26 NAVY NEWS, AUGUST 2009
Wolf packs a punch
THE sun burns through the haze
anxiously looking at a stopwatch. “Come the slime from the funnel.” £2m-plus of naval hardware before going to be sorely disappointed.
hiding the imposing outlines of
on. Come on…” At least the missile itself is protected lunch. Command approved.
the Atlas mountains to bathe
A beep. from the elements. All frigates fi re Seawolf on the eve of And then you wait. Seawolf fi res when it
The tracker alert sounds on the missile For the past eight or so months, the their deployment to prove the system is ready – there’s no fi nger on the trigger.
the higher peaks in a golden director’s console, while a black and white
32 Seawolves have sat in their cocoons, works. None have fi red it on the way home The system calculates the best chance of
yellow and glints off the waters
video display pans hurriedly across the unwanted if not unloved. to test whether man and machine are still intercepting the target. When it’s ready, it
of the Alboran Sea.
sky. Weapon engineers check on the fully functioning after eight months on launches a salvo of two missiles from the
Perhaps ten miles away, coming out of
Crosshairs and a small white box fi x on compartment daily. They’ll fi nd four rows operations. silo on the forecastle.
the sun, a streak of orange smoke races
a target which, as yet, is too small for the of identical canisters (think: missile silo “Live fi rings are the only way you can A sheet of circular glass nearly an inch
above the ocean like some ethereal steam
camera to defi ne. on a bomber, only there are more tubes, test,” says Lt Steve Elliott of the Maritime thick covers each of the 32 tubes. An
train.
Just behind the bridge, in the forward they’re smaller… and less deadly). Capability Trials and Assessment unit explosive charge shatters it, showering
Seawolf stand to.
tracker room, PO ‘Spud’ Twycross hears Nitrogen provides an inert environment in Portsmouth, the organisation which chunks of glass all over Portland. Weeks
In HMS Portland’s operations room, a
clanking and whirring overhead. on the inside, a ‘scrambled egg coating’ oversees all missile tests. later, the ship’s company will still be
blue aircraft icon sluggishly moves around
Two trackers are the ‘eyes’ of Seawolf, on the outside of the tube should protect “You cannot simulate having a live fi nding shards…
a purple box on a radar display outlining
one forward on a Type 23, one aft. Each Seawolf if there’s a fi re. missile. You can see people change when Almost instantaneously, there’s a
the missile range east of Gibraltar.
can move 120º in a second – hence the “In rough weather you can hear the they know they are dealing with a live whoosh (defi nitely a whoosh, not a roar)
The aircraft is not the target, however
clanking and whirring. missiles going dink, dink, chink as they weapon.” and a fl ash.
(the colour rather gives it away). But four
The tracker rooms are the ‘brains’ – wall move about on their rails – it’s a bit eerie The junior offi cer is ‘Mr Seawolf’ – he’s One Seawolf gone.
miles behind it, following the same course,
to wall green-grey cabinets (the colour is at fi rst,” says CPO Dave Hill, in charge of seen upwards of 90 of the air defence Another whoosh and fl ash.
is a small red cross.
supposed to be calming…) which contain guided weapons. missiles fi red in the past couple of years. A second missile away.
It is the target, a 6ft missile on the end
the computers wading through copious The senior rating was involved with the When I say ‘seen’, he’s never actually Photographs invariably show Seawolf
of a line several thousand yards long,
amounts of data to determine what is a fi rst vertical Seawolf launches from HMS seen a live launch, only watched it from surrounded by a sea of fl ame as it emerges
attached to the tow plane, that blue
threat to Portland. Norfolk. Nearly two decades later, he “still the computer displays and video screens from its cage.
contact on the radar.
“It is a huge system,” says Spud. gets a buzz out of it”. down in the operations room. The reality is rather less distinct. There’s
The target is not simply a block at the
“It does a lot of work – but it can be He continues: “It will be good to see There are quite a few Portlanders too a fl ash – and several seconds later a trail
end of an extremely long cord. It’s known temperamental.” after eight months away that the system who’ve never seen Seawolf fi re. The bridge of fi re from the rocket races low over the
as a ‘height keeper’ – thanks to an altimeter Perhaps it’s temperamental because of still does what it says on the tin. quickly becomes ‘goofer central’ fi lled sea.
its height above the waves can be adjusted. the battering the trackers have received “We’ve been keyed up all the way with sailors of every rank and branch keen “That’s shooting-star quick,” observes
The lowest it goes – and the setting for from the elements during six months east through, so it would be nice to cruise to to see some Saturday morning fi reworks. fl ight commander Lt Joe Dransfi eld.
today’s trial – is within touching distance of Suez. the end of the deployment – but it only The loudspeaker reports the target at The ball of fi re jinks and wobbles.
of the ocean’s surface. “There’s never nothing to do,” Spud ends when the CO says: ‘Finish with main ever decreasing ranges. There’s a brief, bright fl ash, then a trail of
Seawolf is a proven air defence weapon, sighs. “There’s been a lot of upper-deck engines’ in Devonport.” If you’re waiting for that defi ning pithy black smoke.
but it’s also got a very limited range. husbandry. The trackers get covered in And this explains why, with six days remark – ‘Take it with Sea Dart’, ‘Four- Target destroyed.
Cdr Tim Henry jumps out of his chair, sand and silt, and the aft tracker gets all to go to Devonport, we’re obliterating fi ve engage’, or even ‘Birds away’ – you’re Seawolf relax.
pictures: la(phot) alex cave, frpu east
026_NN_August.indd 1 14/7/09 10:38:49
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