NAVY NEWS, JULY 2008 15
ntre – and frigate
over older ships, Wave Knight Edinburgh joined the coalition
is able to stay on station for patrol forces in the Middle East
longer. region, and she is due back in
With her current schedule it Portsmouth towards the end of
means that up to a quarter of this month.
her ship’s company can change Frigate HMS Montrose is
over at each port visit, making part of the Coalition Maritime
the best use of the ship and Force, originally CTF 150 in the
guaranteeing harmony time to Gulf of Aden and more recently
her personnel. with CTF 152 in the Central
Type 42 destroyer HMS Arabian Gulf.
Edinburgh has only recently The Gulf of Aden is a crucial
arrived in the Middle East area of responsibility; as well as
from Singapore, where the ship millions of tons of cargo, around
underwent maintenance and her half the world’s oil and natural
sailors ventured ashore. gas supplies cross the seas here.
But after a few days seeing Daily searches by the ship’s
the sights or enjoying time with helicopter, Rattler, and sea boats
their families, some of whom were carried out.
had flown out to the Far East, There has still been a chance
the ‘Fortress of the Sea’ was to enjoy some relaxation during
back plying her trade in Exercise port visits and maintenance
Bersama Shield, the annual Five periods, with sailors sampling
Power Defence Arrangement the delights of Fujairah, Salalah,
(FPDA) exercise designed to test Oman and Bahrain.
forces from the UK, Singapore,
Malaysia, Australia and New
● (Top): Royal Marines from
Zealand in the event of a threat
HMS Chatham set off to carry
to Singapore or Malaysia.
out a tanker sweep in the
Bersama Shield was a particular
deep water anchorages near
challenge for Edinburgh’s fighter
Al Basrah oil terminal. (Right):
controllers, who logged some 40
A boarding party from HMS
hours of control each, handling
Campbeltown board a fi shing
a wide variety of aircraft from
dhow in the Northern Gulf
F-16s to former Soviet Mig 29
Fulcrums.
Pictures: LA(Phot) Chris Winter
With the two-week exercise
over, Edinburgh made a pit
stop in Singapore for fuel
before heading to Port Klang
in Malaysia, where she received
the bell of HMS Prince of Wales,
sunk by Japanese aircraft in
1941.
The bell was recovered in
2002 and has a permanent home
at the Merseyside Maritime
Museum, but has been on
tour in Malaysia since last year
as part of the country’s 50th
anniversary of independence.
On her way back to the UK
● (Right): Seaman Faith
Dixson controls the RAS crane
on board RFA Wave Knight for
the fi rst time. The ship being
refuelled was HMS Montrose
– the picture below shows the
same RAS from another angle
Pictures: LA(Phot) Owen King
0014-015_NN_jul.indd 214-015_NN_jul.indd 2 220/6/08 13:18:430/6/08 13:18:43
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