NAVY NEWS, NOVEMBER 2008 5
Liverpool’s
● A sailor enjoys the view from Ocean’s fl ight deck as the carrier
sails past the Hoe for the fi rst time in more than a year
The heat
African
Picture: LA(Phot) Bernie Henesy, HMS Ocean
is off the
odyssey
Red Plum
JUST AS HMS Endurance was
leaving African shores (see right),
NO MORE basking in the
HMS Liverpool was taking her
African sun for the Red Plum.
place.
HMS Endurance has completed
The veteran destroyer has
her rare foray into warmer climes
completed her work around the
and is gearing up for a return to
Falklands and South America and
the ice.
is edging her way home via South
The Antarctic survey ship is
and West Africa.
currently undergoing some ‘top-
The first port of call (after
up training’ from the Flag Officer
a very rough crossing of the
Sea Training organisation before
Southern Ocean) was Cape
she resumes her more typical
Town, home to Liverpool for
mission: charting the waters of
eight days.
the frozen continent.
The visit coincided with a
Endurance has spent the
major trade show – the African
austral winter in South and West
Air Defence Exhibition – with
Africa spreading the ‘action
defence firms showcasing anti-air
on climate change’ message
warfare kit.
as part of a unique 18-month
As an air defence destroyer,
deployment intended to make
Liverpool was the obvious setting
better use of the Portsmouth-
for British companies to show off
based hydrographic vessel.
their wares.
If the pressure of having the
Aside from the various VIPs,
exacting FOST team aboard
military leaders and business
wasn’t enough, it’s all being
representatives, the Type 42
captured on camera.
hosted more than 1,500 members
Hot on the heels of the
of the South African public, eager
popular Warship programme
to tour a British warship and
which featured HMS Illustrious
watch various demonstrations,
earlier this year, a four-strong
including fire-fighting and
documentary team from Channel
damage control.
5 is joining the survey ship for
Despite the ship taking part in
the next five months, providing
the trade fair for six days, there
Cheery O after trials
a permanent record of her work
was plenty of downtime for her
around Antarctica.
ship’s company.
Some sailors went shark diving
(presumably with rather than on
Astute back
sharks, but you never know with
matelots...), others headed for the
vineyards, went sand boarding
(‘surfing’ on sand dunes), or even
A YEAR after beginning a £35m
All of which received a thorough going over size and scope of the work yet to be completed
in the water
on one-day safaris.
revamp, HMS Ocean has completed
during the fortnight of training – partly under was daunting.
There was another defence
her fi rst steps along the road to
the auspices of staff from the Flag Officer Sea “The crew and Babcock made tremendous
FUTURE hunter-killer
Training, who were keen to see whether the progress.”
industry showcase in Angola,
front-line duties once more.
submarine HMS Astute has
helicopter carrier’s sailors could cope with fire, And although she’s bristling with military
Liverpool’s next port of call,
re-emerged from the huge shed
Britain’s largest warship sailed through two flood, breakdowns and damage. kit and green berets, she’s a little kinder to the
before the destroyer picked up
which has been her home for the
weeks of trials and tests – the fi rst time she’d With the FOSTies suitably satisfied (and world around her now she’s emerged from refi t.
Lt Kwasi Donkor of the
past year.
been at sea in more than 14 months. they’re not easily impressed), Ocean’s crew Her hull is covered with an environmentally-
Ghanaian Navy for passage from
But any hopes of the boat
The helicopter carrier was in the hands of moved on to testing her combat systems: the friendly paint, while inside a state-of-the-art
Sekondi in his native land to
joining the RN this year have
Babcock Marine (formerly DML) in Devonport accuracy of her radars was analysed and every waste disposal system – the fi rst of its type
Dakar so he could witness the
been dashed: it will be next year
for the past year. gun was fired, including her Phalanx cannon in the RN – has been installed to cope with
RN at work, and especially so he
before the 7,400-tonne fleet
Its employees and Ocean’s ship’s company (3,000 which obliterated a target towed by an Ocean’s gash.
could watch the ship conducting
submarine is formally handed
have worked on Ocean from ‘top to tail’, aircraft. The Mighty O is now back in the hands of
gunnery serials and maritime
over to the Senior Service by
improving living spaces both for the sailors “Ocean has come a very long way in the last the FOSTies who are putting the ship and her
security work.
BAE Systems.
and her embarked Royal Marines, installing a few months,” said Commanding Officer Capt sailors through the rigours of Operational Sea
Next up was Sierra Leone and
Astute was launched to
new galley, fi tting enhanced communications Simon Kings. Training before the carrier sails with a major
more goodwill work with local
a fanfare in June 2007 with
systems and improved weapon defences. “When we moved back on board in July, the amphibious deployment in the New Year.
authorities.
her sponsor, the Duchess of
Liverpool’s Lynx took two
Cornwall, presiding over the
government ministers airborne.
occasion.
The first sortie gave the deputy
Bringing order to KAAOT
Following that launch, she
minister of fisheries and marine
conducted several trials and tests
resources a bird’s-eye view of the
in a special flooded dry dock at
coast – and some of the illegal
Barrow, including her first dive.
fishing taking place there.
But the various tests also saw
The second flight saw the
THE latest ship to serve as a reassuring and security in the region.” as their vessels are picked up on
her turbo generators damaged:
minister for defence given a tour
presence to tanker crews and fi shermen
The weather won’t be quite as much radar, warships turn to face them
a specialist firm had to be called
of the Freetown peninsula, with
in to remove scoring on shafts
the principal aim of identifying
off the coast of Iraq is HMS Lancaster.
of an issue for the Red Rose frigate as it off. Mostly the incursions around the
caused when they ran dry when
sites where illegal logging was
It has taken six weeks to bring the Red
was for the Mighty At ’Em (at its worst it monitored waters of the oil platforms
oil pumps failed.
taking place.
Rose ship from Portsmouth, Round and
reached 50˚C – 122˚F – and 100 per cent are just the fishermen cutting corners
Astute has also been hit by
Spinnaker Towers and all that, to the head
humidity around Chatham) but last month to return home or following a shoal
problems dogging her electrical
of the Gulf and the rather less attractive
it was still 38˚C – 100˚F – at the height of of fish.
systems and valves.
Golden
KAAOT and ABOT oil terminals.
the day. But not always, and this thought
Although she was due to return
The frigate has taken over from HMS
And also on the wane are the shamals makes for some intense concentration
to the Devonshire Dock Hall at
Chatham as guardian of the two huge
(winds) which deposit an impenetrable wall on the bridge and in the operations
Barrow, her time in the gigantic
sausage
pumping platforms and environs which are
of sand upon the Gulf in the summer. room.
shed was extended by several
responsible for generating nine out of every
One such sandstorm closed Bahrain port
months thanks to these faults.
ten dinar in the Iraq economy.
the very day Lancaster arrived to assume
Aside from keeping an eye on the well-
Still, the boat is now finally
The latter warship should be getting
Chatham’s duties.
being of the Red Rose ship’s company,
IT IS not just mine warfare forces
back in the water again, although
home to Devonport right about now after
Shamals are the exception, not the rule
it’s the doc’s job to offer assistance to the
which possess the Midas touch.
dates for her sea trials – and first
a summer doing exactly what Lancaster is
– and when not bringing tons of sand, they
dhow crews.
No, HMS Cumberland has
appearance in Faslane, her future
currently carrying out.
take the edge off the Middle East sun.
Lancaster’s boarding parties check
had a golden hue to her too.
home – have still to be set.
So it made sense that the veteran shared
If you’ve never been to the tip of the Gulf
inventories and conduct thorough searches
The Type 22 frigate is currently
her experiences with the newcomer.
– and there aren’t too many in the surface
of vessels in these troubled waters, but
attached to a NATO task force
“We’ve learned many lessons in the time
fleet these days who haven’t – then allow
they also carry ‘goody bags’: water, food
(Maritime Group 2) which joined
we’ve been in theatre – whether they’re
Lancaster’s Surg Lt Nic ‘The Doc’ Dodds
and also first-aid kits – emblazoned with
All change
the mine countermeasures vessels
patterns of life, modes of operating or
(the ship’s surgeon, if you hadn’t already
the RN logo – put together by the medical
(Group 1 – see the centre pages) for
equipment performance, there’s much
guessed) to paint the picture:
officer so the fishermen can treat the many
the fortnight-long Noble Midas
infections, scratches, cuts and the like they
war game.
that will be invaluable to our counterparts
at the top
Around us, small dhows, their hulls pick up day-to-day as they go about they
The Mighty Sausage spent
in Lancaster,” said Chatham’s weapon and business unchanged for centuries, onerous graft.
FIRST Sea Lord Admiral Sir
several days testing her sensors in
engineer officer Lt Cdr Chris Smith. fish serenely. “Forget what you thought about the
Jonathon Band will stand down
the NATO ranges around Crete
His CO, Cdr Martin Connell – a former The best fishing is to be had among monotony – or serenity – of a warship on
as Britain’s senior sailor next
before two weeks of intensive
principal warfare officer in Lancaster – the flotsam, and decaying metal the high seas.
summer.
exercises – in particular complex
added: “We’ve had an extremely successful detritus on the sea bed surrounding “The intensity and necessity of what this
The admiral will retire as
and sustained submarine hunting
deployment, carrying out extensive the two oil platforms. ship does on a daily basis to carry out its
Chief of the Naval Staff on July
and anti-air exercises.
operations in demanding conditions. Current security operations can’t mission is way beyond what I thought or
21.
After the first phase of Midas,
“My people and equipment have allow for dhows or unidentified vessels imagined when we set sail,’ said Surg Lt
His place will be taken by
the mine warfare forces forgot
performed exceptionally – and we feel to come too close. Dodds.
Commander-in-Chief Fleet
about their
we’ve made a tangible difference to safety
raison d’être and
As fishermen do start to stray, and Picture: LA(Phot) Brian Douglas, FRPU Clyde
Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope.
decided to play the role of Admiral Stanhope’s post
troublesome merchantmen and in turn will be taken by Vice
warships determined to ignore a Admiral Trevor Soar who is
UN embargo. currently Chief of Material
So it’s a good job Group 2 was Fleet, Defence Equipment and
around, for its raison d’être is to Support.
stop illegal activities on the high The appointments are
seas. mirrored by a similar series
Once Midas was done, of changes across the three
Cumberland headed once again Services in the summer of 2009.
for Cretan waters to meet her General Sir David Richards
sister Chatham, returning from will replace General Sir Richard
the Gulf (see right). Dannatt as Chief of the General
Chatham is now homeward Staff, while Air Chief Marshal
bound for Plymouth, while Sir Glenn Torpy stands down
Cumberland and her NATO as head of the RAF with Air
partners are making a rare foray Marshal Stephen Dalton taking
as a task force east of Suez. his place.
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