8 NAVY NEWS, NOVEMBER 2008

● All that glitters... HMS Kent at a buoy in Hong
Kong harbour and (below) Lynx pilot Lt Jonny
Stanton prepares to lift off for a “crash on deck”
exercise
QUESTION: what sport should
engagements, ship’s tours, and sporting
● The destroyer Qingdao – with the First Sea Lord aboard – leads
HMS Kent on a search and rescue exercise
a group of sailors take part in at
events.
the home of Olympic sailing?
Hong Kong proved particularly profitable
for LET(ME) Lee ‘Jessie’ Owen who bagged
Yes, that’s right: the answer is, of course,
a free holiday thanks to Kent’s visit.
tug-of-war.
The leading hand pines for his native
The Chinese city of Qingdao – where
Coventry whenever he’s deployed, so his
rower Lt Peter Reed grabbed gold just a
friends keep him up to date by posting the
couple of months ago – witnessed a rather-
city’s newspaper, the Coventry Telegraph,
less-publicised sporting event as HMS Kent
every week.
grappled with their counterparts from the
And what better place to read it than
People’s Liberation Army (Navy).
astride Kent’s 4.5in gun in the middle of
The heave-ho (won by the Brits, we might
Hong Kong harbour? (His mess? – Ed)
add) was one of the lighter moments during
The ‘historic’ moment was captured
a pretty hectic week in Qingdao (350 miles
by LA(Phot) Owen King (see page 20 for
southwest of the Chinese capital) aimed at
the result...we ran out of space here) and
fostering Anglo-Sino relations.
‘pinged’ (technical term – Ed) back to the
Sport is obviously one excellent way
newsroom, where bosses named it winner of
of doing that (as the recent Olympiad
a competition to fi nd the best/most unusual
admirably demonstrated).
location for a read of their journal – and
Another way is setting fire to your ship.
gave the sailor a free four-day holiday (in
For as you do when you’re visiting a
Blighty, sadly, not Hong Kong).
foreign navy, you show each other your
Rather more humbling was a visit by the
nozzles, hoses, and hydrants.
ship’s company to the Cross Roads charity
The men (and women) of Kent sent
at Tuen Men.
smoke billowing through their frigate,
A team of volunteers from Kent, er,
donned fearnought suits and
volunteered to install audio-visual
promptly demonstrated to their
equipment in a ‘life experience’
Chinese hosts how to re-take a fire-
room designed to educate people
infested compartment.
and businesses on the true effects of
And the Chinese went one
poverty and the impact of living
better. They started a fire on a
with diseases and disabilities.
flight deck. Luckily, they put it
In particular, the team helped
out again.
to create a new room designed
After defeat in the tug-
to highlight the impact of
of-war, the PLA(N) evened
blindness, such as that caused
honours on the football pitch
by river blindness in Africa.
in front of quite possibly the
“It was a fascinating and
most smartly attired (white
sobering opportunity to see the
tropical uniforms) and most polite
efforts of Cross Roads and the
(magnanimously applauding while
effectiveness of the life experience
sitting down) crowd in any stadium.
rooms in educating others,” said Lt Adrian
The Chinese ran out 4-3 winners, for the
Botham.
record.
The eastern odyssey isn’t quite over
Kent’s stay in Qingdao concluded with
for Kent. She’s currently in Singapore
a visit by First Sea Lord Admiral Jonathon
having represented Britain in the annual
Band (who was visiting China on a wide-
Commonwealth war games Bersama Lima.
ranging military tour).
Four decades ago, with the Empire on
After being guest of honour at an evening
the wane east of Suez, five powers – UK,
reception aboard the frigate, he watched
Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and
Kent and the PLA(N) destroyer Qingdao
Malaysia – banded together to vow to
carry out a (mock) search and rescue
defend the region should the need ever
mission... from aboard the Chinese vessel.
arise.
Rescue done, the ship’s company
And to that end, the naval, air and
manned Kent’s upper decks in their tropical
ground forces from the quintet exercise at
uniforms to ‘cheer ship’ and bid farewell to
least once every year.
their admiral – and the Chinese.
Bonding between five scattered nations
Qingdao was the second Chinese port
isn’t always easy, so rather than simply
of call for Kent, which is now in the latter
throw participants into the war games,
stages of her six-month Volans (Far East)
organisers laid on a series of ‘getting to
deployment.
know you’ events.
After a magical visit to Tokyo (featured
The Perth Cup is a mini Olympiad –
in last month’s paper), the frigate enjoyed handball, volleyball, football, biathlon and
echoes of Empire in Hong Kong. rugby among other disciplines. The banyan
The stay in the former colony was a is a ‘nosh fest’ – with each participant
rather less formal affair than the week in invited to produce a national dish and stage
Qingdao. some cultural performance which reflects
Indeed, many of Kent’s loved ones flew their heritage.
out to be with their other halves – the first With Bersama Lima now done, Kent is
time in most cases that they’d seen them about to head west, first for Sri Lanka, then
since the warship passed Round Tower in for security patrols in the Indian Ocean.
the summer. The ship returns to Portsmouth just before
There was a smattering of official Christmas.
● A stunning panorama of Hong Kong
harbour as seen from Kent’s forecastle
pictures: la(phot) owen king, frpu east
008_NN_Nov.indd 1 17/10/08 13:52:54
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