief Fleet,
a very positive affect as the team “Although the Royal Navy men
Admiral Sir James Burnell-
broke the existing Navy record didn’t do as well as they had
Nugent, will be in charge of the
completing the course in 25m and hoped, the mutual, enthusiastic
sprawling exercises, run by his
55s – about two minutes behind vocal support between them and
staff from Northwood.
the winners. the Royal Highland Fusiliers was
Regulation’s what you need
POTENTIAL police were given a
taste of life regulating the Senior
Service thanks to an open day in
Portsmouth.
The team at the eastern RN
Police Headquarters (next to
Navy News towers, but there’s
no correlation between the
two facts…) laid on a series
of demonstrations for ratings
interested in – but not necessarily
committed to – a life as a reggie.
Strictly speaking reggies are
no longer reggies. As part of a
shake-up of Service police across
the three Armed Forces, they are
now RN Police. But historic ranks
persist, such as leading regulator
and regulating petty offi cer.
And it fell to these ratings to
give a fl avour of their day-to-day
work, from serving at sea or the
three RN police headquarters
in Portsmouth, Devonport or
Faslane, serving in the Special
Investigating Branch, and arresting ● LREG Lee Whittaker forces ‘drunken rating’ – aka LS(SEA) Ian
a suspect. Hurley – to the ground after an assault
In the latter case, the police
had to deal with a drunken sailor That entails a four-week course “The open day was a huge
who had assaulted someone with a where the candidates are assessed success,” said Lt Sean Stewart,
bottle and provide fi rst aid to the by the RN Police as well as given a Deputy Provost Marshal (Eastern):
attacker’s victim. more thorough insight into the life “The majority of candidates
The open day was intended to of the Service police. enjoyed what they saw and are all
be the fi rst step down the long road If a sailor makes the grade looking to take the next step – the
to becoming a naval police offi cer during that four-week assessment, four-week assessment at one of
(although it’s not mandatory). there’s a formal board to pass – a our police headquarters.”
If sailors like what they see challenging day-long assessment More details on forthcoming
during their taster, they can start testing powers of observation and open days or the RN Police are
the formal process of transferring interview techniques among other available from Lt Stewart on 9380
to the police. exercises. 25836.
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