22 NAVY NEWS, SEPTEMBER 2008
E
VERYWHERE you went, therwent, there
were smiling faces. And not s. And not
just among the visitors. The sitors. The
smiling faces were in uniform in uniform
too.
Meet your Navy drew in crowds of 35,000
over its three-day course, as people from people from
across the UK enjoyed the opporpportunity to
mingle with the Senior Service at Pt Porttsmouth smouth future
Naval Base. saw
The slightly grey start to the firfirst day did good
not deter the visitors who packed into the ked into the evidence
Hard at Portsmouth waiting for the Naor the Navaal l of where
Base’s imposing Victory Gates to open.o open. thetheirir
Inside British ships from the Na the Navy money
and RFA jostled alongside foreign ships,oreign ships, waas beings being
including guests from as far afield as Brazil eld as Brazil spent – even
and Japan. looking into
I’ll admit, confesses Helen Craveavenn, I’m not the future
a huge fan of dynamic displays – repeas – repeated frofrom them the
experience has taught me that they tend to they tend to bridge of a
be a barrage of inaudible commentarmentary with future carriier in er in
long pauses between activity. a sa simulaimulattoror.
But even I was caught up in the arthe arrest of Visitors
the drug-runners in Portsmouth Harbour – a Harbour – a initially arrived
Serco catamaran assumed an uncharactercharacteristic in in the Historthe Historiicc
role as a drug-running ‘go-fast’. Dockyard where
Overhead a Sea King Mk 7 kept a wpt a wary eye cheerful musketeers
on the runner in its airborne surveillance and annannounced withounced with
control role. A grey Lynx raced alongside to alongside to smoke and explosion
halt the vessel’s race to shore. Two off-shore the past that built the
raiding craft and a RIB full of Rooyal Marines Navy of today.
harried their prey. And then the e ‘jungly’‘jungly’ Sea Sea The larger ships
King Mk 4 of 846 NAS, gravid with gd with grreen-een- drew, as ever, long
clad Marines, dropped her burden on to queues of people, their
the boat. waait relievit relieved by the
People were packed along the upper decks upper decks matelots and marines
of the Naval ships to watch this displadisplay, then whowho stood and cha stood and chattted ted
talk to the people on board who livwho live out among their numbers.
these dramas for real in their working lives. The skies were also alive
One of the issues that the NaNavy faces in with the past and present –
terms of profile is that so much of its wh of its work with historic aircraft, search
is done ‘over the horizon’, at sea,a, off foreign and rescue helicopters, and
coasts, in distant theatres. Meet yet your Navy other displays.
brought the British public face-to-f-to-face with And the ground suffered the
the Navy, RFA and Marines thahat they fund mark of heavy boots with field-
and support. fun displays and screeching
While the Dutch populace ((see opposite) tyres as Royal Marines from 40
enjoy the luxury of their Navy DaDays for free, Cdo and RMR City of London
this quite simply is not an option for the ption for the efficiently protected a ‘celebrity’
British Royal Navy. from the onslaught of cheerful
Running an event like Meet yt yoour Naur Navy, fans and psychopathic gunmen.
providing facilities, big screens,, toilets and Meet your Navy offered up to
seating in a working Naval base costs moneycosts money, the public a current reality thatt
even with hefty support and sponsorsponsorship goes far wider than grey ships and
from commercial partners such as BVT and as BVT and Joolly Jlly Jack
the Historic Dockyard. It’s not often – fortunately perhaps
But it’s no secret defence spending is spending is – thatt y you get to see the Navy in
focused on the ‘teeth’ out there and not the and not the action on yoour doorur doorstep. It will be a
‘tail’ back here. two-year waait for the next big evit for the next big event in
The crowds enjoying the sights and the ghts and the Plymouth.
sounds of the Royal Navy’s past,, present and But it will be worth waaiting foriting for...
Pictures: LA(Phot) Caroline Davies
MMYN_NN_sept08.indd 1YN_NN_sept08.indd 1 119/8/08 14:31:239/8/08 14:31:23
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