22 NAVY NEWS, AUGUST 2008
marina Clockwise from top: Capt Wayne Keble, Commanding Officer of HMS
Albion, talks to the chief of Toke village on Toke Beach
HMS Albion ship’s company and embarked Dutch marines disembark marina
stores from the landing craft on Toke beach
Members of the ship’s company with their new friendsmarina
Albion conducts a hands to bathe whilst at anchor off Sierra Leone – and marina
launches sea boats, landing craft and pleasure craft for good measure
marina HMS Albion anchored off Sierra Leone at sunset
marina Cdr Simon Turnbull (centre) and Albion’s chaplain Simon Springett (right)
hand out shoeboxes of gifts to schoolchildren in Freetown – the boxes were
provided by families of the ship’s company and by British schools
Cdr Christopher Saxby hitches a ride to a landing craft with Hercules, the marina
Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle (BARV), after going ashore to Toke
Albion launches dinghies from her well deck off Sierra Leone during a marina
hands to bathe
The President’s Honour Guard awaits the arrival of Ernest Bai Koroma in marina
the well-deck of HMS Albion anchored off Sierra Leone
Pictures: LA(Phot) Dan Hooper
Dependab
IF ANY warship can claim to represent
business alongside in Lagos, Nigeria, where wh
true global power projection, then it
training was carried out with the Nigerian qu
has to be HMS Albion.
Armed Forces, and Albion hosted a formal flig
reception in a hot well deck, with guests whisked
Not because she is a very capable (to say
there and back by landing craft. a
nothing of modern and relevant) vessel, It was at times like this that the ship’s marines Le
although that is certainly true. came into their own – even if they were just wh
On this particular deployment it has more to temporary visitors.
do with the ship’s navigator. With Albion’s own Royal Marines training alt
Because as the amphibious assault ship (or elsewhere for their deployment to Afghanistan, the
Landing Platform Dock in military parlance) the ship ‘picked up’ a boat group of 30-40 Dutch Tw
crossed the Equator she was also tracking south marines in Amsterdam in early May.
along the Prime Meridian.
The Dutch – the ‘Black Sheep” – happily
she
Which meant that as she crossed the
slipped into the ship’s working and
in
line Albion was simultaneously in the four
social routine, and Surg Lt Cdr Dew said
tra
hemispheres – north, south, east and west – and
that Albion could not have achieved
to
thereby providing “a graphic illustration of our
what she did without the Dutch and their
ability to project Naval power throughout the
landing craft.
Pr
world,” according to the ship’s PRO, Surg Lt
Cdr Anthony Dew.
Whilst in Lagos Albion also hosted a high-
wo
Shortly before crossing the line a whole ship
level maritime security seminar, which allowed
co
morning standeasy was hosted by the Weapon
UK and Nigerian forces to share ideas and skills,
Engineering Department, which produced trays
and gave the British a chance to show off some
im
of fresh pasties for the occasion.
of the capability of the amphibious ship.
tem
Those troubled by guilt had the chance
Those unlucky enough to be left out of the
to work off the calories with the PT sessions
seminar team were able to enjoy sporting and
gro
mentioned in last month’s Navy News.
social activities, of which the highlight was a
Apart from the early stint (or “Wake Up with
cultural evening, staged by the ship’s Nigerian
inv
Clubz”), the lunch-time
Navy hosts at their HQ.
“Red Hot Circuits” (“keep
Often it is quite small things that mark the
fit and top up your tan”)
difference in being away on deployment.
and two more circuits at
Resetting clocks, for example, is a
the end of the day, the gym
constant reminder of the fact that the ship
is busy, and a yoga group
is moving through different time zones –
tie themselves in knots.
four in a month for Albion.
And for those who just
Nigeria was on the same time as the
want to jog, there is a ‘track’
UK, but on sailing the ship lost an hour to
round the ship’s deck; four-
synchronise with Sierra Leone local time.
and-a-half laps is a mile, but
Another Sunday and more activity.
remember that the route
This time it was dubbed “Running
is clockwise on even days,
Day”, the main feature being the Mike Till
anticlockwise on odd.
100-mile relay run, which commemorates
Even a quiet Sunday yields
the senior rate who took part in the 100-mile
plenty of opportunities,
baton relay on board HMS Sheffield in
with church in the morning,
1982 and who died trying to save the ship
an afternoon four-a-side
in the Falklands just weeks later.
football competition (won
A trophy is now awarded biannually to
by the Marine Engineering
the ship with the fastest relay time, and
Department) and an
Albion’s attempt saw 100 runners complete
evening flight deck karaoke.
a mile each on the upper deck.
But the following day
The baton was picked up, as it were, by
saw the ship back to serious
the organisers of the ship’s church service,
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