2 NAVY NEWS, OCTOBER 2008
HMS Mersey
HMS Dasher
HMS Pursuer
3 Cdo Bde/Naval Strike Wing/
HMS Campbeltown
Vikings/845NAS/846 NAS/
847 NAS
HMS Roebuck/Ledbury
Fleet FS( Air)
HMS Sabre/Scimitar
HMS Kent
RFA Bayleaf
HMS Cumberland
539 ASRM/EOD Team
RFA Diligence
RFA Wave Ruler
HMS Iron Duke
HMS Northumberland
HMS Lancaster
845 NAS
HMS Endurance
HMS Chatham
HMS Montrose
HMS Ramsey
HMS Blyth
HMS Atherstone
HMS Chiddingfold
857 NAS
RFA Cardigan Bay
HMS Liverpool RFA Wave Knight
FASLANE
ROSYTH
HMS GANNET Naval medics
HMS Manchester
800/801 NAS
HMS Albion RFA Black Rover
HMS Clyde
YEOVIL
TON
Plus one ballistic missile submarine on patrol somewhere beneath the Seven Seas
DEVONPORT
PORTSMOUTH
CULDROSE
HMS Brocklesby
Satellite imagery courtesy of NASA
FFleet Focusleet Focus
GLOBAL turbulence has dominated the media headlines
Medics taste MASH
this past month – and not just in the financial sector.
For a good fortnight Hurricanes Gustav and Ike surpassed
even the ‘credit crunch’ on news bulletins. And where there’s a
TWO hundred Senior Service
tropical storm, there’s never a Royal Navy warship far away.
medics, nurses and surgeons
Two in this case, HMS Iron Duke and her supporting tanker
were subjected to the horrors
RFA Wave Ruler, who’ve been chasing first Gustav, then Ike,
of war – before they even got to
to offer what assistance they could in the storms’ wake (see Afghanistan.
opposite). The medics headed to Yorkshire
The effects of Nature’s wrath in the Caribbean are immediately for the improbably-named Exercise
evident. Her effects in West Africa, caused by climate change Rosedale Ready, the final test for the
and other environmental factors, are less so – but equally team of RN/RM medical personnel
devastating in the long term. HMS Endurance has visited Ghana before they take charge of the field
and Sierra Leone to highlight the importance of looking after the hospital at Camp Bastion, the hub of
countries’ delicate environment (see page 8). British operations in Helmand.
Harnessing the environment, in this instance the Helmand 3 Commando Brigade led a final
River, is key to the British mission in Afghanistan. UK forces ‘battle rehearsal’ on Salisbury Plain
safely transported a hydro-electric turbine to Kajaki Dam in the in July.
face of insurgent activity, using the Harriers of the Naval Strike And although medics were involved
Wing as their aerial umbrella (see page 4). in the sprawling exercise, there was
The naval aviators have been in Helmand for a little over a nothing on offer quite as specific as
month – far less time than the specialist helicopter engineers of the ‘workout’ provided by the Army
Fleet Forward Support (Air) – a small, unsung and invaluable Medical Services Training Centre near
team whose work is championed on pages 18-19. York.
The aviators and engineers are now being joined in Afghanistan It is to medics what Bull Point
by the first elements of 3 Commando Brigade, including in Plymouth is to matelots: a semi-
the Hospital Squadron; the latter prepared for some of the realistic disaster environment.
challenges they face at Camp Bastion with an authentic exercise Bull Point replicates the impact of
in Yorkshire (see right). hurricanes and earthquakes on island
Not all the Corps is deploying to Helmand this winter. The communities.
marines need to maintain their amphibious capability, something The AMSTC – a large hangar turned
they do thanks in no small measure to the team at Instow, 11 into a field hospital – mirrors medical
Amphibious Trials and Training. We take a look behind (and facilities at Camp Bastion... as does the
beneath) the scenes (see centre pages). casualties it receives.
The dynamic duo attached to NATO’s minehunting force, To ensure training is as authentic
mother ship HMS Roebuck and HMS Ledbury, have been as possible, amputees provide the
exercising in Italian waters, alongside the rest of the international realism of troops who have lost limbs
force (see page 10). in bomb blasts – complete with bloody
The pair will are taking part in Exercise Noble Midas – as is make-up.
HMS Cumberland, which is spending the autumn with a different There’s also a mock-up of a Chinook
NATO group (see page 7). helicopter: rather than ‘simply’ dealing
Surprisingly, it’s been more than five years since a Royal Navy with casualties in the field hospital,
warship sailed into Umm Qasr. Mine countermeasures vessels the training facility is intended to give
Blyth and Atherstone navigated the Khawr abd Allah to step up medical personnel the full Bastion
training with the Iraqi Navy (see page 7). experience – and that means moving
The Red Rose – HMS Lancaster – is now east of Suez after a patients from the helicopter through
fairly swift passage through the Med (see page 6). the base to the hospital.
She’ll be joined in the Indian Ocean by HMS Northumberland As we’ve featured in these pages
– who’s also visiting the Falklands and Pacific on an eclectic six- before, the medics don’t purely look
month deployment (see page 5). after British personnel in theatre: they
Farther east, HMS Kent has been in Tokyo celebrating the often have to aid locals wounded by
150th anniversary of Anglo-Japanese co-operation (see pages Taleban attacks.
14-15). So there were also civilian casualties
High summer normally means a tailing-off of RN activity as the to cope with in York, plus Afghan
Fleet comes home for leave. But the ports and coastal towns of interpreters to help the medical teams.
the British Isles have been awash with warships: inter alia HMS “The troops will get top-class
Argyll took part in Dartmouth Regatta (see page 20), Albion and medical care delivered by highly-
Manchester visited Liverpool (see pages 5 and 7 respectively), trained medical experts,” said Lt Cdr
Brocklesby popped across to Alderney (see page 6), and HMS Ali Hofman, Officer Commanding the
Campbeltown has been in her namesake town after calling in at Hospital Squadron – which has now
St Nazaire (see page 4). deployed to Helmand.
Venerable destroyer HMS Exeter has returned from possibly “We will be working out of a state-of-
her last deployment – Russia, Norway and Iceland – to a spirited the-art hospital and although there will
welcome in Portsmouth (see page 7). be challenges, we will all be providing
And also home – after a lengthier spell away – is aviation the troops with world-class support.”
training ship RFA Argus, which marked her 20th birthday
supporting the Allied effort in the Middle East (see page 13). ● A medic tends to a bloody
Talking of birthdays... HMS Clyde has celebrated her first in ‘casualty’ during the exercise
the Falklands. She’s our ship of the month (see page 12). Picture: LA(Phot) ‘Knotty’ Knott, FRPU East
NNEW 002_NN_Oct.indd 1EW 002_NN_Oct.indd 1 222/9/08 09:24:332/9/08 09:24:33
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