10 NAVY NEWS, MAY 2009
● The frigate’s boarding parties train for boarding ops
in the cradle of
● Dress ship alongside in Alexandria for Egyptian national day and
H
ARRYING andYING and
to ensure thato ensure thatt their ship could do their shipcoulddo Commonwealth Day
harriers. It’s been a
its job at sea.
busy few weeks for
However speaking of runs
HMS St Albans.
ashore, this visit to Haifa brought
out the harriers of St Albans’
The Naval frigate took to heart
Hash Runners.
her NATO role patrolling the
Lest the name should cause
Mediterranean waters between
alarm, the sport (supposedly)
Libya and Crete in a period of
dates back to bored British officers
surge operations.
posted to the ‘Hash’ House (so
Surge means that the ship’s
called because of the quality of
four Officers of the Watch and
its food) in Kuala Lumpur in the
Bridge team kept a careful eye years leading up to World War 2.
on all ships, boats and vessels in The sport itself is akin to the
the area. traditional paper chase, with
Swift discussion withith hares (in St har Albans’ case
the Ops Room highlighted ed her LPT and an Officer of her
those craft that neededded the the Watch) fleeing along
a hail from the Navavall the streets and pathe ths of
warship’s VHF radio. dod wntown Haifa leaving
The hunter St a trail of flour, with
Albans had to get
some misleads and
close to its quarry,
misdirects, for the
tracking down
pursuing harriers to
further information
follow.
on the warship’s
Forty sailors from
onboard database,
St Albans and her
and watching out for
sister NATO ship USS
any taint of wrongdoing ng
Laboon ran through the L
in the craft’s nature.
byways and backways of
So sharp were the warship’s
the Israeli town, cheered on by
eyes that in just two weeks over
the locals.
200 merchant vessels were hailed.
Before you become too misled
Of course, most of these ships
into the pure athleticism of the
were simply the hefty merchant
sport, let it also be recorded that
traffic of cargo ships and oil tankers
Hash Runners often describe their
labouring their long journeys from
group as “a drinking club with a
the Suez Canal to the Strait of
running problem”.
Gibraltar, and back again.
Which could explain the lack
of imagery available for this
This intensive period of labour
successful and social jaunt on
was brought to an end with a four-
Israeli shores.
day stretch alongside in Haifa,
Further, and sober, sociability
Israel.
took place between the British
Well, we say to an end, but that ● HMS St Albans at work as part of Standing NATO Maritime Group
and Israeli Navies with the RN
2 in the Mediterranean wasn’t so true for St Albans marine
matelots enjoying a tour of an
engineers who laboured long and
Israeli corvette and Israeli Defence
hard in cramped conditions to sort
Force sailors getting a glimpse
out a problem with a pump.
inside the Type 23 frigate.
Even the advent of specialist
Sailors also journeyed out to
contractors flown out did not free
Jerusalem and the Dead Sea to see
up the marine engineers, some of
and learn about this historic and
● A Lynx Mk8 of 202 Flight, 815 Naval Air Squadron attached to HMS
whom had to sacrifice runs ashore
fascinating part of the world.
St Albans carries out winch training
● Their sporting endeavours know no limits – an inter-mess Dodgeball competition was held on the fl ightdeck, much to the amusement of
all with the Petty Offi cers mess acquiring the winners’ laurels
Pictures: LA(Phot) Pete Smith
010_NN_may09.indd 1 22/4/09 18:25:44
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