NAVY NEWS, APRIL 2009 27
on In the bowels of his ship are Land Rovers, BVs, in the UK, so it’s a cracking training opportunity.” – a mixed bag of Merlins (for pinging and general meal – a very early breakfast – is served at 3.30am
en Vikings, Pinzgauers and other vehicles, but the It is. And his company’s attack is only one piece duties), Jungly Sea Kings (although they won’t be for watchkeepers; the last scran is a midnight meal
‘primary weapon system’ of the auxiliary – and the of the Wader jigsaw. All have to be slotted into place operating in the jungles of Malaysia and Brunei as for the night fl iers.
mp, rest of the Taurus force – is 40 Commando. tonight. they depart the force shortly) and eye-in-the-sky With the commandos on board, it is a 24-hour-a-
en Charlie Company – 85 of the Taunton-based unit’s Except that the right men are split between three ASaC Sea Kings. day operation, but at least it’s simple.
number (two platoons or ‘troops’) plus fi re support ships – the two Bays plus Ocean – as is their kit (ditto, “Flying operations have been non-stop – “Royals are easy to feed,” says Hatty. “Rice.
in troops with machine-guns and anti-tank weapons plus Bulwark), the right place moves depending on 24-hour days,” says Cdr Mahoney. At the peak of Pasta. Cheese. Put cheese on anything and Royal
ple – call Mounts Bay their weather (and enemy) conditions, and the the exercise there were 100 deck landings a day on will eat it.”
apt home today. And they’re right time has a habit of changing. Ocean. He’ll eat it twice, in fact. The green berets have
ore ‘up for it’. “It’s good to have a busy fl ight deck, but fl ying been known to return for seconds. “I’d rather people
es “You never get the “
Everyone likes seeing
“A plan never survives contact
with the enemy,” explains Cdr operations are an alien experience – exposed, noisy, come back for more than us chucking it away,” says
full ‘war’ experience,
the task group formed,
David Mahoney, HMS Ocean’s dangerous, hectic.” Hatty.
un. of course,” says Mne As it’s been two years since Ocean did this And talking of waste… We don’t normally get
ng Simon Jeffries, “but
getting all the moving
Commander Air (aka Wings)
paraphrasing the great in earnest, it’s worth remembering some of the excited about gash, but in Ocean’s case we will.
everything is done in
parts into place.
Field Marshal von Moltke basics. Such as don’t fl y a Merlin over the stern The ship is testing a new gash disposal system,
ng such a way that it feels
– Capt Kevin Rimell
”
(although he, of course, ramp and Mexefl ote – infamous for its very potent a pyrolosis plant. As ‘pyro’ suggests, it involves fi re
us real. said it in German and downdraught, the helicopter must make a wide – basically burning compacted gash with very little
sh, “The adrenaline’s in a rather convoluted approach to the carrier’s fl ight deck. oxygen, using the gash itself to sustain the fi re.
he pumping and you do get nervous – you don’t want fashion…). And then there’s the Cypriot air space to contend What comes out of the plant is fi ve times smaller
t. to mess up and get any stick from the lads.” “The enemy can be the weather, an aircraft with. There are two major international airports – than what went in. It’s packed into tins and disposed
me The assault has all been planned down to the being unserviceable, and you have to start all over Pafos and, especially, Larnaca – nearby, plus RAF of the next time Ocean enters port.
val minute: again.” Akrotiri right on the doorstep of Wader. “It’s far, far better than the old system,” says
on
1730 Hours: men to assault stations;
Tonight it’s both. The surf on the beach earmarked But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The task Lt Cdr Neil Pearson, Ocean’s senior engineer.
1800 Hours: board the landing craft;
for the assault is too much for the landing and force has been making use of aircraft from Akrotiri He has time to talk more gash now perhaps that
le:
1915 Hours: boats depart;
raiding craft. A Jungly’s not serviceable so that rules for air defence exercises (and the deep bay permits he and his team don’t have to devote quite as much
ce
1945 Hours: beach secure;
out the planned air drop. some nimble manoeuvring from the warships, even time to fi xing Ocean’s machinery post-refi t.
sh
0030 Hours: attack begins;
Plan B is that night drop by landing craft on the close to shore). The ship was extremely tired when we last visited
0200 Hours: enemy defeated;
‘beach’ south of Akrotiri Mole. “For us, Cyprus is a in the Caribbean in the summer of 2007
out
0545 Hours: picked up from the beach;
Instead of a quick yomp from the original beach to great place to train. having been fl ogged for the best part
ays
0630 Hours: back aboard Mounts Bay.
the enemy compound there’s a rather longer yomp It’s always nice to train of a decade.
the entire breadth of the peninsula. somewhere other than
A 19-year-old green beret intelligence analyst has
“
This is in your name. The 90-strong marine
is Or perhaps not. The route from the beach to the the south-west exercise engineering department had a
marked up the target for tonight – an ammunition
objective runs through an RAF married quarters. areas,” explains
It is a big deal. It’s the
real job on their hands keeping
of
compound – on a satellite photograph: the
“You don’t want a camoufl aged bootneck in principal warfare offi cer foundation of what we are. the carrier running.
est
guardhouse, wire fences, accommodation blocks,
your back garden in the middle of the night,” Maj Lt Cdr Richard Webster, “We’re not suffering
zil.
ditches.
Moorehouse points out. (Oh I dunno – Ed.) directing the battle in
– Mne Matt James
” the problems our
of
It is, says Maj Ed Moorhouse Offi cer Commanding
Instead, BVs and trucks ferry them to their the helicopter carrier’s predecessors suffered,”
s a
Charlie Company, “classic commando stuff. In at
destination – saving them a seven kilometre night operations room. said Lt Cdr Pearson. “A lot of hard work has gone
en
last light, sneak up in the dark, wallop.
march across the base of the Akrotiri peninsula. Like Bulwark (although it’s by no means as into her. Ocean’s much much more reliable than she
“This is us shaking out, testing the system, good
By dawn it is all over. The men are back aboard
cavernous), Ocean has a double ops room, one was – she’s in a better state for the next ten or 15
nie henesy
grass roots stuff. We couldn’t do it at this time of year
Mounts Bay. Landing craft shuttle from shore
to ‘fi ght the ship’, one to oversee amphibious years.”
to ship. A Merlin hops between Fort Austin and
operations. Which is good news for the Royal Marines. They
Ocean. A Jungly with a load slung beneath it
“The weather is obviously better in Cyprus, but used Ocean a lot in the fi rst decade of her life –
fl ies among the task group.
it is a different environment, different beaches, and notably Sierra Leone and Iraq. Whether they use
All ten helicopters with Taurus (excluding the Lynx
it’s a very important logistical test. It’s important her a lot in her second decade will be dictated by
with the two Type 23s) are based aboard Ocean
that we can operate away from home on this scale,” events.
Lt Cdr Webster adds. “We have spent a lot of time in Afghanistan – the
Which brings us neatly on to logistics… With an last time we did an exercise like this was Vela in
air group and Royal Marines aboard, the Mighty O’s 2006,” explains Maj Sean Brady, Offi cer Commanding
ship’s company has swelled from a little under 400 Alpha Company, based aboard Ocean.
, al macleod and ber
to 850 now (early March), rising to 1,200 when it “Perhaps 75 percent of the junior marines have
reaches Brunei in a couple of months’ time. not done amphibious operations on this scale. The
And that places enormous demands on the lads have come on very quickly – our training is so
galley. good that they rapidly pick things up.”
“It’s a food factory,” says LLogs ‘Hatty’ – “with They have ‘come on’ because they’re Royal
a ‘y’, not ‘i-e’” – Hatfi eld. A factory with a varied Marines and this is their natural habitat.
output – at least four choices of hot evening meal “Being a Royal Marine, this is in your name,” says
(and sometimes as many options for lovers of duff). Alpha’s Mne Matt James. “It is a big deal. It’s the
There are 11 chefs on duty per watch. The fi rst foundation of what we are.”
es: la(phots) shaun barlow
pictur
026-027_NN_Apr.indd 2 20/3/09 16:07:37
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