10 NAVY NEWS, APRIL 2009
● Brace, brace, brace... St Albans’ bridge team prepares for impact during a week of air defence
exercises off the Italian coast and (left) a rather impressive bow shot of the frigate, as seen from her sea
boat Pictures: LA(Phot) Pete Smith, FRPU East
The grand tour
THERE’S the Grand Tour
sightseeing. After that week-long skiers – including a good few
– Paris, Geneva, Venice,
workout, the task force needed a from St Albans. Geographically/
Pisa, Turin, Florence
rest and headed for Civitavecchia. historically-minded matelots
It’s not on the Grand Tour visited the more (but not too)
Rome, Naples, Sicily. (ports invariably are not the active parts of Etna before
And there’s the HMS St Albans most attractive of destinations). dropping in on the historic town
Grand Tour – La Spezia, Pisa, But 50 minutes by train from Taormina, perched on the north-
Rome, Sicily, Alexandria – carried Civitavecchia lies the Eternal eastern edge of the volcano’s
out at a rather swifter pace and City, beloved by those 18th and slopes.
with not an effete dandy in 19th-Century romantics... and And so to sea once more.
sight... 21st-Century matelots. Since late 2001, NATO has
The first month of the frigate’s The Saints (there’s no vying been running Operation Active
spell with a NATO task group has with HMS Southampton for the Endeavour – a purge of pirates,
been a whistlestop tour of historic nickname now the latter has paid terrorists, human traffickers and
sites, interspersed with getting to off...) had a weekend to catch other criminal elements using
know the rest of the international the Coliseum, Trevi Fountain, St the Middle Sea.
task group. Peter’s, the Forum and other sites Active Endeavour is a constant
The ship is attached to Standing from Antiquity. A weekend is not mission, but at times the NATO
NATO Maritime Group 2, six long enough for the true Roman regional HQ in Naples commits
warships from Allied nations with experience and many sailors plan extra ships to the ‘sweep’ for
a singular aim: the safeguard of to return with their families later what it calls ‘surges’.
the seas. in the deployment. Which is why St Albans found
HMS St Albans was introduced From Rome to Sicily and two herself patrolling a strip of sea
to the rest of the group in the weeks of hunting submarines between Crete and Libya.
northern Italian port of La (made rather easier for St Albans “The basic idea behind
Spezia. by her new 2087 sonar, hailed surge operations is to saturate
There can be no better way to as the world’s finest for locating a known ‘trafficking’ route with
get to know your friends than over underwater threats). warships, in order to build up
a pint... Noble Manta is one of the the fullest picture possible of
... so an invition to a ‘beer call’ largest anti-submarine exercises what is going on,” explained
aboard FGS Berlin was warmly staged by the world’s navies. Cdr Adrian Pierce, St Albans’
accepted (funny that – Ed). Six boats – one British nuclear- CO.
Those not suffering the after- powered and five Allied diesel- That means ‘hailing’ passing
effects of the Germans’ hospitality electrics – played the foe, while vessels, inquiring about their
the next day headed 40 miles the NATO forces, boosted by identity and activity; suspicious
south to Pisa and an obligatory an additional three vessels and vessels may be boarded to check
visit to the eponymous leaning maritime patrol aircraft went their cargo and paperwork.
tower. a-hunting. This leg of the Grand
Next stop, Rome – after a week “The exercise was a great Tour ended in the land of
of fairly intensive air defence chance to test our new and super- the pharaohs – Alexandria
exercises and the first opportunity effective sonar – and to see just to be precise, Pearl of the
to work in earnest with the Italian- what this brings to the party,” said Mediterranean.
led task force. Lt Cdr Andy Brown, St Albans’ Once home to Alexander
Right, that’s enough about weapons engineer officer. the Great (hence the name...)
the military aspect. Back to “It would be fair to say that we and Cleopatra – though not
were all pretty excited and dead at the same time – for many
keen to get stuck in.” of the ship’s company Egypt’s
Stuck in – and perhaps tuck in second city was a first taste
too; Pancake Day landed slap bang of life beyond the borders of
in the middle of Noble Manta, Europe.
and with the ship’s company in “It offers an interesting taste
defence watches (six hours on, of an Eastern culture – albeit
six hours off), a break from the in a city very close to Europe,”
routine was most welcome. said Lt Cdr Brown.
The chefs spent more than four Junior sailors quickly
hours tossing in the galley. By the mastered the art of haggling,
time they were done, more than although there were words
250 pancakes had been devoured of caution from one of the
(and, by our reckoning, some frigate’s more experienced
sailors had more than one as there sailors, who imparted: “The
are only 187 souls aboard...). impoverished street urchins
Noble Manta ended with the smile most broadly while
force heading for the small port their hand is rifling through
of Augusta on the western shores your now considerably-lighter
of Sicily. pocket...”
“Nestled amongst the myriad Some ship’s company found
of chemical factories and power time to travel to Cairo, a little
stations that stretch for miles over 100 miles away.
along this coast, at first it didn’t Slightly closer to the port
seem like the ideal spot for much – some 70 miles west along
rest and relaxation,” said Lt Cdr the coast – lies El Alamein, a
Brown. fairly drab railway halt – but
But scratch away at the surface... a site which takes its place
Augusta lies between the historic among the pantheon of most
cities of Catania and Syracuse hallowed British battlefields.
– both of which proved popular A sizeable number of
destinations for the Brits. sailors paid their respects
But not as popular as the slopes at the Commonwealth
of Mount Etna, Europe’s most war cemetery and on the
active volcano. battlefield where Rommel’s
Despite the volcanic activity, drive on the Egyptian capital
the mountain is popular with turned to dust.
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