24 NAVY NEWS, DECEMBER 2008
play casualties: one dons a Freddy Kruger mask (“a for smoke canisters, there’s a rather large magazine T
marina Continued from page 23
turns into a red bow tie – denoting an enemy
Before this ‘not Sunday war’, the whole ship has
vessel. vast improvement,” his oppo observes), another has for well over 100 shells for the 4.5in main gun, and kit
to be prepared for action stations: chairs and tables
The Lynx could pop off a Sea Skua missile, but ‘blood’ streaming down the side of his face. there are 32 Sea Wolf missiles (offi cially the number’s no
strapped down, cupboards locked, wooden boards
you want to ruin someone’s day rather than spoil it, XO Lt Cdr Mike Smith rushes around the forward classifi ed; unoffi cially just count the number of exits kic
in front of glass.
so you go for something bigger. half of the ship – the bridge, forward damage control, on the upper deck) sitting vertically in their tubes. da
The FOSTies are exacting. They inspect every
Four sets of huge twin tubes point to port and ship control centre, the ops room. It is rather like the missile bay in the middle of a
compartment and don’t like what they fi nd left out: a
starboard on Kent’s forecastle. Inside is the Harpoon The pace is relentless. A 30-second update V-boat – except that there are no gyms, no living in
games controller, a stereo, some CDs, a cuddly toy
anti-ship missile. It will ruin your day. here, a 30-second briefi ng there. Compartment spaces squeezed between the tubes. In fact, you’ll ha
(sounds like the Generation Game – Ed).
It’s not something the RN fi res very often. And X is fl ooded, compartment Y is fi lled with smoke, struggle to squeeze anything between them. S
The FOSTies aren’t happy. The CO isn’t happy.
today is not one of those occasions sadly. passage Z is out of bounds. If anything goes wrong inside the launch tube, the lat
“I want us to show what HMS Kent is capable of
So more simulation, then. Kent doesn’t have to do this. The FOST team is specially-coated outer shell should protect the rest F
with gusto and vigour,” Cdr Hopper announces over
“It takes a lot for a ship’s company to ‘buy in’ to only really interested in what happens in the ops of the magazine – and ditto if there’s a fi re in the
the main broadcast.
an exercise,” says Lt Cdr Ben Aldous, one of the room. compartment, it should never threaten the missile F
Which they promptly do.
FOST observers. “Thursday War on a itself.
“There has to be
“I want us to show what HMS Kent
Sunday, you guys know There are no such ‘shells’ protecting the helicopter M
A shrill whistle and the cry “2-2-2 sardine” – not
a leap of faith. how to spoil yourselves,” magazine at the back of the hangar. Here, Stingray Ma
an order from Asda but a warning that a sea-
“The Kent team is capable of with gusto and vigour.” Cdr Ian Graham, the torpedoes, depth charges and Sea Skua missiles sit O
skimming missile is inbound – brings the “co-
have been really
– Cdr Simon Hopper
senior FOST Sea in their racks, waiting to be used. A
ordinated orchestra”, as Kent’s CO calls it, of
good – and if Rider observes with And you really, really don’t want a Stingray fi re. ca
the ops room to its coda.
you’re a compiler a smile. The Thallium which is the torpedo’s power source con
You can go for a ‘soft kill’ – decoys such as chaff
then it makes no difference whether this is real or But rather than fi ght half a war, Kent opts for the for its short life is also one of the most dangerous A
or fl ares, or electronic warfare jamming to confuse
not: all you see are dots on a screen.” thermo-global nuclear option. It’s a good job the substances known to man.
Those ‘dots on a screen’ are at least multicoloured. ship practises a lot. If a Thallium blaze doesn’t blind you with its Co
the sardine’s brains – or you can go for a ‘hard kill’,
No such luxury on the Harpoon targeting computer. Quickdraw, quickdraw, quickdraw, screams the intense white fl ash, then the toxic fumes will see you oil
dispatching the incoming threat with Seawolf.
No, we’re back to a black and orange screen (think intercom. Terrorists are buzzing the warship with off. Water won’t put it out either. The best to hope Fa
Either way, it culminates in a fi nal ten seconds
Asteroids, if you were a video games buff 30 years fast attack craft. for is to keep the warhead as cool as possible until of
of “fl ash to bang” explains Cdr Hopper, a man who
ago). As we’re in a danger zone, the upper deck guns the Thallium burns itself out. A
prefers straight talking to “waffl e” (his word not
It takes some time to programme the missile’s are already loaded. That is not the typical way to deal with fi re on no
mine, but I am all for it).
course – it’s directed towards the general area of First, however, there’s the non-lethal defence – a one of Her Majesty’s warships, as LS Stuart Cuttle bo
In fact, those ten seconds of fl ash to bang, tense
the enemy, then uses its sensors to close for the few blasts from the ship’s horn, then a few bursts imparts to a group of able seamen eager to learn bo
as they are, are rather more cool and calculated.
kill. from a machine-gun in front of the target. about fi re-fi ghting on the ladder to becoming
No excitement, no raised voices, just a measured
It takes some time, too, to move methodically The foe is either stupid or determined. The CO leading hands.
“splashed by Seawolf”.
along its fl ight path at just short of the speed of has had enough. “Take it,” he says decisively over There are 26 damage control tasks an AB must
The speed of missiles and the limited range
sound and destroy a target 60 or so miles away. the intercom. pass (as well as a similar number of tasks in their
of Seawolf restrict the decisive moments to ten
Destroying an incoming enemy missile or aircraft Ffffrrrrtttt. Ffffrrrrtttt. Ffffrrrrtttt. core jobs as chefs or sonar operators) before they
seconds; a Harpoon strike is a more leisurely affair.
is normally confi rmed almost instantaneously. The mini gun – a Gatling gun mounted on the can hope to make the next rank.
The anti-ship missile can be fi red over the horizon There’s no such instant reaction with Harpoon, far bridge wing – quickly empties its chamber. Typically, there is one ‘fi re-fi ghter’ and two
at the enemy – once he’s been found. beyond visual range of Kent. Luckily, there’s a magazine just behind it to re- shipmates providing a ‘wall of water’ – covering
The helicopter’s sent up to fi nd and fi x the location It takes Lynx going close to the enemy once supply. or suppressing fi re if you like – to shield their
of the foe… except that Kent’s Lynx ‘Charger’ is more to visually confi rm the damage caused – or, In fact, there are almost as many magazines as colleague.
kaput today, so instead her fl ight observer is sat as Principal Warfare Offi cer Lt Cdr Caroline Wyness W H Smith (groan – Ed) aboard a Type 23, although What LS Cuttle wants to see is controlled
in the cockpit fully kitted out (and overheating) puts it, an “element of amateur dramatics” from the here browsing is encouraged, nay compulsory. aggression. “FOST staff love all that – put some
providing ‘reports’ to the ops room. fl ight observer. Today, he earns an Oscar… There are magazines for fl ares, for decoys, for enthusiasm into tackling a fi re,” he tells his young
As he does the orange blob on the radar display … but not as much as some of the ratings who small arms ammo, for 30mm guns, for pyrotechnics, charges.
es: la(phot) owen king, frpu east
pictur
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