4 NAVY NEWS, AUGUST 2008
A bridge
(simulator)
not too far
Britain’s got Talent (back)
THE crew of new hunter-killer
LAST month we lamented
game of ‘soccer’ (or football as Sonar 2076 might one day make
● What men of T
alent do... (from the top) Hands to bathe in the
boat HMS Astute have been to
Bahamas; earning their Dolphins; the Arleigh Burke destroyer
sea in the Netherlands… minus
that there was a British
we prefer to call it) and ran out it on to American boats. Whether
USS Mitscher in the sights of T
alent’
submarine prowling the
13-10 (!) losers. It didn’t stop them British grub follows it west is a s periscope; obser
their submarine.
throwing a party for their British different matter, but the visitors
Kings taking off from HMS Ark Royal in Norway
ving Sea
Astute is in the fi nal stages of
waters of the Bahamas guests. were treated to the “full British
fi tting out at BAE Systems’ yard
with HMS Richmond... but
No visit to Florida is complete experience”, ie cheesy hammy eggy
in Barrow.
Once the engineers and fi tters
that we couldn’t tell you
without a trip to Orlando, and spotted dick.
have done their work, she’ll leave
which one.
Disneyworld and all that, as Head caterer POLogs(CS)
well as the golden sands. Some ‘General’ Patton had just £1.81
the site which has been her home
Well, now we can: it was those
submariners also squeezed in a per man per day to play with to
for a decade and head into open
nice chaps aboard HMS Talent.
visit to Daytona race track. feed 130 submariners.
water for the fi rst time later this
And the test range at AUTEC was
After the fun, back to business. “Providing three meals a day
year.
only the tip of the, er, palm tree.
Talent sailed fi rst for exercises with was a challenge – almost as much
And that’s rather more
Actually, we can say it was the
the US Navy in the Caribbean of a challenge as fi nding room to
demanding than it seems at
tip of the iceberg because the boat’s
– coming under US control and store it all,” said ‘General’.
face value. It’s a tight squeeze
deployment began in January with
receiving praise from our Stateside He and his team of six chefs,
to get out of the dock and locks
a trip to the Norwegian fjords for
cousins – including staging sorry logisticians (catering services
at Barrow, then the boat must
Armatura Borealis.
simulated attacks on the Arleigh- (preparation)) managed to provide
negotiate the narrow Walney
Talent was charged with sneaking
Burke destroyer USS Mitscher. 471 hot meals (presumably
Channel before emerging into the
about the narrow waters keeping
Arleigh-Burkes are not common per day) and even 2,640 choc
Irish Sea.
tabs on the ‘Mazonians’, a rather
foes for T-boats. Type 23s are. The ices (presumably not per day)
The last thing you want is a
nasty bunch determined to ride
emphasis was less on trying to during the 150 days away from
rather embarrassing bump as
roughshod over UN resolutions
attack HMS Richmond than trying Devonport.
you’re leaving on your maiden
and stomp around in northern
to escape her all-seeing ‘eyes’ (or Indeed, in the past 12 months,
voyage, so practice makes
Norway.
rather all-listening ears). Talent has been one of the Fleet’s
perfect… hence the reason for the
The submariners fed details of
The frigate was testing her Sonar busiest warships: seven out of
visit to Holland.
Mazonian movements to the rest
2087 in the AUTEC range; Talent every ten days have been spent at
The Maritime Research
of the task force – including Ark
was testing tweaks and the latest sea, clocking up 52,000 miles in
Institute Netherlands is one of
Royal, Albion and Bulwark – before
upgrades to her ears, Sonar 2076. the process (and seeing off the odd
the world’s leading centres of
‘dispatching’ an enemy submarine.
There was some time allowed for choc ice).
seafaring research (and, bizarrely,
With the enemy threat dealt
the deeps to get ashore on Andros Talent’s CO Cdr David Lightfoot
is slap bang in the middle of the
with, Talent then pretended to be
Island with its golden sands and said throughout the boat’s varied
Netherlands, near Arnhem, rather
the foe, testing the anti-submarine
given the Bahamas’ fi ne climate, 2008 deployment his men had
than on the coast), with state-of-
defences of the Allied force.
there were barbecues on Talent’s remained “dedicated ambassadors
the-art bridge simulators.
Right, that’s enough of the cold.
casing. overseas” who had also proven a
And there the docks, locks
The rest of Talent’s time has been
Trials done, the submarine made thing or two.
and channels at Barrow were
spent in warmer waters: the Med,
the short trip to King’s Bay in “The challenges of lean manning
recreated on 3D computers to
Eastern Seaboard of the USA and
Georgia which is to the US Silent and ever-increasing technological
test the control room team.
Bahamas.
Service what Faslane is to ours (ie advances require us to remain
Whilst navigator Lt Justin
We’ll start in the Med, where
lots of bombers, or boomers as the one step ahead of our enemies –
Cloney grappled with the
the theme of monitoring shipping
Yanks prefer to call them) for a spot and everything we have achieved d
challenging exit from Barrow
continued, this time as part of
of maintenance and R&R. during our fi ve months away has s
and manoeuvring the 8,000-ton
Operation Active Endeavour, the
Now there aren’t too many golf demonstrated this,” he continued.
nuclear submarine, in a separate
NATO mission to stop illegal
clubs named for ballistic missile Several men of Talent earned d
simulator nearby the control
activity on the high seas.
systems. Except Trident Lakes. their dolphins in traditional l
room team was plotting fi xes and
The boat sat beneath the
Not only is the course named after fashion, including Logs(Pers)
monitoring Astute’s progress.
waves of the Middle Sea keeping
a weapon of mass destruction, but Tom Brunel who now considers
As with much of Astute, that
an eye on suspicious maritime
the course is quite hazardous… and himself “a true submariner”. He e
control room is a departure
movements, feeding the data she
we’re not talking about bunkers. added: “When I was awarded
from Silent Service tradition: the
collected to NATO HQ (rather
Nope, it’s home to alligators my dolphins it was the greatest
helmsman doesn’t use a standard
as HMS Somerset did, but less
as Lt Mark Alder found out on sense of achievement I had. It’s
control column, but instead
covertly).
the sixth during the Engineers vs not about the £5,000 bounty –
directs all control surfaces by
Then it was across the Atlantic
Dabbers Cup. The junior offi cer although that’s great – it’s about
moving a single joystick. Using
to Mayport in Florida to prepare
(wisely) conceded the ball rather pushing yourself to the limit.”
the simulator gave helmsman
for the AUTEC ranges.
than risk life and limb. ‘General’ Patton added: “The
POLogs(CS) Dave Pitt the
The frigate USS Doyle hosted
Having survived the alligator runs ashore were the highlight
chance to master this strange new
the submariners throughout their
scare, Talent sailed for a fi nal – having the opportunity to
art.
ten-day stay in the naval base as the
exercise with the Americans. swap dits with my American
And fi nally in a third simulator,
Talenters prepared for eight solid
We’ve long since been users of counterparts and see how they
four tugs were added to the fray
weeks beneath the ocean.
US technology in our submarines: do things.”
so that navigator, control team,
The Americans challenged
nuclear reactors, cruise and nuclear His boss, logistics offi cer Lt
pilot and tug captains could
the deeps to a
missiles. Tim Grimley, is also a recent
practise the tricky exit from
So it’s about time that some recipient of his dolphins, having
Barrow’s dock and lock system.
British boffi nry (made-up word joined Talent from the Fleet Air
Back in Barrow, Astute hosted
– Ed) headed in the opposite Arm.
not one but two of the world’s
direction. “Being a pusser is only half
most senior naval offi cers.
And perhaps it might. Ten the job,” says Tim. “I also fulfi l the
First Sea Lord Admiral Sir
American VIPS joined Talent to role of control room watchkeeper
Jonathon Band was joined by his
see what Sonar 2076 – and the which includes dived navigation
American counterpart, Admiral
Submarine Command System and periscope watchkeeping.
Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval
it feeds into – can do, with a “In the short time I’ve been
Operations, for a tour of the
possible view to incorporating aboard, I’ve spotted fast jets taking
boat and a chat with the ship’s
the technology into American off while in the cold waters of the
company, including CPO Jon
boats. Norwegian fjords, monitored
Murray and WO(Coxn) John
To show what the two bits suspicious shipping in the warmer
Hendren who received a Long
of kit could do, Talent Med and been on active ops in the
Service and Good Conduct
went head-to-head Caribbean. Just another day in the
Medal and clasp to the same
with an American offi ce…”
respectively.
hunter-killer
boat, USS
● Talent’s crew work on the
Superb sails
Newport
casing as the boat returns to
News.
Plymouth with HMS Cornwall in
the background
home on the
Picture: PO(Phot) Sean Clee, RN
Photographer of the Year (again)
surface
ATTACK submarine HMS
Superb is back in the UK after
striking an underwater mount in
the Red Sea.
The veteran hunter-killer
boat damaged her sonar and
ballast tanks when she struck the
pinnacle, although no crew were
hurt.
After initial inspections in
Aqaba, Superb sailed for Souda
Bay in Crete for temporary
repairs to allow her to sail to the
UK under her own steam.
That she did, sailing into
Devonport (rather than her home
of Faslane) at the end of June.
She came the entire way from
Crete on the surface.
A Board of Inquiry is looking
into the causes of the accident
while a detailed assessment of
the damage caused is being made
before Whitehall determines her
future.
The 32-year-old Swiftsure-class
boat was due to decommission
next year.
0004_NN_Aug.indd 104_NN_Aug.indd 1 113/7/08 10:14:453/7/08 10:14:45
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